EFFECT OF PRE-RETIREMENT COUNSELLING TECHNIQUE ON PRE-RETIREMENT ANXIETY AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN GOMBE SOUTH SENATORIAL ZONE, GOMBE STATE

This study investigated the effect of pre-retirement counselling technique on pre-retirement anxiety among primary school teachers in Gombe South Senatorial Zone, Gombe State. The study adopted a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group design. The target population comprised 1,510 primary school teachers who were within five years of retirement. Purposive and stratified sampling techniques were employed to select 80 primary school teachers, who were assigned equally to the experimental and control groups (40 participants in each group). The experimental group received six weeks of counselling sessions designed to reduce pre-retirement anxiety, while the control group received no treatment. One Instrument, namely; Nigerian Pre-Retirement Anxiety Scale (NPAS) was used for data collection. T The instrument was subjected to face and content validation by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Gombe State University. Its reliability was established using an appropriate reliability procedure, which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.825. The collected data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.  The findings revealed a significant effect of the pre-retirement counselling technique on pre-retirement anxiety among primary school teachers (F = 283.642, p < .001). There was no significant effect of gender on pre-retirement anxiety among primary school teachers (F=.089; p=.767). There was no significant interaction effect of pre-retirement counselling technique and gender on pre-retirement anxiety among primary school teachers (F=.182; p=.676).). It was concluded that pre-retirement counselling technique was effective in reducing pre-retirement anxiety among primary school teachers in Gombe south senatorial zone. Based on the findings, the study recommended that primary school teachers approaching retirement should participate in structured pre-retirement counselling programmes to help reduce pre-retirement anxiety and facilitate successful adjustment to retirement.