Parental Influence on Career Choices among Secondary School Students

Parental Influence on Career Choices among Secondary School Students

Abstract

The study investigated parental influence on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area. The population for the study consisted of two thousand nine hundred and thirteen (2,913) senior secondary two (SS2) students offering Government in the eight (8) public secondary schools.

The sample size for the study was two hundred (200) students drawn from the four (4) public secondary schools in the study area. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the schools. Two research questions and research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.

The survey research design was used in carrying out the research work. The instrument for collection of data was a structured questionnaire titled Parental influence and Career Choice Questionnaire (PICCQ)’. The data generated from the study were subjected to chi-square statistical technique.

Findings showed that there is a significant influence of parents’ educational level on career choices among secondary school students; and that there is a significant influence of Parental occupation on career choices among secondary school students.

Based on the finding, it was recommended that teachers should provide purposeful and meaningful classroom instruction keeping in mind that students come from different value orientation background, hence should be treated as individuals within the context of individual dereferences in effective and cognitive development. 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Career plays a very fundamental and significant role in the life of an individual not only because they determine the pattern of income but also because they affect the individual personality and concepts in life. Career therefore is a choose pursuit, life work or success in one’s profession occupied by a person throughout his/her lifetime.

In a nutshell, career is the totality of work one does in his life time and is person’s centred. It is of utmost importance to every individual as he or she prepares for the future. Career choice is something very hard to decide, especially as a person’s life will depend on it.

Harry, (2013) indicated that, career is the totality of experience through which one learns about and prepares to engage in work as part of his way of living. Career is a process that occurs over the life span and includes homes, schools and community. Every human being needs to do one job or the other to help contribute his quota to the development of the country.

Similarly, Ipaye (2010) asserted that there is need to discuss with one’s peer school counsellors, parents and teachers on the need to choose a life span work as “career convention” or “career conference”. However, career convention according to him is an instrument of career information.

This occurs for a number of reasons, which includes: to stimulate career thinking and widen occupational horizon; to focus attention on particular jobs in order to help an individual crystallizes his preference; and to create a situation in which parents can on one hand meet employers and discuss the opportunities they offer and on the other hand meet the career teachers or career officers with whom they can exchange views.

The effect of parental influence on choice of career is both negative and positive this is due to: security factors; no usual hazards to health; assured steady income; certainty of continued employment; career or occupational satisfaction; prestige; and social rewards.

To increase students interest and ability to use his hands and brains, parents, must be involved to give desired assistance/guidance to the students. An investigation on parental influence on career choice has revealed that parents who interact with their children at home in a variety of ways shows interest in what they do or say tend to encourage their children towards better results on certain subjects in school.

Parental Influence on Career Choices among Secondary School Students

On the other hand, children whose parents show little or no attitude or attention to their studies at home, do not motivate and encourage better academic performance.

Career choice has become one of the most difficult decisions in the life of students. Thus career choice is capable of determining and individual’s social status, income and character, his lifestyle and so on. Therefore, there is need to counsel students to become vital because students’ years are marked by the development of the feeling of independence, self-reliance and self-esteem vocational assistance and occupational information from parents.

The benefits accompanying parental influence on career choice of their children cannot be over-emphasized, this is because it enables students’ combines’ subject that will lead then to fulfill their career potentialities such as personality traits, interest, aptitude and their abilities.

Moreover, career choice has influence the decisions in the life of students. The career choice of the students make the students to see social studies as an art, social science or commercial subject which is mainly for the students who are going to the field of social sciences and it is capable of determining and individual’s students’ participation in class, character and the lifestyle.

Consequently, there is need to counsel students become vital because students’ years are marked by the development of the feeling of independence, self-reliance and self-esteem vocational assistance and occupational information from parents.

This accompanying parental influence on career choice of their children is to assist the students to combines subjects at the senior secondary school level that will lead the student to fulfill their career potentialities such as personality traits, interest, aptitude and their abilities.

Furthermore, parental influences on career choice of their children can enhance confusion and frustrations that arise from unemployment, inability to locates, acquire and maintain jobs. Guidance counselor assists students in making intelligent decisions and effectuates capability.

