Career Choice and Its Effects on Secondary School Students
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
The study has the following objectives
- To ascertain initial choice of course made by the students
- To find out Reasons for choosing library and information science as a course of study
- To ascertain academic performance of students in relation to their present course of study.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter reviews available literature on factors that influence career choice among students giving analysis and case scenarios from the global, regional and local contexts. The chapter gives an overview of the variables and their influence on career choice. The chapter further presents a conceptual framework reflecting the relationship between the identified dependent and independent variables.
Influence of family factors on career choice
Parents are the primary authority in influencing sex role, socialization, providing social skills training, promoting character development and developing a sense of responsibility. According to Kniveton (2004), the family can provide information and guidance directly or indirectly, to influence a young person’s career choice. For example, parents offer appropriate support for certain occupational choices which tend to follow their own (Small and McClean 2002). Parents’ expectation and support are important factors in influencing career decisions, maturation and future educational/occupational attainment (Guerra and Braungart-Rieker, 1999).
Parents can have an influence on their child’s career development by positively reinforcing or punishing certain behaviors that can encourage or discourage certain interests or abilities (Mitchell &Krumboltz, 1990).Siblings can be a source of challenge and competition and a basis for comparison of abilities, thus providing a context for identity formation (Altman 1997) .
According to Oyamo and Amoth (2008), studies in Kenya show that rural students tend to seek help from parents more than urban students and that parents more than teachers play a major role in the career choice of students. In a research conducted by Bezzina (2001, cited in Cassar and Cutajar, 2004) “parents perceive that their influence is important, and they make it a point to exert their influence in one way or another”.
Other research has examined intervention methods in career development that involve parents in order to assess the effectiveness of family involvement in career planning. Palmer and Cochran (1988) empirically tested the effectiveness of a program focused on career development with both parents and adolescents. The results from the study concluded that parents do function effectively in fostering the career development of their children when provided with a structured program to follow.
When young adults move away from home (for college or for work), their family will likely still have a strong influence upon them on two significant life events—marriage and their career (Larson, 1995).Although schools, peers, and the student‘s community all have an impact on the young adult‘s self-identity and career choice, the parent‘s expectations and perceptions of vocational fit for their children have been found to be the key roles in shaping their career choices (Ferry, 2006). In one study (Creamer &Laughlin, 2005), this influence has been so strong as to override the influence of teachers, faculty, and career counselors, who likely know more about the career field in question but were not as well-known and/or trusted as the student‘s parents for this type of decision. The young adult‘s understanding of his or her parent‘s expectations will influence their own career decisions, depending on whether the adolescent feels the need to go along with their parent‘s views or to rebel against them (Mau, Hitchcock, & Calvert, 1998; Penic & Jepsen, 1992).
When Middleton and Loughead (1993) examined how parents were influencing their children, they classified parents into three main categories: positive involvement; non-involvement; and negative involvement. Parents, who were positively involved with their children‘s career development and career choice, were enthusiastic about their children‘s career exploration and were emotionally and/or verbally supportive of the young adult‘s individual goals. Non- supportive parents, on the other hand, were ―unaware of what to do, how to help, or that their involvement is desired at all according to Middleton and Loughead (1993). A negatively involved parent was in a much more precarious situation where the adolescent felt anxiety or resentment, regarding career decisions based on parental attitudes. Parents in this category may have overtly pressured their son or daughter to focus on a particular career path which went against what the child believed was best for themselves.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this chapter, we would describe how the study was carried out.
Research design
It is a term used to describe a number of decisions which need to be taken regarding the collection of data before they are collected. (Nwana, 1981). It provides guidelines which direct the researcher towards solving the research problem and may vary depending on the nature of the problem being studied. According to Okaja ( 2003, p. 2),” research design means the structuring of investigation aimed at identifying variables and their relationship, it is used for the purpose of obtaining data to enable the investigator test hypothesis or answer research question by providing procedural outline for conducting research”. It is therefore, an outline or scheme that serves as a useful guide to the researcher in his efforts to generate data for his study.
Sources of Data
The data for this study were generated from two main sources; Primary sources and secondary sources. The primary sources include questionnaire, interviews and observation. The secondary sources include journals, bulletins, textbooks and the internet.
Population of the study
A study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description (Prince Udoyen: 2019). In this study the study population constitute of 114 400 level students of library and information science at University of Benin.
CHAPTER FOUR
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1: Initial choice of course made by the students
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The study examined career choice and its effects on students in Nigeria. The study showed that majority of the students never chose the present course of study from the beginning; this was as a result of the subject passed in secondary school and JAMB which did not qualify them into their choice of course. The study also revealed that the choice of course influenced the academic performance of the students in a way that students performance was on the average. The study therefore recommended that institutions, admission officers should carefully admit students into their programme of choice.
References
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- Issa, A. O., & Nwalo, K. I. N. (2008). Factors affecing the career choice of undergraduates in Nigerian library and information science schools. African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, 18(1), 23-31.
- Koech, Bitok, Rutto, Koech,Okoth, Korir & Ngala (2016). Factors Influencing Career Choice
