CHALLENGES COUNSELORS FACE IN EFFECTING SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAMS FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA

School counseling is intended to help students overcome problems, which usually mitigate their academic performance in schools. Helping students adjust emotionally, physically, mentally, and socially enhances good academic performance. In achieving this goal of counseling especially in schools, the government has previously committed resources towards establishing counseling programs in schools. However, the reality on the ground is that there are few established counseling programs as well as few counselors to implement the said programs and this has posed a challenge to the counsellors in their effort to offer counseling to assist students to enhance their academic achievement. The aim of the study was to establish the challenges counselors face in affecting school counseling programs for academic achievement of secondary school students in Kiambu County. The objective of the study was to find out if counsellors faced challenges while offering to counsel for academic achievement. To achieve this objective the study used primary data collected from a sample of 80 secondary school-age going students from 8 schools, 8 counselors, and 8 academic deans of students from the sampled schools. The study was qualitatively done and self-determination theory was used to guide the study. Findings indicated that counselors encountered personal and professional challenges in the course of their counseling duties. For personal challenges, all counsellors (100%) reported having a difficult time balancing between teaching and counseling, all counselors (100%) noted they had insufficient time for counseling since little time was set aside in the school programs for counseling, (63%) said they had no specific rooms dedicated for counseling students, (63%) felt that the big number of students seeking counseling was a challenge while 100% stated dual relationship as a tough challenge. In regard to professional challenges, (100%) of the counsellors stated that none was compensated for extra counseling duties, (75%) had insufficient skills in academic counseling, (50%) had little support from subject teachers and from parents, 100% indicated little support from school administrators, 100% cited increased workload, 100%, lack of formal recognition from Teachers Service Commission that employs teachers and 50% felt that counselors inclusivity in school discipline committee posed a challenge. The study concluded that school counseling programs are commendable because they increase students’ academic achievement. However the study has established that school counselors should be equipped with appropriate counseling skills, their workload should be reduced and that school administration should encourage greater cooperation between teacher counselors and other members of staff as well as with parents and guardians, in order to make the counselors effort more productive. Further studies should be conducted to investigate how the school administration can be actively involved in supporting counseling programs in schools.