Influence of Parents’ Occupation, Gender and School Location on Vocational Interest Among Senior Secondary II Students in Borno State Nigeria
October 10, 2008
Introduction
Career development attracted many researchers in Educational studies and particularly in Couselling Psychology. Scholars like Denga (1975), Okon (1984), Pinder (1986), Mburza (1992), Abubakar (1998), Salomi (1999) and Salawu and Bagudo (2000) studied career choice and other variables such as gender, parents’ occupation, school location, self-concept, prestige and money.
Many theories were formulated in the cause of explaining vocational development. These include, for example, Super, Ginzberg and Associate Trait-factor, Holland and Roes theory of needs etc. Each theory emphasises extensively the process of career development. This indicated that the issue of vocational development has a vital role in the development of every individual in particular and the society at large.
Oladele (1991) revealed that occupational choice has an important development for the Nigerian child; the happiness of an individual in his career development is the happiness of the nation. He cited that the National Policy on Education has placed emphasis on provision of career and vocational guidance. In this programme, a lot of information about self and various jobs would have been made available to the students. If students are provided with career guidance, they will make a realistic occupational choice which will give them satisfaction in their chosen job later in life.
Researchers such as Mburza (1992), Usman (1992) and Salomi (1999), reported their different studies that secondary school students were unable to make realistic occupational choices, despite the fact that the Federal Government provided career counsellors in post primary institutions to help the students to attain proper career guidance which, will enable them make realistic occupational choices.
There are many factors which influence career choice, these may be internal or external factors, Okon (1984), Ipaye (1986), Pinder (1986) Essuman (1991), and Mburza (1992) have reported that gender, parents’ occupation and school location are significant factors which influence vocational interest. Therefore, the present study investigates to what extent parents’ occupation, gender and school location influenced students’ vocational interest.
In the absence of career information and proper career guidance, factors like parents’ occupation, gender and school location may have effect on students’ vocational interest. Thus Okon (1984) opined that an individual can be influenced by the type of work his parents and relation are engaged in. However, Abubakar (1998) found significant difference between parents’ occupation and students’ career choices; this indicated that the students’ career choices are not influenced by the type of job their parents’ engage in.
Furthermore, if an individual selects an occupation that he has no aptitudes and interests, it may eventually be in a situation that would lead to poor vocational maladjustment of the worker and perceptual dissatisfaction. Such people who are dissatisfied and maladjusted in their job will not perform well and will end up with poor responses and poor attitude to work. They also tend to have poor interpersonal relationship with fellow workers.
Gender is another variable which determines the choice of career among students if proper vocational guidance is administered. Secondary school students tend to understand that there are jobs for males and there are others for females. This perception is due to ineffective vocational guidance. Ipaye (1986), Makinde and Alao (1987), Dukku (1988), Nwezeh (1988), Essuman (1991), Mburza (1992), Abubakar (1998), Salawu and Bagudo (2000) have revealed in various ways that gender is a significant factor that influences career choice, and have found in their respective studies significant difference between males and females in their career choices. These research findings indicate that gender has effect on vocational interest.
School location also may be seen as another factor, which, plays a role in shaping the vocational interest of students. Pinder (1986), Essuman (1991) and Mburza (1992) postulate that school location has effect on students’ career choice. Their research findings indicate that students from schools located in urban area have self-expression and experience with little external influence than students from rural schools, a factor, which indicated significant difference in their career choices.
Objectives of the Study
The objectives of this study are to determine:
1. The significant difference between students’ occupational choice and Parents’ occupation;
2. The significant gender difference between students in their occupational choice; and
3. The significant difference between rural and urban students in their occupational choice;
Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were drawn to be tested.
HO1 - There is no significant difference between students’ occupational choice and Parents’ occupation.
HO2 - There is no significant gender difference between students in their occupational choice.
HO3 -There is no significant difference between rural and urban students in their occupational choice.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The design of the study is descriptive survey research design adopted to investigate Influence of Parents’ Occupation, Gender and School Location on Students’ Vocational Interest of SS II Students in Borno State.
