Counseling Services In Selected Dar es Salaam Public Primary Schools: An Exploratory Study

From the perspective of counselling psychology, counselling is important in the overall development of school children; thus, it should be provided to all learners. However, this is not the current reality in Tanzanian primary schools. This study explores the provision of counselling services and strategies applied by the teacher- counsellors in selected primary schools in Tanzania. Data were collected through interviews with five teacher counsellors in five schools. The findings show that counselling services offered predominantly included individual, developmental, academic, and group counselling. The counselling services targeted personal pupils’ problems such as nervousness, low achievements, and social related problems. Mainly, four strategies were used in the study area: self-disclosure, summarizing and reframing, constructive confrontation and personal centred strategy. As such counselling services should be integrated into the overall school development plan, and teachers should effectively utilize demonstrated strategies to positively impact pupils' general development