PSYCHO-SOCIAL COUNSELLING AND EDUCATIONAL RECOVERY FOR CHILDREN IN NIGERIA’S SECURITY-CHALLENGED ENVIRONMENTS IN THE SOUTH-EAST ZONE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the role of psycho social counselling in promoting educational recovery for children in Nigeria’s security challenged environments, with particular focus on private secondary schools in the South East Zone of Nigeria. The population consisted of 12,200 teachers drawn from 2,284 approved private secondary schools across the 21 education zones in the South Eastern States. A proportionate stratified random sampling technique was employed to select a sample of 1,220 teachers from 114 approved secondary schools, representing approximately 5% of schools and 10% of teachers in each state, thus ensuring adequate representation of the study area. Data were collected using a researcher developed instrument titled Psycho Social Counselling and Educational Recovery for Children in Nigeria’s Security Challenged Environments Questionnaire (PSCERCNSCEQ). The study was guided by two research purposes, two research questions, and two null hypotheses, which were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. Instrument reliability was established through a pilot study conducted outside the study area, using a two week interval, which yielded a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of 0.79, indicating satisfactory internal consistency. Data were analysed using simple linear regression to answer the research questions, while the t test associated with regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that school counsellors’ collaboration and psycho social counselling each showed strong, positive, and statistically significant relationships with educational recovery, accounting for a substantial proportion of variance in recovery outcomes. This indicates that structured psycho social support and collaborative counselling practices play a critical role in enabling children to re engage with schooling in insecurity affected contexts. The study therefore concludes that psycho social counselling interventions, particularly when implemented through structured collaboration among school counsellors, are central to educational recovery, addressing the academic, emotional, and social disruptions experienced by learners exposed to insecurity.