FACTORS MOTIVATING CAREER CHOICE AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

Career choice, for most people, is a lifelong process of engaging the work world through choosing among employment opportunities made available to them. Each individual undertaking the process is influenced by many factors, including the context in which they live, their personal aptitudes, and educational attainment (Bandura and Pastorelli, 2001).

A major turning point in adolescents’ lives involves the career choice that they make while in high school. Frequently, it is viewed by family and community as a mere start to workplace readiness; however, this decision plays a major role in establishing youth in a career path that opens as well as closes opportunities (Akbulut, and Looney, 2009).

Choice is an emotive subject among social scientists as it is of central importance to debates in a wide range of substantive areas. The relative importance of individual freedom of action (agency) and the constraints imposed by one’s position in society (structure) has been fiercely debated and there are few, if any, areas of study with the social sciences where questions relating to individual choice are not raised (Beyer, 2008).

The research documented in this text is, in the context of the above, very modest in both its scope and ambitions.  Its primary goal was to attempt to examine decision “ making behaviour in a particular context, the transition facing young people nearing the end of their compulsory schooling in Nigeria (Courte and Bishop-Clark, 2009).

Choices are not made in isolation. The young person is subject to ˜structural’ influences stemming from the social and cultural groups to which he or she belongs.  Thus social class, gender, and ethnicity will all play a part in shaping aspirations, as to the characteristics of the locality in which the young person lives

It is these four factors (social class, gender, ethnicity and locality) that have been shown to have had the strongest influence on individual career trajectories. Frolick, Chen and Janz (2005) study is an oft cited landmark in this area (but has been criticized for using only the fathers’ occupation to measure the social class of a family). More recently Galpin, Sanders, Turner and Venter (2003), using historical accounts from over 1,200 structured interviews, demonstrated how multivariate statistical models can predict patterns of lifetime educational participation with an extremely high degree of accuracy (90 + per cent), using only the information available at the end of an individual’s compulsory schooling.

Particular issues addressed by researchers include the timing of decision making, the factors influencing choices, and the actors involved in the choice process. These are discussed below, before ˜models’ of decision making are addressed, and particularly influential studies are examined.

Career choice is not something a student can deliberate on by his/her own opinion, there is need to sanction accurately before mentoring the child to do. The word ˜vocational’ is synonymous with career, occupation and profession. They can be used interchangeably.

According to Granger, Dick, Jacobson and Van-Slyke (2007), career is used to describe the total composite of ones activity throughout life. In the same Alika and Egbochuku (2009) define career as the sequence of occupation, job and position occupied during a person’s working life. This may be extended to both the pre “ vocational and post vocational positions. It comes through a process of career development, understanding self, understanding the current and future environment and bringing about maximum compatibility between the two elements. It will not be wrong therefore, to say that one’s career is his life and that the process by which it evolves is the process of career development.

Maximum compatibility between the two element of self-understanding and the world of work can only come through vocational counselling which is the assistance given by the counsellor or career master or mistress to another person either boy or girl, man or woman to make effective use of his own resources and his environment. Opportunities in the process of self-understanding, planning, decision making and coping with problems relative to his developmental needs and to his education and vocational activities (Eckerman and Didow, 1988).

Every learning is dependent on motivation. Motivation is something within a person that springs into action either to the positive side or negative side. Motivation can then be defined as an internal process that persists in an individual until a goal has been achieved. Motivation has several effects on how students learn and their behaviour towards a subject. As observed by Tella (2003) how the learning is perceived by the learner will affect what learning, if learning will take place. Therefore a person is likely to be more committed to something that is valuable than something that gives no satisfaction. Students are motivated when a teacher exhibits competence and skill to something that is valuable than something that is not. Motivation is the process of getting people to move in the direction you want them to.  The organisation as a whole can provide the context within which high level of motivation can be achieved through reward systems and the provision of opportunities for learning and development.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

Lack of awareness about a skills, values and interests can cause problems when trying to choose a career. While this is a typical problem for young people in high school, it can affect anyone who is out of touch with what he wants from a career. Lack of career aptitude tests and career counseling can affect a person’s decision per time. Another major problems faced by students in high school with respect to making career choice is due to lack of orientations and guidance from instructors in the school setting. Confusion of choosing a related course due to their incapabilities to successfully scale through to the end can affect students’ choice of career. Again, pressure from peer group can force a secondary student in making a wrong career choice. This will encourage imitation of career that may not be suitable for a students’ personality type. Furthermore, lack of proper guidance from parent can negatively affect students’ choice of career in secondary school.

1.3  Purpose of Study

The study examines impact of motivational factors on career choice among senior secondary school students. The specific purposes of the study are to:

1. Survey the motivational factors that influence students’ choice of career.
2. Measure the influence of pressure group on career choice.
3. Examine the roles played by guidance and counsellor in students’ career choice
4. Examine the problems of career choice among secondary school students.

1.4  Research Questions

The study is guided by the following research questions:

1. What are the motivational factors influencing students’ choice of career?
2. What effect does pressure group has on career choice?
3. What are the roles played by guidance and counsellor in students’ career choice?
4. What are the problems of making career choice among secondary school students?

 1.5  Research Hypothesis

The following hypothetical statement was developed for the study:

H_o:     There is significant relationship between motivational factors and students’ choice of career among secondary school students.

H₁:     There is significant relationship between motivational factors and students’ choice of career among secondary school students.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study are stated below

The school administrators may use findings from the study to understand the factors affecting students’ career in secondary school and as result, focus more on how to properly guide secondary schools students in making career decision.

The study will serve as a guide to head teachers and Board of Governors, parents and teachers’ association, members of the public, district education officers, district inspectors of schools to realize the effects of students’ career choice on their academic performance.

Again, it will enable secondary school proprietors to be able to plan systematically for students’ guidance and counselling session. Other stakeholders of education (parents, students, teachers, support staff, donors) will use the findings of study as a checkpoint to happenings of the same nature.

1.6     Scope of Study

The work examine factors motivating career choice among senior secondary school students with a view to explore students in Yaba, Local Govt Area, Lagos.

1.7     Operational Definitions

Prime Factor: This is an important issue which requires greater contributions of excellence in doing or preparing a student’s future career choice.

Motivation: Motivation is the processes of getting people to move in direction you want them to.

Career: This is used to describe the total composite of one’s activities throughout life.

Choice: This is the right or opportunities to choice a varieties from which to be chosen. All over the world, students are known to exist and function in complex and dynamic environments. The circumstance compels students to adopt innovating measures to meet the changing needs of the time and to bridge the gaps between goals and actual performance.

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