INFLUENCE OF PARENTS OCCUPATION AND EDUCATIONAL STATUS ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT'S CHOICE OF CAREER IN DELTA CENTRAL SENATORIAL DISTRICT, DELTA STATE

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Background To The Study

In this period of high unemployment, selecting the proper career path can pave the road for future job chances for young adolescents. Because educational planners have become aware of the difficulties and disappointments faced by certain adolescents who have made the incorrect career choice, the career preference of early adolescents has been a selection of interest. (Alika & Egbochukwu, 2018). According to Agboola (2013), career selection is one of a number of significant choices that students will make while selecting their future goals. This choice may have a lifelong impact on them. The core of a student's identity will center on his or her career goals.

At the adolescent period, individuals make career-related choices that may have repercussions on their professional future, psychological well-being, and even health. The aptitudes required to make proper career choices are crucial to the psychological adolescent of adolescents. While some adolescents make good choices with easily, others may have difficulty doing so. (1995, Scott, Repucci, and Woodlard).

A career is a selected endeavor, a lifetime of effort or accomplishment in a chosen profession. In other terms, a career is the sum of one's lifetime employment. (Ipaye, 2010). Career has a basic and major impact on an individual's life, not only because it defines the individual's income pattern, but also because it influences the individual's personality and worldview. A Career is the succession of jobs that an occupation participates in. Others may have a number of life occupations, although other individuals may stay in the same occupation throughout their lifetime. (Egbochuku, 2016). A career might alternatively be described as the totality of a person's life experiences, including paid or unpaid job, community and volunteer activities, and family responsibilities. Kinanee (2014). Consequently, a career may be seen as the result of career preference. As an example, some individuals may choose to be self-employed rather than work in an office. A career preference may be described as the part or sorts of work that people are more interested in and will likely improve in; that is, work that people like doing. According to Egbochuku (2018), a person's preferred career is a reflection of their personality. In the sense that one's preferred career choice dictates to a great part how time will be spent, who will be picked as friends, what attitudes and values will be embraced, where one will dwell, and what family life pattern will be adopted.

Many Nigerian youngsters choose inappropriate vocations owing to ignorance, inexperience, peer pressure, parental and teacher influence, and/or a preference for the prestige associated with specific occupations, regardless of their cognitive ability and personality attributes. Salami (2000). Consequently, many of them are unsuitable for their jobs, since they are often employed in positions that do not meet their demands. They are prone to become frustrated and a nuisance to themselves and society when this happens. These people are unlikely to contribute substantially to society and will eventually become a burden on the country.

Alika and Osa-Edoh (2009) found parental attitude, parental wealth, and peer pressure as influences on career choice. Various conceptual frameworks have been used to analyze the careers of students. Many of them have emphasized parental education, occupation, or family history (like family income, language or the home activities of the family and work methods). Adeyemo (2011). It is assumed that studied characteristics such as attitude, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and self-concept, as well as parental support such as motivation of wards, parental attitudes toward education, and parental ambition, have a link with career preference. Therefore, it is vital to discover which characteristics, such as parental educational attainment and occupational status, may have a preference with students' career preferences and are of interest to the researcher.

Parental educational attainment may be a factor that influences the career preference of students. Educational attainment of parents refers to the level of education acquired by a person, such as non-formal education, primary or secondary school certificate, Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND), Bachelor of Science (B.Sc), Master of Science (M.Sc), Masters of Education (M.Ed), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). A parent with a higher degree of education is more likely to act as a teacher in the house and to offer an emotionally stable and intellectually interesting environment. This suggests that the educational background of parents may affect how they arrange the home environment and interact with their children in order to promote their career preference. (Davis, 2005). The research by Alika and Audu (2011) found that the education level of one's parents is among the elements that influence career career and growth. In other words, an adolescent from a well-educated and affluent family is expected to pursue more education and to aspire to a better status occupation. This was reinforced by Musgrave (2000), who argued that a kid from a well-educated family would want to follow in his or her family's footsteps and, as a result, would work vigorously in his or her education in status to his or her parents' career.

Parent's occupational status refers to the social and professional standing of the parent's occupation in comparison to other occupations. In other terms, it is the position or status of a person's occupation relative to other possible occupations, such as unskilled jobs. Numerous adolescents choose occupations for which they neither have aptitude nor competence. This may be because their parents want them to either inherit their profession in order to retain their status or live the life they would have chosen for themselves (Egbochuku, 2008).

