International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling 18:97-113, 1996.

1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

Assessment of counselling needs: A comparative study of

the perceptions of primary school teachers in Lesotho and
Malaysia

SALLY L. NAVIN, ~ NORAN FAUZIAH YAAKUB & OTHMAN

MOHAMED z
Ohio University, 2Universiti Pertanian Malaysia

Abstract. In this paper the results of a study conducted to determine the perception of coun-
selling needs by primary school teachers in Malaysia and Lesotho are reported. To this end,
teachers were asked about the special needs of students they teach, how they cope with these
students, what assistance they would like to have in teaching, and the best approach for dealing
with student concerns. Teachers in Lesotho are dealing with larger numbers of special needs
students and thus are having more difficulties than Malaysian teachers. Malaysian teachers
appeared to be more interested in improving their teaching effectiveness. There was some
variation in the perceptions of how to best deal with student concerns.

Introduction

The critical need for substantive educational development in all countries

of the world is unquestioned. Russell (1984) in a discussion on the devel-
opment of one unit in the National University of Lesotho emphasized this
universality in thought by stating that 'We are not alone in our faith in
education . . . . We are in good company. Leaders in many countries have
high expectations for education' (p. 151). More specific to the purpose of
this study, Soliman (1991) suggested that counselling and guidance, impor-
tant elements in the educational process, are among the most effective means
for developing human potential. In an effort to more clearly understand the
counselling needs as identified by primary school teachers in one African
and one Asian nation, this comparative study was conducted in Lesotho and
Malaysia.
Lesotho is a small African nation surrounded by South Africa with a
population of approximately 1.9 million persons. Independence from Great
Britain was achieved in 1966 (Lesotho Ministry of Health, 1993). Malaysia,
once also under British rule, in 1957 gained full independence. The country
is part of the mainland of Asia and has a population of approximately 19
million persons (Sin, 1993).
98

Education in Lesotho

Formal education was initiated in Lesotho in 1833 by three missionaries of

the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society who had been invited to meet the
then King of Lesotho, Moshoeshoe (Butterfield, 1977). In the mid 1860s, the
Catholic Oblates of St. Mary Immaculate and, later, the Anglican Church of
the Province of South Africa were further instrumental in the development
of formal education programs in Lesotho. During the 1920s numerous reports
on education in the territory were produced. One of the most noted was the
report of the Phelps-Stokes Committee which originated in the United States
and was supported by the British Colonial Office and the South African
government. Terms of reference for this Committee included the investigation
of current activities, the determination of the educational needs of the citi-
zenry, and the creation of recommendations for educational development
(Butterfield, 1977).
Following this committee report, education in Lesotho proceeded steadily
but somewhat slowly until the outbreak of World War II. In t944, the Colonial
Development and Welfare Act greatly increased British financial assistance
to her colonies (Butterfield, 1977) and education in Lesotho was improved
tremendously. Foundations for future educational developments were estab-
lished at this time.
At the higher education level, Pius XII College was created in 1945, became
the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland in 1964 and finally a
separate institution in 1975, the National University of Lesotho. By 1961,
there were seven teacher training colleges but today all primary school
teachers are educated at the National Teacher Training College (NTTC), where
four courses of study leading to certificates are offered: Primary Teaching
(PTC), Advanced Primary Teaching (APTC), Junior Secondary Teaching
(STC), and Secondary Technical Teaching (STTC). In addition to these
programs, in-service education is also offered at the NTTC to under-quali-
fied teachers and headmasters under the Lesotho In-Service Education for
Teachers (LIET) program. Currently, the NTTC programs, all under the direct
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, are undergoing revisions to increase
the number of teachers trained annually as there were only 181 graduates in
1990 (Sauvegeot, 1992), enhance curricular efforts, improve management and
personnel administration measures and expand the time for training from the
current two-year period (Snyder, 199 t).