Population and Sampling Technique
The subjects of this study comprised all SS II students in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Borno State. There are seventy-four (74) senior secondary schools, in the state according to the statistics obtained from Borno State Ministry of Education. Through the process of stratified random sampling technique, a total of fourteen (14) senior secondary schools representing about (19%) were selected from all the Educational Zones to participate in the research. Accordingly, three hundred and four (304) SS II students were also selected from the sampled schools through stratified random sampling based on the following stratification (Male, female, urban and rural)
Instrument for Data Collection
The instrument used for data collection was Career Choice Questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed by Abubakar (1998) to measure students’ career choice. However, the researchers modified the instrument and classified it into three sections. The first (section A) sought to obtain personal data about the students. The second part (section B) comprised questions measuring variables that influence career choice and the last part of the instrument, (Section C) contained questions measuring how the students rate self-concept among other variables that influence career choice. This instrument was tested and found to be reliable and valid to measure career choice through the use of test-retest measures of reliability. The test yielded 0.89 reliability co-efficient in Sokoto
Tools for Data Analysis
Chi Square was used to find the significant difference between, male and female, urban and rural students, and between students’ career choice and parents’ occupations.
Results
The results of this study are presented in accordance with the hypotheses raised earlier.
Hypothesis one: There is no significant difference between students’ occupational choice and parents’ occupation.
Table 1: Difference Between Students’ Occupational Choice and Their Parents’ Occupation
Parents’ Occupations Students’ Career Choice
No career Indicated Service Business contact Business organisation Technology Outdoor Science General Cultural Entertainment Total
df
No career
Indicated 5
(2.08) 4
(8.12) 1
(1.46) 1
(0.13) 2
(2.39) 5
(2.19) 6
(8.85) 6
(3.64) 0
(0.21) 30 64 S
127
Service 6 (7.43) 33 (28.98) 6 (5.20) 4 (4.83) 5 (8.54) 4 (7.80) 35 (31.58) 13 (13.00) 1 (0.74) 107
Business
Contact 1 (2.01) 7 (7.85) 2 (1.41) 1 (1.31) 4 (2.31) 0 (2.11) 13 (8.56) 1 (3.52) 0 (0.10) 29
Business
Organisation 0 (0.21) 1 (0.81) 0 (0.14) 0 (0.13) 0 (0.24) 0 (0.22) 1 (0.60) 1 (0.36) 0 (0.02) 3
Technology 1 (0.97) 2 (3.79) 0 (0.68) 2 (0.63) 1 (1.12) 1 (1.02) 4 (4.13) 3 (1.70) 0 (0.10) 14
Outdoor 0 (0.35) 1 (1.35) 1 (0.24) 1 (0.22) 1 (0.40) 0 (0.30) 1 (1.47) 0 (0.61 0 (0.03) 5
Science 6 (4.58) 23 (17.87) 2 (3.21) 2 (2.98) 8 (5.27) 6 (4.81) 14 (13.29) 5 (8.02) 0 (0.46) 66
General
Cultural 1 (2.22) 7 (8.67) 2 (1.55) 2 (1.44) 2 (2.55) 5 (2.33) 10 (9.44) 3 (3.89) 0 (0.22) 32
Entertainment 0 (0.14) 0 (0.54) 0 (0.10) 0 (0.09) 0 (0.16) 0 (0.14) 1 (0.40) 0 (0.24) 1 (0.01) 2
Total 20 78 14 13 23 21 85 35 2 288
S = Significant. , df 64 = 83.675 (p > 0.05)
Expected frequencies are in brackets.
The result in Table 1 above shows chi-square computation on students’ career choice and parents’ occupation. The data presented in the table reveals a value of 127 with df 64 which indicates statistical significant difference when compared with critical value of =83.675 (p> 0.05). Thus Ho1, which states that there is no significant difference between students’ career choice and their parents’ occupation, is rejected.
Hypothesis two: There is no significant gender difference between students in their occupational choice.
Table 2: Gender Difference Between Students in Their Occupational Choice
Occupations Gender
Male Female Total df
No career indicated 11(9.93) 9(10.07) 20 8 s
36.936
Service 26(38.73) 52(39.27) 78
Business Contact 9(6.95) 5(7.05) 14
Business Organisation 3(645) 10(6.55) 13
Technology 20(11.42) 3(11.58) 23
Outdoor 6(10.43) 15(10.57) 21
Science 52(42.20) 33(42.79) 85
General Cultural 14(8.94) 18(9.06) 18
Entertainment 2(0.99) 0(1.01) 2
Total 143 145 288
S = Significant ,= df 8 = 15.51 (p >0.05)
Note: expected frequencies are in brackets
Table 2 above also shows a chi-square analysis on gender and students’ occupational choice. The computed value of 36.936 with df 8 indicates statistical significant difference when compared with critical value of 15.51 (p > 0.05). Therefore Ho2, which stipulates that there is no significant gender difference between students in their occupational choice, is rejected.
Hypothesis three: There is no significant difference between rural and urban students in their occupational choice.