Rothman's (2014) research indicates that occupational status, which affects a child's socioeconomic status, is one of the most influential elements influencing their career preference. Similarly, 93 percent of secondary school students in Otto's (2010) survey reported having comparable occupations and values as their parents. This is essential because it debunks the idea that children and adolescents often reject their parents' beliefs and expectations. It may be more appropriate to say that youngsters readily accept their parents' occupations and values, maybe without ever exploring their own. This may be a result of children's innate need to bond with their parents (Poulter, 2016). As a consequence, individuals are likely to abandon their career inclinations and objectives in favor of adopting their parents beliefs and occupation, particularly if the society values these occupations more highly than the others and treats them more favorably based on prestige and their distinctive salaries. According to Watts and Law (2012), this is why so many young people pursue professions in law, engineering, medicine, and banking: the majority of society places a high career on these occupations. This research aims to investigate the impact of parental occupation and educational status on the career choice of senior high school parents in Delta Central Senatorial District, Delta State.

 Statement Of The Problem

In today's world, career selections may be problematic for students since they decide the kind of job they wish to follow. Because of this, it is fairly unusual for students to choose jobs that do not match their strengths. On the other hand, parental educational background tends to be one of the most significant students of a student's career preference. In most cases, parents exert pressure on their children to pursue family occupations and other prominent fields, such as medicine, engineering, law, etc., even if they lack the necessary skills. Miller (2010). There may also be a propensity for children to identify with their parents by adopting their occupations. Moreover, in traditional African culture, there was a propensity to encourage adolescents to follow the family profession in order to zealously guard their parents' expertise. Kinanee (2014). As a consequence of parental pressure, students may become unsatisfied, disillusioned, and unable to be productive in the career that their parents selected for them. A person who has selected a career that he or she enjoys may, nonetheless, have life happiness and fulfillment, and so contribute significantly to national progress.

In addition to this, a poor choice is detrimental to planning in terms of the further education or technical training that is required prior to joining the occupation. It may result in work instability; poor planning may diminish one's life satisfaction and lead to occupational maladjustment. Indirectly or directly, this may also result in emotional maladjustment. If secondary school students are not appropriately led prior to deciding on a career choice, they are likely to suffer problems with their parents and career difficulties. Frustration and unhappiness may result from a lack of adequate career information made accessible to adolescents and career assistance from parents, teachers, and counselors. Therefore, there is a need to explore empirically the impact of parental occupation and educational status on the career choice of senior secondary school parents in Delta Central Senatorial District, Delta State.

Purpose Of The Study

The major purpose of this study is to examine the influence of parents occupation and educational status on senior secondary school student's choice of career in Delta Central Senatorial District, Delta State. Specifically, this study seeks to:

1. Determine whether parents’ occupation influences the career choice of secondary school students Delta State.
2. Determine whether parents’ educational status influences the career choice of secondary school students in Delta State.
3. Determine whether gender influences the career choice of students in Delta State.

Research Questions

To guide this study, three (3) research questions were raised.

1. Does parents’ occupation influence the career choice of secondary school students Delta State?
2. Does parents’ educational status influence the career choice of secondary school students in Delta State?
3. Does gender influence the career choice of students in Delta State?

Research Hypotheses

1. There will be no significant relationship between parent’s educational attainment and career preference of secondary school students.
2. There will be no significant relationship between parents occupational status and career preference of secondary school students.
3. There will be no significant relationship between sex of senior secondary school students.

Significance Of The Study

The Nigerian education system is progressively becoming more and more complex. Studies have shown, that Nigerian youths and school leavers are vocationally maladjusted. This seems to suggest faulty vocational education system as school leavers are faced with the problem of inability to relate education to employment opportunities in the world of work. This problem is as a result of inadequate career information and decision making.   

Based on this, the research work contains the researcher contributions that would be of help and useful to education planners, authorities, parents, school teachers/educators, guidance counselors and students in senior schools towards helping students to improve on their career choice decision.

It is expected that the result of this study will help the principals and teachers to embark on vocational guidance and counselling programme in other to prepare her students for entry into the world of work, transition from school to work or into t he wider society.

It is also hoped that this study will help the parents to always guide their children towards choosing career congruent to their intellectual abilities. It will also give students the opportunities of seeing their loopholes and knowing how to make amendments in a career decision. 

Scope And Delimitation Of The Study

The content scope of this study will cover investigation regarding how parents’ educational attainment and occupational status correlates students career preference. The study will be delimited to selected Senior Secondary School II in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.

Operational Definition of Terms

Career: An occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one’s life work.

Career Preference: Career preference is the career field which one prefers or it is a job an individual shows more interest in.

Educational attainment of parents: That refers to the qualification of the parent of an individuals.

Occupational Status: this refers the position of the parent in terms of occupation such as civil servant and so on.

 

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