A two-day capacity training workshop on Guidance and Counselling has been organised for tutors and management of the Accra College of Education.The workshop which was organised by the Institute of Education in conjunction with the Counselling Services Centre of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) was aimed at enhancing the skills of the tutors to effectively deal with the numerous challenges students face in their studies. It was also to help the Counselling Unit of the College, hall tutors and academic counsellors to deal effectively with students’ academic work, career and social problems or challenges.As the mentor of the various Colleges of Education in Ghana, UCC through the Institute of Education has been organising series of seminars for tutors and all categories of staff of the Colleges.Opening the workshop, the Director of UCC Counselling Services, Prof. Godwin Awabil, noted that apart from financial problems, the major challenges facing teacher trainees were relationships and academic work. He noted that when the challenges of students were not effectively addressed, there would be negative psychological and educational consequences. He stressed that “The psychological consequences include depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, stress, hopelessness and suicidal ideations. The negative educational consequences include poor academic performance, repetition and withdrawal from School.”Prof. Awabil indicated that considering the high student enrolment, it was impossible for the College Counselling Committee/team to handle effectively all the cases students present. He explained that the workshop was therefore, designed to expose tutors of the College to the requisite skills in counselling to enable them to serve as paraprofessionalsThe Resource Persons, Prof. Linda Naa Djama Forde and Dr. J. O. Attram engaged the tutors in the following topics; Introduction to the concept of counselling; stages of counselling, guidance, counselling and advising Core conditions of counselling. Other topics were Ethical issues; Practical session group work; Counselling skills and Characteristics of the ideal helper.Participants also took part in the practicum session to demonstrate the knowledge acquired during the training. Students of the College also had opportunity learn about Study Skills and also interact with Prof. Awabil during a seminar session.Present at the training workshops were the Coordinator, Quality Assurance & Mentoring Unit of Institute of Education, Mr. Nicholas Kutor and Deputy Registrar, Dr. Kwaku Gyasi Badu.