Table 3: Differences Between Rural and Urban Students’ Career Choice
Students’ Career Choice School Location
Rural Urban Total df
No career indicated 15(9.93) 5(10.07) 20 8 s
41.78
Service 58 (38.72) 20 (39.27) 78
Business Contact 6 (6.95) 8 (7.05) 14
Business Organisation 4 (6.45) 9 (6.55) 13
Technology 9 (11.42) 14 (11.58) 23
Outdoor 10 (10.43) 11 (10.57) 21
Science 26 (42.20) 59 (42.79) 85
General Cultural 15 (15.89) 17 (16.11) 32
Entertainment 0 (0.25) 2 (1.07) 2
Total 143 145 288
S= Significant , df 8 = 15.51 (p> 0.05)
Note: expected frequencies are in brackets.
Table 3 shows chi-square analysis on school location and students’ occupational choice. The result, which indicates a value of 41.78 with df 8, shows statistical significant difference when compared with critical valve of = 15.51 (P>0.05). Thus Ho3, which stipulates that there is no significant difference between urban and rural students in their occupational choice, was rejected.
Discussion
The statistical analysis of the data collected for this study revealed the following findings.
The first finding of this research showed that there was significant difference between students’ occupational choices and their parents occupation. This finding agreed with the findings of Abubakar (1998) who found significant difference between students occupational choice and parents’ occupations. However the finding of this study disagreed with the findings of Okon (1984) who found in his study that individuals could be influenced by the type of work their parents engaged in. This was because the students selected their careers based on prestige, economic needs and values attached to the career by the society, but not necessarily the same occupation with their parents. The findings of this research also indicated that students who selected careers in science such as Medicine are from parents whose occupations were in service, such as force, and in Business contact such as businessmen.
The second finding of this study revealed that there was significant difference between students occupational choice in relation to gender. This finding agreed with the findings of Ipaye (1986), Dukku (1988), Nwezeh (1988), Essuman (1991), Mburza (1992), Salawu and Bagudo (2000) who reported in their respective studies that sex status is a determinant of career choice. Therefore, this shows that sex determine students’ career choice due to occupational stereo-type. However, career choice is also associated with religion and African culture, which attaches some values to some careers, by emphasising, for instance, this job is for male while that is for female. The findings of this study also indicated that male students selected occupations in science such as Medicine, while female students selected Nursing as a career. Moreover this research found that males selected careers in Science related jobs such as Medicine, and in Technology for example, Engineering, Carpentry, Driving, Pilot, Foundry work, etc, while females selected their careers in Service such as Nursing, Teaching, Police Force, Custom and Immigration. Non of the sexes made a choice in Entertainment. Therefore, sex is a determinant of career choice as students selected occupations according to their gender.
The third finding in this research indicated that there was significant difference between urban and rural students in their occupational choice. The finding of this study, however, agreed with the findings of Ipaye (1986) Pinder (1989) and Mburza (1992), who reported in their studies that school location determined students’ occupational choice. They further revealed that rural students lacked information about the world of work while urban students had more self-expression. This could be seen as the students in urban schools had more knowledge about different types of occupations due to awareness and interaction with people of different types of occupations, than students in the rural schools. The rural school students perceived careers in Service as the only existing careers because they lacked knowledge about the world of work. Therefore, it is evident that school location determines students’ career choice. The finding of this study also revealed that students of urban schools selected occupation in Science such as Medicine while those from the rural schools preferred careers in Service such as Nursing and Force.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study the following conclusion and recommendations were made.
• Secondary II students’ career choice was not related to their parents’ occupation because it was based on the values attached to the careers sice there was significant difference between parents’ occupation and students’ career choice.
• Gender was seen as a factor, which determined students’ occupational choice. This conclusion came up as a result of the significant difference established between students’ career choice according to gender.
• School location was a factor which determined students’ career choice. This claim was based on the fact that urban school students had more knowledge about career choice than rural students. Hence there was significant difference between urban and rural students in their career choice.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study the following recommendations were made.
1. Ministry of Education in Borno State as well as in other states of the federation, should place more emphases on career guidance in order to enable parents to allow their children to choose vocations of their interest and abilities. Also students should be helped to understand that a realistic career choice could be made based on interest, ability, and self-concept and not necessarily with reference to Parents’ occupation.
2. Guidance and Counselling Service Units and the Media outfits should put-in more effort in the provision of career information and adequate guidance, which will enable the students to understand that vocational interest could be made without reference to gender because careers are not classified according to gender. Vocational interest should be made on individual interest, ability and self-concept.
3. Both male and female students should understand that there is no specific career for men and specific career for women. Careers are for both sexes, Students should, therefore feel free to select their careers according to their interests.
Reference
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