ABSTRACT
This study investigated the factors influencing the choice of career of secondary school students in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State. The study used senior secondary school students because they were at the critical stage of career decision making. In an attempt to systematically tackle the problem, six research questions were raised and turned into six hypotheses which were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
The study was descriptive and it adopted the ex-post-facto research design. The population of the study was three thousand. Four hundred and fifty-three (3450) students. The sample constituted three hundred and forty-five students representing five percent (5%) of the total population of students were randomly selected for the study. The research instrument for the study was a questionnaire tagged: Factors Influencing Career Choice among Secondary School Students (FICCSSS). The research questions raised were turned into hypotheses and were tested with regression analysis.
The result showed that family background, sex, peer group, type of school, prestigious job and guidance and counseling all influence the career choice of secondary school student in Ovia South West Local Government Area. Family background had the greatest impact while peer influence had the least impact. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that home-background, peer-group, sex of students, school type, prestige and high rewarding jobs, guidance and counselling services in school influence the career choice of secondary school students in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State. It was recommended that: career development should be seen as inevitable to the happiness and self-actualization of the students and as such, the home, classroom and all the community at large should be seen as a workplace and all members as workers. Also, school manager, teachers, counsellor or otherwise, should harness discriminately the factors highlighted in this study for counseling students with respect to appropriate career development.