Education in Malaysia

The development of the current school system in Malaysia is closely related

to the evolution of a plural society in the country itself. The present system
of education had its beginnings with the coming of the British to the Malay
Peninsula in the nineteenth century. The British in Malaya adopted a policy
of 'divide and rule,' which was responsible for education being provided in
 99

four languages, English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil. Education was offered at
the elementary level since the objective was to make the Malays better farmers
and fishermen. By 1938, there were 788 Malay schools (Ministry of Education,
Malaysia, 1970).
English education was first introduced in 1816 with the establishment of
the Penang Free School by Rev. R. S. Hutchings. This was followed by another
school in the Straits Settlements in Singapore (1824) and another in Malacca
(1926). By 1938, there were 46 government English schools, 59 assisted
English schools and 206 private English schools (Ministry of Education,
Malaysia, 1981).
Chinese education began in 1829 in Singapore. The curriculum was China-
oriented and both textbooks and teachers were brought in from China. Because
the development of Chinese education was greatly influenced by the political
developments in China, the British government began to provide financial
assistance to some of the Chinese schools. By 1938, there were more Chinese
schools than English with a total of 305 fully assisted Chinese schools and
331 supported by private Chinese organizations (Ministry of Education,
Malaysia, 1970).
Tamil education in Malaya was the result of private enterprise. The British
government did not provide education for immigrants but in 1902 this policy
changed when Tamil education for Indian children was introduced (Phang,
1973). Prompted by the increasing demand for more stable and cheap Indian
labor in the rubber estates, these schools were primarily developed in these
locations. Like the Chinese schools, the curriculum and teachers of Tamil
schools were oriented toward their home-country, India (Phang).
Higher education was offered in English with the creation of King Edward
VII Medical School in 1905 and Raffles College in 1928 where Arts and
Sciences courses were offered. The McLean Commission, formed in 1938,
recommended the amalgamation of these two colleges as the first step toward
full university status. This was accomplished in 1949 when the University of
Malaya was officially founded in Singapore (Phang, 1973). Currently there
are nine universities in Malaysia, seven in Peninsular Malaysia and one each
in the states of Sabah and Sarawak (Yaakub, 1990).
Formal teacher training for Malay schools began in 1884 in Singapore
(Ministry of Education, Malaysia, 1985). Today the preparation of primary
school teachers in Malaysia is carried out in any of the 28 teacher training
colleges in the country. These colleges are administered directly by the Teacher
Education Division (TED) in the Ministry of Education. The teacher educa-
tion curriculum of most courses, especially foundation courses, is also under
the central jurisdiction of the examination and evaluation unit of the TED
(Ministry of Education, 1993).
Each year approximately 10,00 teacher trainees are selected from nearly
40,000 applicants (Yaakub and Ayob, 1990). Since the last decade, several
changes have taken place in the education of these teacher trainees, either in
terms of curriculum content, duration of the teacher education course of study
100

or the implementation of teaching practicum (Yaakub, 1990). Apart from

providing pre-service teacher education, in-service education in some of the
teachers' colleges has been implemented. The aim of these teacher in-service
programs is (1) to upgrade the academic and professional knowledge of
teachers and to widen their experiences in various subject disciplines, (2) to
orient teachers toward new developments in teaching methodology techniques
and curricular programs, and (3) to enhance the commitment and motivation
of tenured teachers (Ministry of Education, Malaysia, 1990).

Purpose

It is to be expected that teachers will experience having a wide variety of

children with differing abilities and difficulties in their classes. These unique
students could be experiencing physical, cognitive, social or emotional diffi-
culties; family or health problems, or career concerns. Based on the personal
experiences of the authors in teacher training institutions in both countries, it
is known that pre-service education programs for teachers do not include coun-
selling components. For this reason it was decided that it would be of interest
to determine whether teachers in both countries, Lesotho and Malaysia, have
any expertise in handling the different types of children they must teach.
The overall objective of this paper is to compare the counselling needs
assessed by two groups of teachers, one in a southern nation, Lesotho, and
the other in an eastern nation, Malaysia. The rationale for choosing these coun-
tries stemmed from an interest of the authors in comparing these two cultures
in differing parts of the world as both are small developing countries evolving
their own national systems in the aftermath of colonial rule.

Questions

The following questions were selected for examination in this study: (1) What
are the types of special students found in primary schools in Lesotho and
Malaysia? (2) How well do these teachers cope with the different types of
children found in their respective classrooms? (3) What types of assistance
would these teachers like to have? (4) How do these teachers think their
students' problems should be resolved?

