CORRELATES OF CAREER CHOICE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ESAN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

Abstract

This study examined career choice correlates among secondary school students Esan West Local Government Area 
of Edo State. The correlational survey design was adopted in this study. The population of this study covered all the 
3272 senior secondary school students in the 16 public secondary schools in Esan West Local Government Area of 
Edo State. The simple random sampling technique was adopted to select 10 schools from the study area. A further 
random selection of 20 students per school was drawn.  The research instrument used for the collection of data was 
designed by the researcher.  The content validity of this instrument was carried out by my project supervisor and two 
other lecturers in the Department of Guidance and Counselling. The reliability of the instrument of the test-retest 
method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. The Chi-square (χ2) would be used to test hypothesis 
of the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The showed that there personal interest and 
parental decisions play influential role in determining students’ career choice. Moreso, students’ are more susceptible 
to the directives, suggestions and opinions of their peers on career matters.  Consequently, peer pressure has significant 
influence on the vocational interests or career preference of school going children in secondary schools in Esan West 
Local Government Area of Edo State. It was recommended that parents should employ the assistance of professional 
career counsellors in helping their children to make intelligent career decisions.