Abstract :

The study is carried out in Anambra state. The researchers adopted descriptive survey design for this study. A sample size of 147 Counsellors who are willing to participate in the study is drawn through accidental sampling techniques from the areas of their meetings. A four rated scale of strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed and strongly disagreed questionnaire developed by the researchers on Essential Counselling Skills Needed for Helping Under-achieve Succeed Among secondary school Students in Anambra State (QOECSSNFHUASSASSSIAS) is used for data collection. Test retest is used to establish the reliability coefficient of the instrument and the value is 0.80 which the researchers considered to be high enough for the study. On the spot administration of the instrument is adopted by the researchers to ensure a hundred percent return. The data collected is analyzed using the weighted arithmetic mean and ranking. The cutoff point regarding an item being in existence as in agreed or not agreed is 2.50. Any item that is below 2.50 is regarded as not being in existence and the result is presented in a table. Among other things the result revealed the following as some of the essential skills needed by professional counsellors for helping the under-achieved succeed in secondary schools: Communicating, tolerance, compassionate, Listening, note taking, empathic understanding, non-judgmental and stress management skills. The researchers recommended that Training needs of teacher-counsellors and career masters on counselling skills for helping students achieve their potentials in life for a better result since they also handle some of the students issues needs to be highlighted by the Secondary school Education Commission. And also, government should be funding such trainings so that lack of money will not prevent them from attending.

---

Keywords :

Counsellors, Essential, Skills, Under-achievers and school.

---

References :

1. Abu-Hamour B, Al-Hmouz H. A (2013). Study of gifted high, moderate, and low achievers in their personal characteristics and attitudes toward school and teachers. Int J Spec Educ. (28) 5–15.
2. Adelodun GA. (2013). Strategies for promoting achievement motivation among underachievement gifted student. Afr J Psychol Soc Sci Issues. (16) 106–13.
3. Barbara, H.S., (2009). Gifted underachievement: oxymoron or educational enigma. Prufrock press Inc. Available from: http://www.prufrock.com/client/client_pages/GCT_articles/Gifted_Underachievement .cfm
4. Çakir, L. (2014). The relationship between underachievement of gifted students and their attitudes toward school environment. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 152, 1034-1038. Retrieved from www.sciencedirect. com/journal/procedia-social-and-behavioral-sciences
5. Chan, Cecilia K.Y.; Fong, Emily T.Y.; Luk, Lillian Y.Y.; Ho, Robbie (November 2017). “A review of literature on challenges in the development and implementation of generic competencies in higher education curriculum”. International Journal of Educational Development. 57: 1–10. doi:1016/j.ijedudev.2017.08.010
6. Chere, N.E. & Hlalele, D. (2014). Academic underachievement of learners at school: A literature review. Mediterr J Soc Sci.;5:827.
7. Coleman, H., & Yeh, C. (2011). Handbook of school counseling. Routledge.
8. Curry, J., & Milsom, A. (2017). Career and college readiness counseling in P–12 schools (2nd ed.). Springer.
9. Delisle, J., and Berger, S., (2009). Underachieving gifted students. ERIC digest #E478. Available from: http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/underachieving_gifted.html.
10. Eke, A.N. & Otubo, A.F. (2020). Counselling skills required by secondary school teachers for counselling underachievers among students in Abakaliki Metropolis, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The Counsellor, 44 (1), 125-135.
11. Gallagher, G. (2005). Underachievement: How do we define, analyze, and address it in schools? A view through the lens of the literature in gifted education. 28 Vol. 21 (2) ACE Papers, 15, 26-35. Retrieved from https:// researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/25032/ browse?type=dateissued
12. Ghadirzadeh, R., Hashtroudi, F. P, & Shokri, O. (2013). Study of the effective factors on the university students’ underachievement in English Language learning. English Language Teaching, 6(11), 122-129. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n11p122
13. Hejazi E, Rastegar A, Jahromy RG. (2008). The academic achievement prediction model in mathematics: The role of achievement goals and school engagement. J Educ Innov. (7) 29–46.
14. Launch Pad. 2006. Underachievement. Westminster Institute of Education: Oxford: Brookes University. Available from: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/education/rescon/cpdgifted/docs/secondarylaunchpads/ 4underachievement.pdf
15. Mandel, H.P. & Marcus, S. I. (2009). Could do better: Why children under-achieve and what to do about it. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
16. Marcus, S.I., 2012. Personality styles of chronic academic underachievers. Article base, Available from: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Personality_Styles_of_Chronic_Academic_Underachiev ers.html Johnsen SK. (2012). Standards in gifted education and their effects on professional competence. Gift Child Today. 35:49–57.
17. Martin AJ. (2008). Enhancing student motivation and engagement: The effects of a multidimensional intervention. Contemp Educ Psychol. 33:239–69.
18. Nomaan, S., Hanif, R., & Rehna, T. (2016). Factors underlying academic underachievement among Pakistani secondary school students. Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 31, (1), 311-330. Retrieved from www.pjprnip.edu.pk/
19. Nwosu, K.C., Okoye, C.C. & Onah, U.H. (2017). An Interpretive Descriptive Study of Factors Affecting Academic Achievement of Underachieving Student Teachers in Nigeria. The Journal of At-Risk Issues, Vol, (21): 20-29.
20. Ogbonnia, C. (2012). Underachieving learners: can they learn at all? ARECLS, Vol.6, 84-102. https://research.ncl.ac.uk/media/sites/researchwebsites/arecls/ogbonnia_vol6.pdf
21. Ritchhart, R., & Church, M. (2020). Power of making thinking visible: Practices to engage and empower all learners. Jossey-Bass.
22. Ritchotte J, Rubenstein L, Murry F. (2015). Reversing the underachievement of gifted middle school students: Lessons from another field. Gift Child Today. 38:103–13.
23. Smith, E. (2003). Failing boys and moral panics: Perspectives on the underachievement debate. British Journal of Educational Studies, 51(3), 282-295. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/1467-8527.t01-2-0023 S
24. Snyder KE, Malin JL, Dent AL, Linnenbrink-Garcia L. (2014). The message matters: The role of implicit beliefs about giftedness and failure experiences in academic self-handicapping. J Educ Psychol.106:230.
25. Suan, J. F. (2014, March). Factors affecting underachievement in mathematics. Proceeding of the Global Summit on Education (GSE), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
26. Taghinejad M, Abedi A, Yarmohammadiyan A. (2019). Comparing the effectiveness of growth mindset intervention with independent learning program on academic resilience of underachievement gifted students. Appl Psychol Res Q. 2019;9:1–20.