Method

Population
In Lesotho in August, 1992, 98 primary school teachers who were attending
in-service training at the National Teacher Training ColLege participated in
 101

the study. These teachers were from each of the ten districts in the country,
thus representing perceptions of all areas of the nation. In Malaysia in October,
1992, 92 primary school teachers who attended an in-service course at one
of the teachers' colleges participated in this comparative study. Even though
these teachers were from one college, they came from all areas of Malaysia.

Instrument

A questionnaire was developed to determine primary school teachers' per-

ceptions of guidance and counselling needs in Lesotho and Malaysia. The
authors made the assumption that new programs in guidance and counselling
in both countries would need to begin with the teaching/learning process and
the counsellor might best serve the countries initially as a consultant to
teachers. Prior to distribution of the Primary School Teacher Guidance and
Counselling Needs Assessment Questionnaire, this instrument was field
tested with several groups of persons including a country-wide Guidance
and Counselling Executive Committee and 22 Teacher Training College
lecturers. Minor changes were made and the questionnaire was distributed
to the teachers by two of the authors of this study, one a guidance and
counselling consultant in Lesotho and the other a university professor in
Malaysia. This instrument was comprised of four sections: (1) the number
and type of special students teachers dealt with during a school year with
these available responses: none, few, four or less, many, five or more and
don't know; (2) the manner in which teachers cope with these students
with these available responses: with difficulty, reasonably well, and don't
know; (3) the kinds of assistance teachers would like in using a variety
of teaching techniques, with the these available responses: yes, no, don't
know and not my responsibility; and (4) identification of the most effective
method for dealing with student problems with these available responses:
referral, representatives address students, parents should handle, and resource
teacher. Finally, teachers were asked to comment on the content of the
questionnaire.

Data analysis

All items pertaining to special needs students, teachers' coping ability, assis-
tance requested by teachers, and resolution of student's problems were sub-
jected to non-parametric analysis by using the chi-square test. The purpose
of this analysis was to determine whether any issues in any of the four main
categories were associated with country.
102

Results

Special students

In the first section of the questionnaire, teachers were asked to give a rough
estimate of the following types of special needs students they dealt with during
a school year: (a) physically handicapped or those with other physical
problems; (b) cognitive differences including the gifted and slow learners;
(c) social difficulties including being a loner, truant, pregnant, stealing or
school and community problems; (d) emotional difficulties in terms of lack
of interest in school or other personal problems; (e) family problems as
frequent fighting, drinking, strict parents or guardians and financial difficul-
ties; (f) health difficulties including AIDS, drug abuse, or using traditional
medicine; and (e) career choice problems.
In Table 1, the percentage of all respondents who indicated they taught each
of the special types of children is presented with the percentage of Malaysian
and Lesotho teachers following. If there was a significant difference between
the two groups of teachers, the degree of significance is noted.
As can be seen in Table 1, teachers in Lesotho are dealing with a larger
number of special needs students than are teachers in Malaysia. Basotho (two
or more persons from Lesotho) teachers are teaching more physically handi-
capped and students with other physical problems; slow learners; students, who
are loners or are pregnant; students with family financial problems, strict
parents or drinking problems at home; and health concerns including AIDS,
drug abuse and using traditional medicine than Malaysian teachers (p < 0.01).
More Malaysian teachers are dealing with truants and students who steal than
Basotho teachers (p < 0.01). More Basotho teachers are teaching students who
experience frequent fights at home than Malaysian teachers (p < 0.05).

Coping ability

In the second section of the questionnaire, teachers were asked to indicate

how they coped with these special needs students. In Table 2, the percentage
of responses of all teachers, Malaysian teachers and Basotho teachers in the
three categories, well, with difficulty and don't know, are found. If the dif-
ference is significant, these are noted as well.
In Table 2, it is seen that teachers in Lesotho are having more difficulty in
dealing with special needs students than are those in Malaysia. For example,
Basotho teachers indicated more problems in teaching handicapped students,
children with other physical difficulties, loners, and students with family finan-
cial problems than Malaysian teachers (p < 0.01). Basotho teachers also have
more difficulty in dealing with pregnant students, children with strict parents
or guardians, students who have parents who fight frequently or drink, and
children who use traditional medicine than Malaysian teachers (p < 0.05).
Table 1. Percent of special needs students for all teachers, for Malaysian and Lesotho teachers and significance of difference.

