Assessing Counselling and Multicultural Competence of Secondary School Counsellors in Uganda: A Multicultural Setting

Abstract

This study examined counsellors' counselling and multicultural competence in Ugandan secondary schools using a quantitative one-group post-test-only design to provide evidence-based recommendations for effective counselling practices. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. A total of 139 participants—63 male and 76 female senior men/women—from 76 randomly selected secondary schools in Kampala, Uganda's capital city, formed the sample. The design was a one-group post-test-only approach. The Counselling and Multicultural Competence Questionnaire (CMCQ) was used as the instrument. The validity of the CMCQ was 0.85, and its reliability was 0.88. Results revealed that most counsellors lacked core counselling competence (59.5%), although they demonstrated moderate multicultural awareness (50.4%). There was a significant difference in multicultural competence between private and public schools’ counsellors t(137) = 2.455, p = .015 (p < 0.05), but not between professionals and non-professionals t(137) = 1.408, p = .161 (p> 0.05). The study recommends increased training, hiring of qualified counsellors, and enhanced oversight by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES).