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THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CHOICE OF CAREER AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Career development for most people is a life long process of engaging the work world through choosing among career choices made available to them. Paslorelli, [2001] stressed that individuals undertaking the process is influenced by many factors, including the context  in which they live their personal aptitudes , and educational attainment. Rapid changes in information and communication technologies, increasing globalization and greater competition are contributing to dramatic change in working life, which do not have anything to do with an individual career, the concept of a job for life is no longer a reality.     
Young people are now looking for work life balance in their lives. They want to maintain the best balance between the hours they spent in paid work and the time devoted to other roles in their lives such as leisure, home and family life. Gordon (1997) stressed on the significance of early, career interaction in secondary school. She added that three are a lot of concern about personal counseling but much less concern are paid to helping students to the process of making vocationally choices. According to Hansen, (1996) everyone seems to have a story to tell regarding their career paths. For instance an adult is ask about their career development, the answer will be that he just get into that job or he was in the right place at the right time or he wanted to engage the other job before I change my mind to join the other job. However it is worthy of note to state that it is easy to elicit an answer from a group of enthusiastic children when asked what they want to become when they group up, through if similar question is posed to secondary school students, some will carefully provide an answer, while others may say, that they were not yet sure of what to be in future. 
Hayes, (1997) stressed that the uncertainty of career choice confusion among the secondary school students remains a constant challenge therefore it would be seem natural that an important component of early career development intervention during those exploratory and transitional stages would be fully investigated to determine those factors that determined the choice of a career among secondary school students. The American counseling association. ( ACA) 1998 stated the importance of secondary school students been preferred for the world of work as they enter a period of transition from secondary school career guidance programme should be based in assisting the students in career choice. 
Heir(1995) added that secondary school students are really influenced by external forces. It was also suggested by the counselors that there are internal factors such as personal identity, self esteem, decision making, style, as well as the development tasks to be accomplished. Hartung, ( 1995) stressed on the importance of both early instructions and the continued efforts in the career choice, the point here is not for the secondary school students to only make a decision a particular job they would like to join after schooling, but it is to fully participate in a process that would assist in preparing a foundation that could promote bright future. Kapes(1998) presents the steps or stages of introducing career choice which he summed up as follows, introducing career awareness activities in elementary grades, career exploration in middle grade and career preparation in secondary schools. Since choosing a career has an important role to play is ones life, there are needs to encompass the processes involved in better choice of career in secondary schools to enable the secondary school students to lay useful foundations for the future.

Statement of the Problem

A major turning point in adolescent lives involves the career choice they make while in secondary school. Frequently, it is viewed by family and community as  a mere start to work place readiness, however, this decision plays a major role in establishing youth in a career path that opens as well as close opportunities.
Purpose Of The Study
The main purpose underlying this study are:
1)  To what extent do parents role influence the choice of career among the secondary school students.
2)  To what extent do the teachers roles influence the career choice of the students in secondary school.
3)  To what extent do inadequacy of career counseling affects the choice of career among the secondary school  students.
4)  To what extent do peer group influence the choice of career among secondary school students.
Scope Of The Study         
This research work covers the secondary schools in Onitsha South Local Government Area, Anambra State. Thus, there are total numbers of fifteen approved secondary schools (both and public and secondary schools).       
In the course of the research, some limitations were encountered.One of them is that time frame of the work was quite short. Secondary school, it was not easily to obtain all the information necessary for the work. It was as a result of insufficient finances needed for the work as well as the lack of documentation of some basic information.         
This not withstanding, the researcher was able to obtain information covering five secondary schools, which is enough for reliable estimate using randomization method.         
These schools are as follows
1)  Urban Boys Secondary school, Onitsha
2)  Urban Girls Secondary School, Onitsha
3)  Christ the King College,  Onitsha
4)  Chukwurah High School, Onitsha
5)  Metu Boys Secondary Schools, Onitsha
Significance of Study         
This study is going to be of benefit of the following sets of people:
1)  The Government: It will enable the government to understand the importance of posting a career counsellor to the secondary schools.
2)  The students: The study will help the students adjust to better career choice if they have chosen a wrong one, and also enable the students to know the impact of making a correct career choice decision in secondary schools level.
3)  The parents: The study will enable the parents encompass career choice while teaching their children because formal education starts from the parents.
4)  The teachers: The study will enable the teachers to know roles they are to play in student lives as regard career choice.
Research Questions         
The following research questions are formulated to guide the study:
1)  To what Extent do parents role influence the choice of career among the secondary school students.
2)   To what Extent do the teachers role influence the students career choice.
3)   To what Extent do inadequacy of career counseling affect the choice of career among the secondary school students.
4)   To what Extent do peer group influence the choice among secondary school students.

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