None Some Don't know Significance

All Malaysia Lesotho All Malaysia Lesotho All Malaysia Lesotho

Physical
Handicapped 64 89 40 31 9 53 5 2 7 0.01
Other difficulties 65 97 35 30 3 57 4 0 8 0.01
Cognitive
Gifted 15 20 11 81 76 85 4 4 4 n.s.
Slow learners 14 27 2 80 67 92 6 6 6 0.01
Social
School/Comm. 16 17 14 70 71 71 14 12 15 n.s.
Truants 21 20 21 67 79 56 12 1 23 0.01
Stealing 36 48 25 49 60 58 15 12 17 0.01
Loners 6t 72 50 26 14 38 13 14 12 0.01
Pregnancy 72 91 53 15 0 28 13 9 19 0.01
Emotional
Lack school interest 25 31 19 67 60 72 8 9 9 n.s.
Personal concerns 20 25 14 59 59 60 21 16 26 n.s.
Family
Financial 11 20 3 72 62 82 17 18 15 0.01
Strict parent 19 33 6 52 33 70 29 34 24 0.01
Frequent fights 30 32 27 42 34 50 28 34 23 0.05
Drinking 47 61 34 27 9 45 26 30 21 0.01
Health
AIDS concerns 68 85 53 2 0 4 30 15 43 0.01
Drug abuse 61 77 46 18 4 31 21 19 23 0.01
Using trad. reed. 22 33 11 37 20 54 41 47 35 0.01
Career
Career choice 20 25 15 45 47 44 35 28 4 n.s.

n.s,: not significant. ~,~

Table 2, Percent of ability of cope with special students for all teachers, for Malaysian and Lesotho teachers and significance of difference,
4~
Percentages
Well Difficult Don't know Significance
All Malaysia Lesotho All Malaysia Lesotho All Malaysia Lesotho

Physical
Handicapped 17 9 26 31 22 40 52 70 35 0.01
Other difficulties 15 5 25 31 20 41 54 75 35 0.01
Cognitive
Gifted 68 64 72 10 8 13 21 28 14 n.s,
Slow learners 30 26 35 53 53 54 16 21 11 n.s.
Social
School/Comm. 40 35 45 30 33 28 30 33 28 n.s.
Truants 41 47 37 32 32 33 22 31 26 n.s,
Stealing 31 35 28 32 27 36 37 38 37 n,s.
Loners 30 38 23 28 12 44 41 50 33 0.01
Pregnancy 8 4 12 22 13 30 70 83 57 0.05
Emotional
Lack school interest 36 37 43 43 40 46 21 21 20 n.s.
Personal concerns 40 37 43 29 30 28 31 33 30 n,s.
Family
Financial 25 22 27 40 32 49 35 47 24 0.01
Strict parent/guard. 30 19 41 26 27 26 44 54 34 0.05
Frequent fights 9 4 12 22 13 30 70 83 57 0.05
Drinking 18 12 25 28 23 34 53 65 41 0.05
Health
AIDS concerns 7 5 8 18 17 1 77 72 75 n.s,
Drug abuse 16 16 16 28 22 34 56 52 50 n.s.
Using trad. med. 23 14 32 18 15 21 58 71 47 0.05
Career
Career choice 45 51 41 13 9 16 42 40 43 n.s,

n.s.: not significant.

 105

Teaching assistance requested

In the third section of the questionnaire, teachers were asked what type of
teaching assistance they would like to have. Approaches in three areas were
listed: pedagogical, classroom management and interpersonal relationships.
In Table 3, percentages of responses and levels of significance for all teachers,
for Malaysian and Basotho teachers are found.
As can be seen in Table 3, there are significant differences in nearly all
areas of teaching assistance requested. However, there is only one difference
at p < 0.01 with Malaysian teachers indicating a need to have more assis-
tance in ordering materials. All of the remaining requests were significant at
p < 0.05.

