Relevance of interview and interviewing skills in the practice of multicultural counselling in school setting

Abstract

This study looked into interview, counselling, interviewing skills and multicultural counselling in school setting. The practical research of the study took place in Zaria with one hundred and twenty respondents mainly teachers, career masters/mistresses and school guidance counsellor from selected schools. Their opinions were sought on the goals of counseling, interview, relevance of multicultural counselling in school setup and obstacles to effective counselling. The findings revealed that the leading goal of counselling interview is to clear up misunderstanding by clarifying and interpreting client's actions, ideas and desires; the leading relevance of multicultural counselling in school setup is promotion of good/acceptable norms and values that cut across all cultures while the leading obstacle to effective counselling is the inability of the counsellor to build rapport. Counsequently, the study recommends that the school guidance counsellor should understand the principle underlying multicultural counselling so that he can be effective in discharging his counselling services without cultural bias.