(a) There is interaction which produces change in each individual.
(b)Members share some common goals.
(c) Members are present on their own consent and volition and
(d)A capacity for self- direction.
This implies that in guidance and counselling relationship, a group consists of two or more persons who voluntarily have contact and interaction which produce changes in an individual behaviour.
Alao (1983) defined group as a process of helping individuals, with personal development or distress problem. He classified group based on the nature of problem or concern, nature of social interaction as counselling group, task group, case centre group, therapy groups and guidance group. Since group guidance is one of the central focuses of this study, it is mandatory to discuss it in line with the present content. Group guidance is organised to prevent problems and the purpose of group guidance in school setting is to provide educational and vocational information which is not systematically taught in academic courses. The typical setting is in classroom or counselling laboratory with about 20 – 25 students. The leadership is usually provided by the school counsellors who make use of their wealth of experience to guide the students in resolving their individual educational and vocational problems.
In her own observation, Owuamanam (2003) conceptualized guidance as involving activities which are designed to acquire information, plan and implement programmes, which will enhance the decision process of students in educational or vocational matters. In view of this conception, group guidance or group programme is out to assist students in decision making through the help of a professional guidance counsellor. Owuamanam also went further to describe group guidance as a designed programme to be a preventive measure given to students as opportunity to discuss their common problems and issues relating to their educational and vocational problems. She also stressed the importance of guidance counsellor as the group guidance facilitator based on training and experience.
Group counselling which is the second central focus of this study was defined as a dynamic interpersonal process through which individual within the normal range or adjustment work within a peer group and with a professionally trained counsellor, exploring problems and feelings in an attempt to modify their attitudes so that they are better able to deal with developmental problems (Owuamanam, 2003). The dynamic sum in group counselling implies that there is a force within which group members organise and operate to achieve their goals. It is noted as mentioned in the early part of this study that students in the nation’s secondary schools seem to be faced with problem of vocational and career choice towards the tail end of their secondary school education. It is of the opinion of this study to stress the importance of vocational and career programme which is to be organised in schools especially toward the end or at the starting point of senior secondary school level so as to facilitate in the students the idea of vocational and career readiness that will eventually transform to vocational maturity of these students. To accomplish this, there is need for a programme like group guidance and counselling to be sponsored by school administrators in collaboration with school guidance counsellor on vocational and career planning, at least once in a year for the students in the senior secondary school level, if possible, the programme can be extended to junior secondary section.
Since the problem of vocational and career decision seems to be a general problem among the Nigerian youths, the group guidance and counselling seem to the researchers as appropriate technique to embark upon by the school counsellor to facilitate vocational and career maturity behaviour.
This view was buttressed by Odebunmi (1978) who asserted that among the various type of group work available, the most important to the Nigerian counsellors are group guidance and counselling for vocational exploration. Alao (1981) also remarked on the group as a medium for helping individual and the readiness to work in group will help in fostering vocational maturity behaviour among secondary school students. From all the observations and reviews, group guidance and counselling can be seen as a process of helping individuals or group of individuals to understand themselves and their world. The purpose of this study is therefore, to find out whether the group guidance and group counselling techniques will enhance the vocational maturity behaviour of secondary school students. To also find out which of the two guidance techniques will be the best to facilitate vocational maturity behaviour of the secondary school students.
Based on the observed problems two questions were raised to guide the study:
(1) What is the level of vocational maturity of students in Group Career Guidance (GCG) and Group Career Counselling (GCC) before and after treatment.
(2) Would there be difference between the students exposed to Group Career Guidance (GCG) and those exposed to Group Career Counselling (GCC).
Based on the above research questions, the following null hypothesis was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance.
HO1: There is no significant difference between the students exposed to Group Career Guidance (GCG) technique and those expose to Group Career Counselling (GCC) technique.