INFLUENCE OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES ON THE CAREER CHOICE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN OREDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the influence of guidance and counseling on the career choice of students in public secondary schools. Two research questions and four null hypotheses were raised and formulated respectively to guide the study. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of two thousand seven hundred and sixty (2760) SSII students from the 11 public senior secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The study sample of 370 students selected from a total of eleven (11) public Secondary schools located in the Oredo Local Government Area. The study employed the Simple random sampling technique to choose 338 teachers. The Raosoft Online Sample Size Calculator was utilized to enhance precision and minimize the possibility of mistakes in determining the necessary sample size for the study. The computed sample size of 370 is based on a sample population of 2760 students in 11 Public Secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area, with a margin of error of 5%. The research instrument was a questionnaire designed by the researcher. The instrument was validated by the researcher’s supervisor and two other experts from the Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin City, necessary corrections was made on the questionnaire before it was administered to teachers that were selected for the study. In order to determine the reliability of the instrument, the questionnaire was administered to 20 respondents who were not part of the study and retrieved, and the data collected from the respondents were subjected to Cronbach Alpha statistics and a reliability coefficient was obtained. Data was analyzed item by item mean and standard deviation (SD). The study found that Guidance and counseling significantly influenced the career choice of students and there was no significant influence between career week programmes and students choice of career. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended amongst others: that as a matter of policy, the government should always and periodically review the curriculum of secondary schools to make guidance and counseling a compulsory subjects for students to foster the acquisition of vocational skills after graduation, the institutions where guidance and counseling services is taught should be granted autonomy to accelerate the completion of the content of the guidance and counseling curriculum to facilitate the impartation of skills to students at the end of each academic year amongst others.