The present study involved an investigation and evaluation of a peer counselling programme at a local all-girls secondary school. It is argued that, to be effective, a school-based evaluation should consider the programme through an investigation of its impact on the whole school. As such the main focus in the study is to evaluate this programme from the viewpoint o fthe programme co-ordinator (the school counsellor), the learners, the teacher body and the peer counsellors themselves. The present study was based on predominantly qualitative data collected through the use of interview, questionnaire and focus-group data-collection methods. The results of the study suggest that the peer counselling programme is perceived positively by the majority of learners (both users and non-users) and the teachers. The programme appears to be impacting the school environment by providing additional support to the learners at the school. In addition, the peer counsellors acknowledged the positive impact of their role on their sense of self-worth. A number of recommendations are made in keeping with the aims of an evaluation. An initial recommendation is that the terms "peer counsellor" and "peer counselling" be replaced by "peer helper" and "peer helping", emphasising the more supportive (and less therapeutic) role that the peer counsellors perform. In addition, whilst both the school counsellor and the teachers expressed generally positive comments about the programme, it is suggested that the teachers would benefit from more information with regards to the peer counselling programme. In keeping with a whole-school evaluation, it was felt that the programme would benefit from being more clearly part of the broader school context. Raising both learner and teacher awareness of the programme was a central recommendation. On a broader level, it was recommended that the programme be incorporated into school policy to ensure its official recognition and endorsement in the school context. Peer-helping programmes represent an innovative way in which South African secondary schools can meet the psycho-social and educational needs of their learners. Further research into such programmes may serve to contribute to a body of research that may inform and guide the effective developments of such present and future programmes. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg , 2003.

A formative and summative evaluation of a peer counselling training programme at a college of education. The study investigates the appropriateness and feasibility of implementing a peer counselling support structure for students at an under-resourced college of education in a rural area. Existing peer counselling training programmes were explored in order to identify appropriate principles for implementation at the particular college. The exploration focused on six dimensions: peer counsellor roles and functions, - selection, -training, - support and - supervision, ethical and cultural considerations and programme evaluations. The investigation covered three phases: a survey and needs analysis, assessment of the appropriateness for, and impact of the training programme, on the 23 volunteers and an assessment of the service use and performance of these peer counsellors. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to evaluate all three phases. Qualitative analysis of the data indicated that students perceived peer counselling as a physically, socially and emotionally accessible support structure. Peer counsellors were seen to be a functional support alternative to the academic lecturers available for counselling, specifically in providing assistance with interpersonal dilemmas and in areas of mutual concern. Peer counsellor trainees assessed the training content and procedures as adequate, functional, applicable to the particular context and instrumental to certain personal developmental gains. The data were used to inform the implementation and management of future peer counselling training programmes at the college and to indicate inconclusive areas for future research. The study shows that peer counselling is a potentially effective, functional and complementary strategy to provide pastoral care at under-resourced institutions, provided that the peer counselling programme is customized for the contextual, challenges, needs and concerns of the particular institution. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

Limited research has been conducted on the effectiveness of preventive programmes in addressing the needs of adolescents/youth. This study is aimed at examining the effectiveness of a training programme and whether the training conducted by the researcher contributed to equipping the peer educators with skills to undertake capacity building and empowerment programmes. The research sample consisted of fifteen peer educators who had undergone the training programme. The participants were all grade eleven pupils from the Hillview Secondary School in Newlands East. The majority of the participants in this research study reside in Newlands East. This was an evaluative research study. The data collection instruments were sessional evaluation questionnaires, verbal group evaluation and retrospective evaluation questionnaires. Secondary data were also collected from the school personnel to enhance the research findings. The research findings revealed that the peer educator training undertaken by the researcher was effective and useful in developing skills of the peer educators to initiate and implement capacity-building and empowerment programmes within the school environment. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

MEd (Educational Psychology) / Department of Foundations of Education / This study examined the impact of guidance and counselling on learning outcomes. The study was comparative study of two high schools in Vhembe district located in the Northern part of Limpopo Province, South Africa. A mixed method design was employed, consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. For the quantitative part an experimental design and a questionnaire were used. Independent samples entailed t-tests to compare the performance of the experimental and control group, a chi-square of association was used to determine the presence/absence of alignment between career and subject choices after counselling, while paired samples t-tests were used to ascertain if there was any improvement in the performance of the two groups. In addition, written mark schedules of pre-test, post-test and a short questionnaire for learners were analysed quantitatively. For the qualitative component face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were used while the purposive sampling technique was used to select 8 Life Orientation teachers, of which 4 were from school A and the other 4 were from school B. In addition, 2 Life Orientation heads of department were interviewed on challenges in implementing Guidance and Counselling in the school curriculum. For the quantitative data analysis, the chi-square and t- test of association was used to determine if there was any difference in career and subject choices alignment and performance between learners exposed to counselling and those not exposed to the program. The overall mean scores were calculated, and the chi-square test was used to indicate if there was any significant difference in career choices and subject alignment and performance between the group that received guidance and counselling and the group which did not receive such support. Fifty learners from the two selected schools were randomly selected, whereby 25 were used for the experiment and the other 25 as a control group. The experimental results indicated that learners who were exposed to guidance and counselling showed improvement in their learning outcomes while those who were not exposed to counselling showed no improvement in their learning outcomes. The fact that group that received guidance and counselling improved suggest that guidance and counselling services should be strengthened in all schools through departmental policy review meetings. / NRF