Dealing with student concerns

In Table 4, percentages of responses and levels of significance for Malaysian

and Basotho teachers regarding the most effective ways of dealing with student
concerns are found. Available responses were making referrals, bringing
in representatives, asking parents to deal with the problems, and having a
resource teacher in the school.
Differences, significant at p < 0.05, are seen in Table 4 in each of the
approaches for dealing with student concerns including making referrals,
bringing in outside representatives, asking parents to assist their own children
and having a resource teacher or counsellor to work with these students. More
Malaysian that Basotho teachers favored these techniques.

Discussion

Special needs students

Physical difficulties
To determine if the respondents were teaching children with physical differ-
ences, two questions were asked regarding students with physical handicaps
and children with other physical problems. Almost two-thirds (64%) of the
respondents stated that they were not teaching students with physical handi-
caps. Only about one-third (31%) said they were teaching handicapped
students; 5% indicated that they did not have information on this question.
An examination of the distribution of responses for the two groups of teachers
indicates that the existence of handicapped children in the classroom is asso-
ciated with country. More than half (53%) of the Basotho teachers reported
having physically handicapped children in their classes as compared to only
9% of the Malaysian teachers giving the same response. The high percentage
for Basotho teachers is not surprising, however, as there are only two schools
in the country for disabled children, one in Motsekuoa for physically handi-
 o

Table 3. Percent of all teachers, Malaysian and Lesotho teachers requesting teaching assistance and significance of difference.

Yes No Don't know Not My Responsibility Significance

All Malaysia Lesotho All Malaysia Lesotho All Malaysia Lesotho All Malaysia Lesotho

Pedagogical
Small groups 89 96 83 t 1 1 8 3 12 2 0 4 0.05
Using aids 89 97 32 2 0 3 8 3 12 1 0 2 0.05
Lesson planning 87 96 80 3 1 4 8 3 13 2 0 3 0.05
Teaching more effectively 85 97 75 4 0 7 10 3 15 2 0 3 0.05
Diagnosing learning problems 83 92 75 3 0 6 12 8 16 2 0 3 0.05
Remedial teaching 78 86 70 5 3 7 14 ll 18 2 0 4 0.05
Classroom management
Discipline 87 95 81 3 2 3 8 3 12 2 0 3 0.05
Ordering materials 83 95 72 7 3 10 8 2 14 2 0 3 0.01
Beautifying classroom 84 95 75 3 1 5 11 3 17 2 1 3 0.05
Using comm. resources 74 85 64 8 4 11 16 10 21 2 1 3 0.05
Interpersonal relationships
Parents 83 83 83 5 10 1 9 5 12 3 2 4 n.s.
Problem children 78 86 71 6 3 8 13 11 15 3 0 5 0.05
School leavers 78 86 70 4 2 6 15 11 18 3 1 5 0.05

n.s.: not significant.

 107

Table 4. Percentagesof responses regarding most effective ways of dealing with student concerns
and significant differences.

Agree Disagree Undecided Missing Significance

Referral
Malaysian 86 3 11 - -
Lesotho 60 24 13 3 0.05
Outside reps
Malaysian 92 - 8 - -
Lesotho 70 10 16 3 0.05
Parents
Malaysian 27 55 !7 - -
Lesotho 7 79 1t 3 0.05
Resource teacher
Malaysian 83 8 9 - -
Lesotho 65 17 14 3 0.05

capped children and another in Maseru for blind children (B. Makhakhame,
personal communication, March 1, 1995). As for Malaysia, there are 26
elementary schools for handicapped children (Ministry of Education, Malaysia,
1993) and thus more children are placed in these special schools than in
ordinary schools. This is further supported by the fact that a great majority
(89%) of the Malaysian teachers reported that they did not teach physically
handicapped children.
The second question regarding children with physical difficulties dealt with
children with other physical problems. Again it is shown in the results that
more Basotho teachers (57%) reported teaching students with other physical
problems with only 3% of the Malaysian teachers giving the same response.
The differences in the responses to both statements are related to the fact
that in the more developed country, Malaysia, there are special services and
school environments for children with physical problems and thus these
students are less often seen in the regular classroom. In addition, better health
conditions and services exist in Malaysia. In the latest life expectancy data,
it is shown that the mean years for Malaysians is 71 and for Basotho it is 62.
The ratio of Malaysians per doctor is 1:2,638 persons and for Basotho it is
1:15,728 persons (World Almanac, 1995).

