Sixty-six years of a guidance service delivery in Ghana: Analysis of stakeholders' attitudes and perceived relevance on career success

This study examined 66 years of guidance service delivery in Ghana by analysing stakeholders’ attitudes and perceived relevance to career success. The study employed positivist philosophy and cross-sectional survey methods. A sample of 413 comprised basic school headteachers, school guidance coordinators, and district guidance coordinators across 15 regions in Ghana. A self-developed questionnaire was used to gather the data and analysed with Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (fourth-generation analytical tools). The study found that stakeholders’ attitudes towards guidance services at the basic school level were significantly related to policy implementation, perceived relevance, and career success. Additionally, perceived relevance or guidance services were also found to have a significant relationship with policy implementation, monitoring, and career success. Perceived relevance was also found to have a mediating influence on the relationship between attitude and career success and attitude and policy implementation on guidance services at the basic school level. The study recommends that the government of Ghana, through Ghana Education Service, should develop a more positive attitude towards guidance services by providing office allocation, logistics, special allowance or remuneration, and dedicated time for guidance services at the basic school level. © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.