The Effect of Family on Career Choice of Students
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of family background on occupational choice of secondary school students. Specific objectives of the study are:
- To ascertain the degree in which socio-economic status of parents influence the career choice of students in secondary school.
- To examine the relationship between the level of education of parents and the career choice of students in secondary schools
- To determine if the size of a family have any influence on the choice of career of secondary school students.
- To examine the relationship between living condition at family and choice of career of students.
- To find out if the ability and temperament of parents affect the choice of career of 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).
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 the effect of family on career choice of students
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 the effect of family on career choice of students. 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 effect on career choice of 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 family on career choice of students
Summary
This study was on the effect of family on career choice of students. Five objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the degree in which socio-economic status of parents influence the career choice of students in secondary school, to examine the relationship between the level of education of parents and the career choice of students in secondary schools, to determine if the size of a family have any influence on the choice of career of secondary school students, to examine the relationship between living condition at family and choice of career of students, to find out if the ability and temperament of parents affect the choice of career of 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
Students’ career choice conflict are influenced by numerous factors including parents’ age, parents’ qualification, parents’ type of education and socio-economic status of parents. The most influential factors among others are parents’ qualification and parents’ type of education while parents’ age and socio-economic status of parents were found not to be significant. The study concludes that demographic factors like type and location of school attended and parents’ level of education influenced career decisions among students.
Recommendation
Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made.
- Significant career influencers such as friend, parents, members of the community and media personnel need to be equipped with correct career information for them to guide students appropriately.
- Career counselors should provide students with experiences that expand the exploration process and a wide range of career information on all the available careers so that they can explore widely before making their choices. In this case, after initial career decisions have been made, career counsellors can continue to encourage successful career development by identifying sources of psychosocial support available to students.
- There is need to revamp the career guidance programme in schools especially where there is a significant lack of career information.
REFERENCES
- Adams, F.A (2008). Parents have their say about their college aged children’s career decisions. National Association of Colleges and Employers Journal, 64 (3).
- Agarwala. T (2008). Factors influencing career choice of management students in India. Career Development international, 13 (4), 362 – 376.
- Ali S.L Mcwhirter, E.H and Chronister, K.M (2005). Self efficacy and vocational of lower socio – economic status; a pilot study. Journal of career Assessment 13(1), 40 -58.
- Ali, A (2006). Fundamental of research in education Awka. Meks publisher (Nig).
- Alika, I.H& Audu, I (2011). Counseling for sustainable career development. The influence of peers and parents on adolescents career choice in Edo State, Nigeria. Journal of the counseling association of Nigeria, 30(2); 21-30.