Prominent among the services rendered by guidance personnel in secondary schools are information, appraisal referral, counseling, placement, and follows up service for the proper guidance of students on career choice and subjects combination also, parents play a significant role in the determination of the career of their children which assist the children in the selection of subjects according to areas that they indicate interest to participate after their senior secondary education.

Against this background, therefore, this study sought to assess parental influence on students’ career choice among secondary schools in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area.

1.2  Statement of the Problem

A number of factors influences the setting of career goals and aspirations by human beings such factors include interest, aptitude, and reward level of responsibility, social needs and status ego satisfaction. Parents who had prestigious careers in mind discouraged the offering of non-prestigious careers.

This is done without regard to the fact that an individual is endowed with certain potential, aptitudes and interest for career choice. Furthermore, parents sometimes force their children by getting them fulfill some lost grounds where the parents failed to achieve their aims and ambitions or make their offering contribution to certain societal needs and goals.

Owning to the complex nature of Nigerian society, the counseling programme provided by parents at home to their children has assumed a wider role in the educational development of their children and in the present-day students’ selection of subjects is based on the process of helping individuals understand themselves which will lead to the better understanding of other aspects of their live.

Furthermore, it is observed that most students tend to choose what is against their wish just to pleased the parent. Based on the aforementioned, this study seeks to examine parental influence on career choice of students in secondary schools in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area. 

1.3  Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to investigate parental influence on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area, Specifically, the study seeks to:

1. Examine the influence of parents educational level on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan local Government Area
2. Examine the influence of Parental occupation on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan local Government Area.

1.4  Significance of the Study

It is hoped that the outcome of this study would be of significance to parents, educators, school counselors, teachers, students, researchers, society members and the government in the following ways: the study will benefit parent to identify specific parental style that will produce well-rounded individuals with high confidence in subject selection and career choice which could lead to happy life in future.

The result will be benefitted to parent through; seminars, workshops and media. The study will benefit children through enhancing good parents-child relationship/by encouraging monitoring and supporting their career ambition which leads to good career choice.

This could be achieved through seminar, enlightenment campaign, youth forum and media. The outcome of the study will benefit the educators, school counselors and teachers to enable them guide parents, students and society members on the importance of observing children’s abilities, skills and talent in the choice of career rather than imposing career on them, through symposium, seminar, PTA meeting and workshops.

Policy makers (government) particularly in the education industry will benefit from the study in the area of formulating policies that has to do with parent-child relationship through seminars, conferences and media.

This research will serve as reference materials to students and researchers, who may wish to carry out similar studies in the area. It will also be beneficial to students through seminar, symposium and conferences to prepare themselves for evolving parenting roles taking place in the society for a more purposeful family living.

1.5  Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

1. To what extent does parents’ educational attainment of parent influence career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan local Government Area?
2. To what extent does Parental occupation influence on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan local Government Area.

1.6  Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were postulated to guide the study:

1. There is no significant influence of parents’ educational level on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan local Government Area
2. There is no significant influence of Parental occupation on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area

1.7  Limitation of the Study

The researcher encountered some difficulties in the course of conducting the research work such as were frame and shortage of finance. The researcher was also limited by his inability to combine other academic activities with the research work and to cover all the secondary schools in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

The research work is delimited to parental influence on career choices among secondary school students in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area This research work covers only public secondary schools in the study area. However, five public secondary schools were selected for the study.

1.9  Operational Definition of Terms

Career:  Is the totality of experience through which one learns about and prepares to engage in work as part of his way of living.

Career Choice: This is the selection and pursuing of a certain area that will lead to a particular profession after secondary education.

Parents: Are caregiver of the offspring in their own species.

Parental Influence: Is defined as any opinion, attitude, or action (other than direct tutoring) that somehow shapes or molds the child’s reading attitudes.

Occupation: This  is  a  person’s  job  or  profession  that  is carried  out  on  a  regular  basis  to earn a  pay

Influence: The power of acts by which parents or a person has to control the desire of another.

Choice: An act of choosing between two or more possibility, the right to choose or the possibility of choosing.