EFFECTS OF PEER MENTORING ON SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS AT RISK OF DROPOUT IN IDEMILI SOUTH, ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of a structured peer mentoring program on school connectedness among secondary school students at risk of dropping out in Idemili South Local Government Area, Anambra State, Nigeria. Grounded in Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, the study adopted a pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental research design. The target population comprised 492 at-risk senior secondary school students during the 2024/2025 academic session. A sample of 200 at-risk students (100 males and 100 females) was selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure across two co-educational public secondary schools randomly assigned to experimental (n = 100) and control (n = 100) groups. The experimental group participated in a 6-week structured peer mentoring intervention led by trained senior peer mentors, while the control group received standard administrative routines. Data were collected using the researcher-developed School Connectedness Scale (SCS) (a = 0.78), validated by experts in educational psychology and measurement/evaluation. Mean and standard deviation answered the research question, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) tested the hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that the peer mentoring group achieved a higher post-test mean school connectedness score {X} = 62.87, SD = 4.21) than the control group {X} = 49.63, SD = 5.88), yielding a net mean gain difference of 12.90. ANCOVA confirmed this difference was statistically significant (F{(1, 197)} = 284.631, p = 0.000). The study concludes that peer mentoring effectively strengthens institutional belonging and mitigates dropout risks among vulnerable adolescents. School administrators should formally integrate structured peer mentoring into standard counseling frameworks.