Factors Influencing Choice of Career as Expressed by Secondary School Students in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State

Abstract

This study investigates the factors influencing career choices of secondary school students in
Ilorin metropolis. It also examined the influence of gender, class level, religion and father’s
educational status on the respondents’ expression. It employed a descriptive survey method.
A total of 200 secondary school students in Ilorin metropolis were selected through simple
random sampling technique. The participants responded to a researcher-designed
questionnaire entitled ‘Factors Influencing Career Choice Questionnaire” (FICCQ). The validity
of the instrument was done by a team of 5 experts from the Department of Counsellor
Education, University of Ilorin. The reliability of the instrument was established using test retest reliability method which yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.61. The data collected
were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. For the demographic data,
percentage was employed while t-test statistical tool was employed to test the four hypotheses
at 5% level of significance. Results showed that the factors influencing career choice of
secondary school students in Ilorin metropolis are ease of access to job opportunity (X=3.50),
job remuneration (X=3.48), career guidance from school counsellor (X=3.45), societal
values on jobs (X=3.44) family line of work (X=3.25), their performance in school subjects
(X=3.20) and intellectual capability that they possess (X=2.50) among other factors.
Similarly, there was significant difference in the factors influencing career choice of secondary school students in Ilorin metropolis based on gender (p=0.01), class level(p=0.02), religion
(p=0.00), and father’s educational status (p=0.01). It was thus recommended that students
should liaise with school counsellors to fully explore the factors influencing their career
choices. Counsellors should ensure that students are given orientation as they move from one
class to another. This is to ensure that all students, irrespective of gender and religion are
abreast of the factors influencing career choice.