Development of a Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program (CGCP) for the Junior High School Units in Iloilo City

This descriptive-correlational study analyzed the guidance and counseling (GC) needs of the Junior High School (JHS) students in Iloilo City in order to develop a comprehensive program that would contextually address their needs. The study used a standardized Students Counseling Needs Questionnaire. It has 81 items divided into four domains: Academic, Personal/Social, Career, and Social Responsibility. 267 students participated in the survey representing 10 purposively-selected JHSs in the city. Statistical tools used for analysis are Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, and Spearman’s Rho at 5% confidence level for non-parametric inferential computations; while mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive analysis. Results revealed the following: Public Schools have Higher Perceived Needs for Guidance Counseling (HPNGC) than Private Schools; the higher the age of the students, the higher the Higher Perceived Need for Guidance Counseling; there is no significant difference in terms of parents’ educational status and occupation; there is a high significant difference between Public Schools and Private School in terms of Higher Perceived Needs for Guidance Counseling in Personal/Social Needs. The results showed that the needs of Junior High school students in Iloilo City are ranked as follows: Career, Social /Personal, Academic and Social Responsibility. With this, a 100-page expert-validated Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program (CGCP) was contextually designed for Iloilo City JHS students following a 4-pronged framework with focus on themes: Career, Personal/Social, Academic, and Social Responsibility. Further studies must be done in terms of the specific areas of concern affecting JHS students of Iloilo City and other similar areas where a program can be built upon making the offerings more purposive and contextual.