ABSTRACT
This study investigated guidance and counseling on career choice of secondary school students in Ojo, Lagos State. The population for this study comprise of all secondary schools in Ojo, Lagos State.
However, the sample size of the study comprise of 150 students.
A simple random sampling technique will be used in selecting 5 secondary school, from which 30 students will be drawn for the study. A descriptive design using specifically the survey research design in carrying out the research, data were collected from respondents through a questionnaire is titled “Influence of Guidance and Counseling on Career Choice” (IGCCC), Chi-square was used to analyze hypotheses 1-3, using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) simple percentage distribution was used to present data ,it is recommended that workshops and seminars can be organized to educate parents about the diverse career options available and how to support their children in making informed choices, parents should be encouraged to actively participate in their children’s career decision-making process, and schools should invest in robust counseling services.
Word Count: 168
Key words: Guidance, Counseling, Career Choice, and Secondary School
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
Title i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of Contents vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 3
1.3 Purpose of the Study 3
1.4 Research Questions 4
1.5 Research Hypotheses 4
1.6 Significance of the Study 4
1.7 Scope of the Study 5
1.8 Limitations on the Study 5
1.9 Operational Definition of Terms 5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Conceptual Framework 6
2.1.1 Concept of Guidance and Counseling 6
2.1.2 Types of Counseling 8
2.1.3 Guidance Service 9
2.1.4 Classification of Guidance and Counselling in Schools 13
2.1.5 Approaches to Guidance and Counselling 14
2.1.6 Career Choice 15
2.1.7 Guidance and Counselling and Career Choice 16
2.1.8 Guidance and Counselling and Gender in the Career Choice 16
2.1.9 Developmental Problems of Guidance and Counselling 17
2.1.10 The Need for Guidance and Counseling in Schools 18
2.2 Theoretical Framework 20
2.2.1 Social Cognitive Career Theory by Cent, Brown and Hackett (1987) 20
2.3 Empirical Review 20
2.4 Summary of Literature Review 21
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design 23
3.2 Population of the study 23
3.3Sample Size and Sampling Technique 23
3.4 Instrument for Data Collection 23
3.5 Validity of Research Instrument 23
3.6 Reliability of the Research Instrument 24
3.7 Method of Data Collection 24
3.8 Method of Data Analysis 24
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
4.1 Demographic Data of Respondents 25
4.2 Answering Research Questions 26
4.3 Testing of Hypotheses 26
4.4. Summary of Findings 29
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTION OF FINDINGS
5.1 Introduction 31
5.2 Discussion of Findings 31
5.3 Conclusion 35
5.4Recommendations 36
5.5 Suggestions for Further Studies 36
Reference 38
Appendix 42
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the significance of guidance and counseling services in secondary schools worldwide. Educational institutions have increasingly acknowledged the need to provide students with appropriate resources and support to navigate the complexities of career decision-making.
According to Melvin (2015), secondary school education is the engine room of knowledge acquisition, a stage at which students come in contact with various subjects, which determine the field of study they will like to pursue in higher schools secondary school education is kind of level after the primary education and before higher education. Its position in the educational system also speaks of its importance.
Schwarzeller (2012) see school as that which provides an outside view of what needs to happen for change to occur and also an equal opportunity for developing capabilities and talents. Education reforms Nigeria always have secondary schools as the main focus. It is viewed as the powerful stage for knowledge, skill and experience acquisition as well as a wide range of career prospects for young boys and girls (Ezekwesili, 2016).
It is systems that is targeted toward strengthening secondary school education and providing students with more practical knowledge that can make them self-reliant after graduation. Kutara (2017) opines that, individual differences exist among people; this affects who the individuals are and what they are capable of doing. What an individual does is sometimes variance with his ability, aptitude capability and interest.
Individual differences in the rate of growth, intellect, school achievement sex usually set the pace where students look at themselves in career orientation. But such factors as home, the school, the mosque, church and the community for very vital factors in the students’ environment, thus, influencing their career choice or aspirations. Other factors like parental expectation, big salary, societal prestige, personal security, good rapport with friends, changes for advancement as well as the nature of the work itself have directly or indirectly lured most student who are about to leave school into making unrealistic career choices. Career as used in the field of counseling has a broad and technical meaning.
Technically, it refers to sequence of role or a position including works, leisure and educational pursuit that may encompass a number of occupations, vocations or jobs one engages in during his working life (Seligman, 2014). According to the international Encyclopedia Britannica (2018) career is job for which it is possible to advance during their working life, so that they may get greater responsibility and earn more money.
Career can also be said to be the total life long experience of work that has come to serve as his means of earning a livelihood (Kolo, 2011). The career choice previously was not as difficult as it is today.
There were fewer job opportunities and more importantly, parents, teachers and religious bodies were aware of the existing opportunities as well as requirements for entry into them. Today, the situation the dame for the fact that secondary school students hardly have full knowledge of the requirement for each job and can no longer keep track with the numerous career opportunities, it is against this background that the guidance and counseling was introduced in order to assist the secondary students in choosing a career.
