A Study of the Determinants of Vocational Choice Among Senior Secondary School Students
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To examine the determinants of career choice among secondary school students
- To examine the effect of student learning outcome on the choice of career among secondary school students
- To identify the influence of home background on career choice among secondary school students
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPT OF CAREER
Career can be conceptualized more broadly in terms of individual development in learning and work throughout life and this includes voluntary work and other life experiences (Watt, 1996, as cited in Torrington, Hall & Taylor, 2008). Popoola (2004) refers to career as a job or profession for which one undergoes regulated education and training over a period of time and which one intends to follow for the whole of one’s life. It is thus a chosen pursuit, life work and success in one’s profession. A career is now broadly defined as the unfolding sequence of a person’s work experience over time (Arthur, khapover & Wilderom,2005) or in more detail as` the sequence of employment related positions, roles, activities and experiences encountered by a person (Amoid, 2001). According to Dawn (2013) define career is that it is an individual vocation or trade or how he/she makes a living Examples of careers or occupations are engineers, accountants, and veterinarian etc. The following definitions are also very important to an understanding of career as a concept and they might be used interchangeably in the course of this study. Terminologies associated with career choice include; vocation, profession, job, work, occupation, trade, career development, career planning, career guidance, career education, career decision etc. Gettings (2012) defines vocation as an occupation that someone feels strongly about doing, despite monetary gain or other influences, therefore everyone’s vacation should be what they feel compelled to do because it gives a deeper meaning to life as well as added meaning within us, for example, someone may currently have a career in finance while his or her vocations remains teaching and going on various adventure indicating that a person’s true vocation will characterize how he/she operate in general. Catalano (2000) defined a profession as a type of occupation that needs certain criteria that raise it to a level above that of an occupation. It is a vocation requiring intensive education in science or the liberal arts and often specialized training (Costella et al, 1995). Ifelunni (1997) as cited in Omeje (2007) defined a profession as an assembly of members engaged in the same work setting with a body of knowledge that have been acquired over rigorous long period of training and are governed by ethical standards of behaviour and whose interests surpass mere personal gain to personal commitment to assist humanity. Profession is therefore a body of persons or person engaged in an occupation or calling. This implies that profession is a specific work or discipline in which one is both theoretically and practically trained. 16 According to Achebe (1983) as cited in Omeje (2007) a job therefore means a related or similar position in a single educational institution, organization or business establishment. In summary, a job can be referred to as anything an individual does intrinsically and extrinsically to earn a reward. According to Estella (2004) work is to exert effort in order to make something to achieve something, to produce a desired effect. Fromm (1973) refers to work as an effective means to deal with the angst of death and void. Therefore, working is a meaningful way to improve one’s existence and hopefully, that it is worth to be lived. Canadian Association of Occupational Theory Therapists (2002) states that occupation is everything people do to occupy themselves including looking after themselves (Self-care), enjoying life (Leisure) and contributing to the social and economic fabric of their communities (Productivity). These include the need /opportunity to keep busy, have something to wake up for, explore new opportunities, envision future time engage in valued activities and contribute to others (Hammell, 1998a, 2004a). Carmel (2001) claimed that “it is the perceived meaning fullness of life that mainly affects people‘s will to live”. Hence engagement in personally meaningful occupations contributes not solely to perceptions of competence, capacity and value but to the quality of life itself (Conneeley, 2003). According to Seignobos (2006), trade is a business which a person has learned and which he engages in, for procuring subsistence or for profit, occupation, especially mechanical employment as distinguished from the liberal arts, the learned professions and agriculture, as we speak of the trade of a smith, of a carpenter or mason but not now of the trade of a farmer, or a lawyer or a physician. Bezanson (2003) has defined career development as the lifelong process of managing learning and work in order to live and work with purpose and create a quality life. Cambridge dictionary (2011) defined career development as the process of learning and improving your skills so that you can perform your job better. According to Manolescu (2003) Career planning is a continuous process of discovery in which an individual slow develops his own occupational concepts as a result of skills or abilities, needs, motivations and aspirations of his own value system. Neveanu, 2003) opined that career planning must link individual needs and aspirations with organizational needs and opportunities, evaluating, advising and informing its client/staff on career planning, in individual development efforts with training and development programmes.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to a study of the determinant of vocational choice among senior secondary school student
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on a study of the determinant of vocational choice among senior secondary school student. 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Esan central local area of Edo state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on the study of the determinants of vocational choice among senior secondary school students. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of determinants of vocational choice among senior secondary school students
Summary
This study was on the study of the determinants of vocational choice among senior secondary school students. Three objectives were raised which included: To examine the determinants of career choice among secondary school students, to examine the effect of student learning outcome on the choice of career among secondary school students, to identify the influence of home background on career choice among secondary school students. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected secondary schools in Esan central local government area of Edo State. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made principals, vice principals administration, senior staffs and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Conclusions on the study were based on the finding of the study, these are as follows:
- There is needs for students to beware of environmental factors that could interfere with their career choices.
- Parents and teachers should prepare students for career awareness at early age.
- Parents should work closely with their children in career decision making process, allowing students to choose from their interest area.
Recommendation
Based on the findings of this investigation, the following recommendations were presented for implementation.
1 School counseling should be able to educate the students so as to be aware of various environmental factors that‟s might be influencing their career choice.
- School counseling should be able to advice teachers and parents on how to prepare students at an earlier stage by choosing the right career(Positively).
- School counseling should be able to advice the students not to be forced to select career by their parents and teachers but be guided on the career path they wish to pursue.
REFERENCES
- Dick, P. T., & Rallis, F. S. (1991). Factors and influences on high school students’ career choices. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 22(04), 281-292.
- Hahs-Vaughn, D. (2004). The impact of parents‟ education level on college students: An analysis using the beginning post-secondary students‟ longitudinal study 1990-92/94. Journal of College Student Development, 45,pp483-500.
- Hewitt, J. (2010). Factors influencing career choice. Cited from www.ehow.com on 15/02/2020.
- Hooley, T. (2012). How the internet changed career: framing the relationship between career development and online expertise. Journal of the General Institute for Career Education and Counselling (NICEC) 29.
- Holland, J. (1994) Self Directed Search. Odessa, FL: Resources of Psychological Assessment.
- Keller, B. K. (2004). Parental behaviours that influence adolescents career development. National career development association. Retrieved from http://associationdatabase.com/aws/ NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/4911/_PARENT/layout.details/false
- Kerka, S. (2000). Career development, gender, race and class. Eric Clearing house on Adult Career and Vocational Education Columbus. ED 421641.
- Kitivo, E.M. (1989). A study of the relationship between Kenyan secondary school pupils‟ achievement motivation and educational occupational levels of their parents .Unpublished master‟s thesis; Kenyatta University
- Lankard, B. A. (1995). Family Role in Career Development.ERIC Digest No. 164.ERIC Identifier: ED389878. Retrieved from, http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED389878.
- Maxwell. D. E. (2015). Factors influencing career choices among Senior Secondary School Students in Rivers State, Nigeria.
- McQuaid, R. and Bond, S. (2003). Gender stereotyping of career choice. Cited from http://www.careersscotland.org.uk 23.02.2010
