Abstract
This study examined the dimensions of cognitive dissonance and the extent to which cognitive dissonance could influence the level of job satisfaction of guidance counsellors. The study was guided by eight research questions and five null hypotheses. The design of the study was correlational survey. The population of the study was 158 practising counsellors in public secondary schools including Demonstration schools in Edo and Delta states. There was no sampling as the population constituted the sample size. The instrument used for data collection was the Counsellors’ Dissonance and Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (CDJSQ). The research questions were answered using percentages and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) while the null hypotheses were tested using the Multiple Regression Analysis. The hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. Major findings of the study included:
1. The Nigerian counsellor is experiencing cognitive dissonance, though at various levels.
2. The respondents identified the following as the dimensions of job satisfaction experienced by the Nigerian counsellor: commitment, loyalty, involvement, performance and the desire to quit.
3. It was found that the Nigerian counsellor was satisfied with the job. The study revealed the percentage of counsellors’ level of satisfaction on each of the dimensions investigated.
4. It was found that the dimensions of cognitive dissonance are significantly related to the level of satisfaction of counsellors on the job.
5. Extrinsic factors were found to be significantly related to the level of satisfaction of counsellors on the job. The results of the t – calculated at (p<0.05) were found to be higher than the table value.
In the same vein, the study identified some implications of the findings to the counselling profession and the education system generally. The observed implications prompted the study to make some recommendations, among which are as follow:
1. The Federal Government should revisit its original policy of training counsellors who would be saddled with the responsibility of discharging guidance functions only. Federal government should set the pace by ensuring that counsellors in unity schools do not combine teaching load with counselling.
2. Since extrinsic factors were found to be related to the job satisfaction of the counsellor, infrastructures in schools should be improved upon by government. Counsellors should be provided with offices where they could render guidance services with no intrusion from other members of the school community.
3. The status an individual attains in life is an intrinsic factor in job satisfaction. Thus, the study recommended that Government should approve a separate career line for counsellors.
4. Examination agencies such as the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) should insist on the availability of a counselling unit staffed with qualified counsellors as a pre – requisite for granting approval to public and private secondary schools to register candidates for public examinations. This recommendation is borne out of the fact that learners need to be guided in their choice of subjects vis – a – vis the vocational choices they make.
5. Cognitive dissonance is an attitude change theory. Therefore, the study recommended that counsellors should mobilise the strategies provided by the theory as means of coping with the realities about the job of the counsellor in the school system, while still maintaining the ethics of the profession.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
At independence on October 1, 1960, Nigeria maintained the curriculum fashioned out for her education programme at the primary and secondary school levels by the British government. The curriculum showed that the colonial government was not enthusiastic about the promotion of science and vocational education which forms the bedrock of technological development of any nation. The disenchantment with the colonial curriculum, as inherited at independence, motivated the Federal Government of Nigeria to convey a conference of all stakeholders in the education enterprise in 1969. The outcome of the conference was the emergence of the national policy on education in 1977 later revised in 1981, 1998 and 2004. Having carefully studied the loopholes in the previous education system, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the national policy on education, brought some innovations to bear on the teaching – learning process. One of the innovations contained in the policy was the formalisation of guidance services. This service aims at catering for the adjustment needs of the learner. Thus, the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004:53) states:
In view of the apparent ignorance of many young people about career prospects and in view of personality maladjustment among school children, career officers and counsellors shall be appointed in post-primary and primary institutions. Since qualified personnel in this category are scarce, government shall continue to make provisions for the training of interested teachers in guidance and counselling. Guidance and counselling shall also feature in teacher education programmes. Proprietors of schools shall provide guidance counsellors in adequate number in each primary and post-primary school.
With the formalisation of guidance services in school, government hoped to produce holistic school learners who would acquire education in the normative rather than in the descriptive sense. Government recognised and stressed the need for counselling to assume a prominent position in the teacher education programme. Thus, provision was made for the training of interested teachers who would like to become counsellors who would render counselling, appraisal, information, placement, referral and follow-up and evaluation services to the school system. (Egbule, 2002).
There is no gainsaying the fact that for the counsellor to translate personal and professional qualities to rendering the aforementioned services effectively, a conducive environment needs to be provided by stakeholders in the school community. The counsellor needs the support of the principal, teachers, students, parents as well as the officials of ministry of education and the post primary education board to be able to operate confidently and freely. Commenting on obstacles encountered by counsellors in the performance of guidance duties, Alutu (2005:123) has this to say of Edo state:
Principals do not co-operate with counsellors and some keep away relevant information from them; funds to run counselling programmes are hardly provided; general lack of understanding of the need for counselling by principals, teachers and students; no provision for counselling on the school time table in almost all the schools; …counsellors are saddled with teaching assignment and other general administrative duties instead of spending time on issues concerning individuals or group of students.
A counsellor could be hard-working but because of environmental constraints he may not be able to utilise the resources in the repertoire. This results in the counsellor being labelled as incompetent. This invariably creates an unpleasant state of tension, otherwise known as cognitive dissonance. Cognitive refers to mental awareness while dissonance means disharmony. In the context of the counsellor’s job (the school), cognitive dissonance is perceptible when the psychological and social variables within the organisational climate are antagonistic to the course of success of the counsellor on the job. It is a drive or feeling of discomfort caused by holding two or more inconsistent cognitions. Thus, cognitive dissonance is a psychological term which describes the uncomfortable tension that may come from having conflicting thoughts at the same time, or from engaging in behaviour that conflicts with one’s beliefs. Hence, Idowu & Esere (2007) state that “cognitive dissonance is the psychological conflict arising from holding two or more incompatible beliefs simultaneously.” On his part, Kolo (2006:15) says “dissonance is a state of psychological discomfort that is aroused when an event occurs which disconfirms any strong expectation”. As noted by Alutu (2005) counsellors in secondary schools in Edo state are made to teach rather than practice counselling for which they were trained. This is role-conflict and counsellors, like other professionals, compare their professional expectations with their current job outcomes.
Thus, discrepancy in these expectations creates dissonance or conflict in the counsellor which threatens the psychological well-being or state of the worker (Abraham 1999). In a nutshell, it is a condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one’s beliefs and actions such as opposing the slaughter of animals and eating meat. In the simplest explanation, cognitive dissonance is having two different and contradicting beliefs in an individual’s brain at the same time. Operationally, therefore, cognitive dissonance is seen as the psychological tension experienced by the guidance counsellor as sequel to the realisation that he or she is being made to perform roles for which the counsellor did not train or carrying out activities that are diametrically opposed to the ethical code or the belief of the counsellor in the school system.