Cognitive differences
The respondents were asked if they taught two types of children with cogni-
tive differences: gifted and slow learners. A similar pattern was seen among
the respondents regarding teaching gifted students with 81% of all respon-
dents, 76% of Malaysian teachers, and 85% of Basotho stating they taught
these students. However, in terms of teaching slow learners a majority (92%)
of Basotho teachers as compared to 76% o f the Malaysian teachers stated
that they taught these students. Again, this difference is related to the devel-
opment of the educational program in Malaysian. Special classrooms for slow
108

learning students have been in operation for some time. In Lesotho, a special
education curriculum was not introduced to the NTTC staff until mid-1993
and thus nearly all Basotho teachers have not had training in dealing with
special needs students (Education Sector Development Plan 1991/1992-
1995/1996, 1992). In addition, 20% of the Basotho teaching staff are unqual-
ified or do not have a certificate or degree (Sauvegeot, 1992) which would
certainly impact their ability to deal with special students.

Social differences
Regarding social differences and/or other difficulties, the respondents were
asked how many children they were teaching had school and community
problems and were truant, stole, were loners or pregnant. Similar responses
were made on school and community problems with 70% of all respon-
dents, 71% of the Malaysian teachers and 71% of the Basotho teachers
indicating their students fell in this category. More than two-thirds (67%)
of all respondents stated that they were working with truant students. How-
ever, 79% of the Malaysian teachers and 56% of the Basotho teachers indi-
cated similar situations. Undoubtedly this is a greater problem in Malaysia
because of school attendance requirements. There are fewer statistics on
schools in Lesotho and the problem of truancy does not appear to be a major
issue.
Responses from all teachers showed that 49% of them dealt with students
who steal. Similar replies were seen from Malaysian teachers (60%) and
Basotho teachers (58%). A major difference occurred in the 'None' category
as 48% of the Malaysian teachers indicated that they did not have students
who stole. Only 25% of the Basotho teachers reported a similar finding. In
terms of teaching students who were loners, 26% of all respondents work with
these students. However, a vast difference exists between the two groups with
only 14% of Malaysian teachers but 38% of Basotho teachers indicating the
existence of these children in their classrooms. The large class size in the
schools in Lesotho with a ratio of 64:1 in 1990 (Sauvegeot, 1992) makes it
difficult for teachers to attend to the concerns of individual students. In fact,
one Masotho (one person living in Lesotho) teacher indicated in the final
section of the questionnaire how difficult it was to 'face 60 pupils in Standards
5 and 6.' Because of smaller classes, Malaysian teachers may simply have
more time to work with their more introverted students.
None of the Malaysian teachers but 28% of the Basotho teachers indicated
that they had students who become pregnant. The impact of strong religious
tenets in Malaysia certainly affects the lack of students who become pregnant
(Z. Muhamed, personal communication, March, 1995). Teenage pregnancy
in Southern Africa, while of great concern, is quite common and results in
less ostracism as is seen in Eastern cultures (B. Makhakhame, personal com-
munication, March, 1995).
 109

Emotional concerns
Two questions were asked to determine if teachers were dealing with students
with emotional difficulties. These included working with students who lacked
interest in school and working with students who had personal concerns.
Slightly more than two-thirds (67%) of all respondents indicated that they
have students who lack interest in school. While 60% of the Malaysian
teachers reported working with these students, the percent for the Basotho
participants was even higher at 72%. A similar report was also found for
teaching students with personal concerns with all respondents indicating a
59% rate, Malaysian teachers the same, and Basotho teachers a 60% rate.
The lack of specialists in the school to deal with these student concerns must
surely impact the high number of students with these problems.

Family issues
To determine if teachers were dealing with students who come from homes
where there are serious concerns, questions were asked regarding whether
there were financial problems, strict parents or guardians, frequent fights or
drinking at home. Of all respondents, 72% indicated that there were financial
problems at home, but the difference between the two groups was significant
with 62% of the Malaysian and 82% of the Basotho teachers stating that their
students were facing this issue. A Masotho teacher wrote on the questionnaire,
'Children are very much interested in education but they fail to proceed
because of poverty.' The results of the remaining family concerns were similar
in that the greatest difficulties were seen in the Basotho homes. With regard
to strict parents, 33% of Malaysian and 70% of Basotho teachers reported this
difficulty. Frequent fights at home were noted by 34% of Malaysian and 50%
of Basotho teachers. Drinking problems were reported by only 9% of the
Malaysian teachers but by another alarming 50% of the Basotho teachers. With
regard to drinking, again the impact of religion in Malaysia obviously affects
the low percentage of difficulty here.

