If you studied in Nigeria, you probably met “guidance and counselling” as a school office, a course or an exam question. Here’s what it actually means, how guidance differs from counselling, and what a good service does.
Guidance and counselling is a service that helps people, especially students, make sound decisions about their education, career and personal life. Guidance is the wider part: information, advice and assessment. Counselling is one part of it: a confidential conversation in which a trained counsellor helps you work through a problem and find your own way forward.
What guidance means
Guidance is help with making informed choices. It’s a continuing process that helps people understand their abilities and interests, make decisions about education, training and work, and manage the direction of their lives.
In practice, guidance includes giving information (about courses, careers or services), assessing abilities and interests, offering advice, and helping people plan. It’s often done with groups: a careers talk for a whole class, an orientation for new students, a workshop on study skills.
What counselling means
Counselling is a professional relationship that helps people with personal, emotional, educational or career concerns. The American Counseling Association describes it as a relationship that helps individuals, families and groups reach mental health, wellness, education and career goals.
What sets counselling apart is how it works. A counsellor listens, asks questions and helps you see your situation more clearly, but doesn’t hand you their opinions or tell you what to do. The decisions stay yours. Counselling is also confidential, within limits your counsellor should explain at the start.
The difference between guidance and counselling
| Guidance | Counselling | |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Helping you make informed choices | Helping you work through a personal difficulty |
| What happens | Information, assessment, advice, planning | A confidential conversation, led by your concerns |
| Who leads | The guide or counsellor shares information | You lead; the counsellor listens and reflects |
| Usual setting | Often in groups, such as a class or an orientation | One to one, or a small group |
| Typical example | Choosing WAEC subjects or a university course | Coping after a parent’s death, or with exam anxiety |
The two overlap, which is why schools put them together. A student who comes in for help choosing a course may turn out to be struggling with pressure from home. Good guidance turns into counselling when it needs to.
The three types of guidance
Nigerian universities and international school-counselling bodies describe the same three areas.
Educational guidance
Help with learning and education: choosing subjects and courses, study habits, coping with exams, moving from primary to secondary school, or from secondary school to university. A typical example is helping an SS1 student pick a science, arts or commercial class in line with their interests and abilities, not just their parents’ wishes.
Vocational (career) guidance
Help with choosing and preparing for work: understanding which careers suit your interests and strengths, what different jobs involve, and how to get there. Career talks, aptitude questionnaires and visits from professionals are classic examples. Adults use career guidance too, when changing jobs or after losing one.
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Personal-social guidance
Help with personal and social life: making friends, handling conflict, self-esteem, family problems, relationships, peer pressure and emotional wellbeing. This is the area where guidance and counselling overlap most, and where a counsellor may refer someone on for more specialist help.
What a school guidance and counselling service does
Textbooks and Nigerian studies describe the same set of services:
- Orientation: helping new students settle into the school and understand how it works.
- Appraisal: gathering information about students’ abilities, interests and progress, for example through tests and records.
- Information: giving students accurate information about courses, careers and opportunities.
- Counselling: one-to-one or group sessions for students with personal, academic or career concerns.
- Placement: helping students into suitable subjects, courses, clubs or jobs.
- Referral: passing a student on to someone better placed to help, such as a doctor, a psychologist or a therapist.
- Follow-up: checking how students are doing after a decision or a referral.
Referral matters more than it sounds. A school counsellor isn’t expected to treat depression, trauma or abuse alone. Part of the job is spotting when a student needs more help, and making sure they get it.
Where guidance and counselling came from
The modern idea of guidance is usually traced to Frank Parsons, an American reformer. He set up the Vocation Bureau in Boston in January 1908 to help young people choose work. He died later that year, and his book Choosing a Vocation was published in 1909. In it he described three steps that still shape career guidance: understand yourself, understand the world of work, and reason carefully about how the two fit.
In Nigeria, histories of counselling usually date organised school guidance to 1959, when Catholic sisters at St Theresa’s College, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, arranged career talks for their final-year students. Other milestones followed:
- 1975 to 1976: the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) grew out of an inaugural meeting at the University of Ibadan in November 1975 and elected its first executive in June 1976.
- 1976: the University of Ibadan set up a Department of Guidance and Counselling, and the University of Ilorin started a counselling programme the same year.
- 1981: the revised National Policy on Education said career officers and counsellors would be appointed in post-primary schools.
- 2017 to 2018: a National Policy on Counselling was approved and unveiled.
- 2022: the Counselling Practitioners Council of Nigeria Act created a council to regulate counselling practice. The council was launched in April 2025.
Why it matters
A working guidance and counselling service helps students choose courses that suit them, catch problems early, and get referred for help before a difficulty becomes a crisis. Reviews of international research have linked better counsellor-to-student ratios with better outcomes for students.
In Nigeria, the service is uneven. There’s no national count of school counsellors, but local studies show the gaps. In Benin City in 2005, only about a quarter of public secondary schools had a practising counsellor. Principals in Kwara State described schools without a proper counselling unit in 2021. In 2024, counsellors in Adamawa State reported being given duties that had nothing to do with counselling.
When guidance isn’t enough
School guidance is a starting point, not the whole answer. If you, or a young person you care for, are dealing with persistent low mood, anxiety, grief, self-harm or abuse, a trained therapist can offer support that a busy school office often can’t.
- Students can see what support is available to students on Mytherapist.ng.
- Parents of a child under 18 can start with the school counsellor or a family doctor, who can refer to child and adolescent mental health services. Cece Yara’s free child line, 0800 800 8001, is open 24 hours for children. Parents who want support for themselves can talk to a family and parenting therapist.
- If you’re wondering what stays private, read will my therapist tell my parents?
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 112 (or 767 in Lagos), or Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000. The full list of numbers is on our helplines page.
Frequently asked questions
What is guidance and counselling in simple terms? Help to make good decisions and to work through problems. Guidance gives you information and helps you plan; counselling is a private conversation with a trained person who helps you sort out what’s troubling you.
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What is the main difference between guidance and counselling? Guidance is mostly about informed choices, often given in groups, and can include advice. Counselling is a confidential conversation about a personal difficulty, where the counsellor helps you reach your own decisions instead of telling you what to do.
What are the three types of guidance? Educational guidance (school and learning), vocational or career guidance (work), and personal-social guidance (personal life, relationships and wellbeing).
Who is the father of guidance and counselling? Frank Parsons, who opened the Vocation Bureau in Boston in 1908, is usually called the founder of vocational guidance. In counselling, Carl Rogers is the best-known figure; read about his non-directive approach.
When did guidance and counselling start in Nigeria? Nigerian histories usually date it to 1959, when career talks were organised for final-year students at St Theresa’s College, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. CASSON followed in 1975 and 1976, and university departments from 1976.
Is counselling regulated in Nigeria? Yes. The Counselling Practitioners Council of Nigeria Act of 2022 set up a council to regulate counselling practice, and it was launched in April 2025. CASSON is the main professional association. If you’re thinking of training, read how to become a therapist in Nigeria.
What types of counselling are there? Individual, couples, family and group counselling, plus counselling focused on careers, school, addiction, grief and more. See our guide to the types of counselling.