Guidance and counseling is helping profession which is concerned with molding, reconstructing and rehabilitating a trouble person. It is a self-revealing relationship and both preventive and curative of maladaptive behavior.
It is globally accepted that, guidance and counseling activities are for human beings, those with or without problems, normal and abnormal. The establishment of modern guidance and counseling in secondary schools in Nigeria however, rest on the realization of the need for more sophisticated and integrated package to help individual satisfy their problems and concerns of presents day living.
Okon (2014) defined guidance as total program of a number highly specialized activities implemented by specialist to help individual make wise and intelligent choice and decisions, counseling on the other hand, has been defined by Makinde (2017) as a service designed to help an individual analyze himself by capabilities, achievements, interest mode of adjustment towards what new decision he has made or has make.
Therefore, since guidance and counseling is a profession, for effective counseling to take place it must involves the application of basic principles for effective helping. These however, include the principle of understanding, sequential process; appreciate self-disclosure and observance of ethics. Their applications not only make counseling effective but also add to the specialist of the counseling relationship.
For guidance to be meaningful, it, must be seen as a series of programmed activities which help the normal school child to know himself/herself as an individual, become more aware of his/her person, experience his/her world and those people he/she relate with it is a dynamic process which undergoes continuous change over time as it is not a single event but a series of events, steps or action which are geared towards the general development of the individual. Hence, guidance and counseling play a vital role in the career choice of the students.
1.2 Problem Statement
Most schools in Nigeria run programs that are deficient in diversification to cater for all career choices of students. In these schools, most of the students are lefty unguided either because their schools have no guidance and counseling services or the nature is not up to standard, students are prone to making unwise career choices or no choice at all because there is no counselor to guide them, until after schooling.
Choice of subjects and course as a result of lack of sufficient information.
Apart from this problem, there is a conflict between the students’ freedom of occupation and not only that of the nation’s manpower needs but also the conflicts between the students’ choices, the parents’ choices, and friends’ advice.
The fact that secondary school students cannot make realistic career plans is a serious problem and this research work will equally look at the problem associated with guidance and counseling, career choice, and aspirations of these levels of students because guidance and counseling implies their choice and aspiration, which career choice has serious consequences on their future and by extension the society at large.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of guidance and counseling on the career choice of secondary school students’. The specific objectives include:
- to examine the impact of parents on career choice of secondary school students.
- to investigate the influence of guidance and counseling services on decision-making processes related to career choice.
iii. to find out the roles of guidance and counseling to the students’ career choice in secondary school.
1.4 Research Question
This research is an attempt to answer the following questions:
- What is the relationship between parental influence on career choice and students’ agein secondary schools in Ojo, Lagos State?
- What is the relationship between parental influence on career choice and influence of guidance & counsellingin secondary schools in Ojo, Lagos State?
- What is the relationship between parental influence on career choice and roleof guidance & counselling in secondary schools in Ojo, Lagos State?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
H01: Parents does not have impact on career choice of secondary school students’
H02: Guidance and counseling services does not have influence on decision-making processes related to career choice of secondary school students
H03: Guidance and counseling service does not have a role in students career choice in secondary school.
1.6 Significant of the Study
Naturally decision-making is very important, it is the hardest thing to do in life. Youths are usually the people concerned with choosing careers, which may hopefully be helped by guidance and counseling officers.
The study will help to solve the conflicts that exist between parents and students in the area of career choice. The research is essential to parents, students, community, and government because it will reveal the areas of weakness in the guidance profession and reasons why students should have good performance and careers if they are well counseled. This research will equally inform the management of schools under study of the importance of guidance and counseling services in schools.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The study focused on the influence of guidance and counseling on the career choice of secondary school students in Ojo, Lagos State.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
This study may be faced with some challenges. The study may also face difficulties in getting willing respondents. Each step of the data collection process involved participation in the form of providing learned, truthful and accurate responses to the pertinent issue; therefore, the researcher was sensitive to the possibilities of negative perception of questions
1.9 Operational Definition of Terms
Guidance and Counseling Services: For this research, guidance and counseling services refer to the range of interventions, support, and resources provided to secondary school students to assist them in making informed career choices. These services may include individual counseling sessions, group workshops, career assessments, informational resources, career fairs, and activities aimed at facilitating self-awareness, career exploration, and decision-making processes.
Career Choices: Career choices refer to the decisions made by secondary school students regarding their future academic and professional paths. It encompasses the selection of a specific occupation or field of study that aligns with their interests, abilities, values, and aspirations
Decision-making Processes: Decision-making processes in the context of this research refer to the cognitive and evaluative steps taken by secondary school students to make career choices. It involves gathering information, analyzing options, weighing pros and cons, considering personal interests and values, and ultimately making a decision regarding a chosen career path.
Secondary School Students: Secondary school students in this research context are defined as individuals typically between the ages of 13 and 18, enrolled in educational institutions providing education beyond primary school. These students are at a stage where they are beginning to make decisions about their future careers, and guidance and counseling services play a significant role in supporting their career development.
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