Health issues
Questions were asked on health concerns in terms of AIDS, drug abuse and
using traditional medicine. In all cases, the concerns were seen as difficult
by many more Basotho than Malaysian teachers. With regard to AIDS, none
of the Malaysian teachers saw this as a problem but 4% of the Basotho
teachers did. Drug abuse was seen as an issue by 4% of the Malaysian teachers
but 31% of the Basotho teachers indicated this was a concern. Using tradi-
tional medicine was seen as an issue by 20% of the Malaysian and 54% of
the Basotho teachers. While traditional healers are quite common in Southern
Africa some students may be criticized because of their involvement with
these persons.
110

Career choice
While there was no significant difference in the respondents' views' on career
choice almost half of them indicated that this was a concern. Forty-five percent
of all participants, 47% of Malaysian teachers and 44% of Basotho teachers
stated that this was a difficult experienced by their students.

Coping ability

While the differences in the responses were not significant, all teachers (53%),
Malaysian teachers (53%) and Basotho teachers (54%) indicated they had dif-
ficulty dealing with slow learners. These results are not surprising especially
for the Basotho teachers as training has just begun to assist teachers in under-
standing the special issues with which these students are dealing (Education
Sector Development Plan (1991/1992-1995/1996, 1992). A similar response
was found in working with students who lack interest in school with 43% of
all teachers, 40% of Malaysian, and 46% of Basotho teachers stating diffi-
culty in teaching these students.
The percentages of teachers who had difficulty dealing with handicapped
students, students with other physical difficulties, loners, and students with
family financial problems were noted. With regard to handicapped students,
31% of all teachers, 22% of Malaysian, and 40% of Basotho teachers indi-
cated difficulty here. Similar responses were seen in working with students
with other physical difficulties with 31% of all teachers, 20% of Malaysian,
and 41% of Basotho stating lack of success with these students.
A larger percent of Basotho teachers (44%) than Malaysian teachers
(12%) indicated they had difficulty in working with loners. Basotho teachers
also had more difficulty teaching students with family financial problems
with 49% identifying this problem as compared to 32% of Malaysian
teachers. A Masotho teacher noted on the questionnaire, 'Poverty victims lack
concentration.'
Differences between Malaysian and Basotho teachers (p < 0.05) were seen
in working with pregnant students, students with strict parents or guardians,
students who experience frequent fights or drinking at home and students who
use traditional medicine. Thirty percent of Basotho teachers indicated diffi-
culty with students who become pregnant with 13 % of the Malaysian teachers
making a similar response. With regard to family issues, both groups had
difficulty dealing with students who had strict parents or guardians (Malaysian,
27%; Basotho, 26%) but 41% of the Basotho teachers as compared to 19%
of the Malaysian teachers indicated that they were successful in dealing with
these students. Difficulty in dealing with students who experience frequent
fights at home is experienced by more Basotho teachers (30%) than Malaysian
(13%). A similar response is seen in teaching students who come from homes
where drinking occurs as 34% of Basotho teachers and 23% of Malaysian
teachers expressed difficulty in dealing with these students. The smaller
percent of Malaysian teachers is undoubtedly impacted by the strong religious
 111

tenets in Malaysia. A final difference is seen in dealing with students who

use traditional medicine. Twenty-one percent of the Basotho teachers as
compared to 15% of the Malaysian expressed difficulty in dealing with these
students.

Teaching assistance requested

Pedagogy
Respondents were asked to indicate their preference for assistance in six
pedagogical areas, working with small groups, using aids in teaching, prepar-
ing lesson plans, teaching more effectively, diagnosing learning programs, and
handling remedial teaching. An overwhelming majority of Malaysian teachers
(more than 90%) indicated their readiness to learn how to work in small
groups, use teaching aids, prepare lesson plans, teach more effectively, and
diagnose learning problems compared to Basotho teachers. As for remedial
teaching, the number of Malaysian teachers indicating their willingness to
learn this skill was 86%. Again, this percentage is higher than that of Basotho
teachers at 70%.

