THE EFFECT OF COUNSELLING ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGH‐ABILITY PUPILS

Abstract

S ummary . The under‐achievement of high ability children is a growing and important problem. This paper reports the effect of counselling on the level of educational attainment of high ability under‐achieving intermediate school pupils. Three matched groups of under‐achieving pupils were chosen, known as the Counselling, Placebo and Control Groups, respectively. The Counselling group received non‐directive counselling following the administration of a battery of tests. The Placebo group received the same tests but no counselling. The Control group received neither tests nor counselling. The results showed a significant difference in the achievement scores of the Counselling group over both control groups in four of the six tests. In the other two tests, differences approaching significant levels were obtained. This leads to the conclusion that counselling does have a positive effect on under‐achieving pupils.