Classroom management
Teachers were asked to indicate their readiness to learn how to manage the
classroom in four areas, class discipline, ordering materials, beautifying the
classroom, and using community resources. The results of the chi-square test
again indicate that a greater majority of Malaysian teachers (p < 0.01, ordering
materials; p < 0.05, class discipline, beautifying the classroom, and using com-
munity resources) were favorable to learning this particular area of profes-
sional skill. Smaller percentages of Basotho teachers, 64 to 81%, indicated
an interest in these areas.

Interpersonal relationships
Three areas of interpersonal relationship were identified in this study: how
to deal with parents, how to cope with problem children, and how to handle
school leavers. Teachers from both countries seemed to agree that they
needed more assistance in coping with their problem students. However, a
comparison by country again showed that more Malaysian teachers (86%)
than Basotho (71%) were interested in improving this skill. As for dealing
with parents, the pattern of response for the two groups of teachers did not
reveal that it was significant. Both groups of teachers were similar in their
response to this particular concern (93%).
From this finding, it may therefore be concluded that Malaysian teachers
have better opportunities to upgrade their professional skills as teachers. The
difference may be attributed to the following reasons. In Malaysia, since the
New Primary School Curriculum (NPSC) was introduced nationwide in 1983,
teachers are expected to know how to work in small groups, diagnose learning
problems, and to be able to acquire some skill in remedial teaching. Another
112

feature in the Malaysian education scene is that teachers are subjected to

evaluation of teaching by either their principals or master teacher (Yaakub,
1990).

Dealing with student concerns

Four different ways of handling students' concerns were given to respondents.

The results showed significant differences in the responses of Malaysian and
Basotho teachers at the 0.05 level in three areas. In order of priority, Malaysian
teachers felt that students' problems should be solved first by outside repre-
sentatives (92%), followed by referrals (86%), resource teachers (83%), and
finally parents.
Just like Malaysian teachers, Basotho teachers also stated that outside
representatives should be given the first priority to handle students' problems
(70%). However, Basotho teachers though resource teachers were of second
importance in dealing with students' concerns (65%). Third, Basotho teachers
agreed that students having problems should be referred to another expert
(60%). Similar to the Malaysian finding, Basotho teachers gave very low
importance to parents handling their children's problems with only a small
percentage (7%) indicating this source.

Conclusion

In the results of this study it is shown that teachers in Lesotho were dealing
with larger numbers of special needs students than were teachers in Malaysia.
Basotho teachers were teaching more students with physical, cognitive, family-
related, and social problems as well as health concerns including AIDS, drug
abuse and using traditional medicine. On the other hand, Malaysian teachers
seemed to be facing students with mainly two social problems, namely stealing
and truancy.
In view of this finding, it is therefore not surprising to find Basotho teachers
admitting having more difficulty in dealing with special needs students than
were those in Malaysia. However, the findings indicated Malaysian teachers
reacted more positively to improving or upgrading their professional skills
perhaps in part because more opportunities are available (Yaakub, 1990). A
larger number of Malaysian teachers indicated their willingness to upgrade
their pedagogical and classroom management skills, as well as to improve
their relationships with students and parents. In light of this finding, the
authors believe that to a certain extent one of the aims of the in-service
program in Malaysia, to enhance the commitment and motivations of tenured
teachers, is achieved. Finally, there seems to be some variation in the opinion
of these two groups of teachers as to who should resolve students' problems.
The difference in the opinion may be related to the understanding these
teachers have of each of the groups presented as service providers.
 113

Several limitations are found in this study and comprise recommendations

for further research. A number of important groups in each country were not
included in this study such as students, secondary teachers, parents, school
administrators and persons in the community such as business and industry
personnel. Information from each of these groups would be important in
guidance and counselling development in each country.
However, the similarities and differences in the perceptions of the teachers
surveyed are clear indications of the direction and importance of counselling
and guidance in both nations. It is the hope of these authors that the devel-
opment of these programs will continue to increase at a rapid pace.

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