RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL SELF-CONCEPT AND CAREER INTEREST AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN SULEJA EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL SELF-CONCEPT AND CAREER INTEREST AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN SULEJA EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This research work investigates the relationship between occupational self-concept and career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state. The study employed a correlational research design. The total of 310 senior secondary school students took part in the study: out of which 181 (58.4%) were males and 129 (41.6%) were females. Modified version of James Rounds Occupational Self-Concept scale (MVJROSCS) and Career Interest Inventory (CII) were used for data collection. Ten hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient statistics at 0.05 level of significance. Results of the analysis indicated among other that significant positive relationship exist between outdooroccupational self-concept and outdoor career interest among senior secondary school students majoring in outdoor occupational environments. The results also  shows that significant negative relationship exist between mechanical occupational self-concept and mechanical career interest among senior secondary school students majoring in mechanical occupational environments. Also, theresult revealed that significant negative relationship exist between artistic occupational self-concept and artistic career interest among senior secondary school students majoring in artistic occupational environments. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that guidance counsellors and teachers should help to motivate and encourage students majoring in outdoor occupational environment that had positive correlation between their outdoor occupational self-concept and outdoor career interest.Guidance counsellors and teachers in secondary schools should help to improvemechanical occupational self-concept and mechanical career interest of students majoring in mechanical occupational environments by helping them see how mechanical occupational self-concept is connected to mechanical career interest during counselling and teaching. Also,Government and NGOs should collaborate with school guidance counsellors and organize programme such as Art Day or Art Week for secondary school studentsmajoring in artistic occupational environment and artists on different areas should be invited to exhibit their talents. This will assist them to promote their interest in art activities.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Self-concept is a popular psychological variable which captivates the mind of many researchers such as Rogers, Erikson, Cooley and Mead, Maslow, Lazarus, Mukhejee, Freud, Sullivan etc., in the field of psychology and counselling. Self-concept is a characteristics feature that human beings recognize and express themselves using personalized terms like “I, me, my, myself” which signify the awareness of oneself as distinct from others. It is this awareness of one‟s self or self-perception otherwise known as self-concept that makes each individual to react and respond to situations in distinct ways. Individuals who are otherwise similar feel differently about themselves and this suggests that people behave in ways that are consonant with their selfconcept.  

Jersild as cited by Mohammed (2008) sees the self as a composite of thoughts and feelings which constitute a person‟s awareness of his individual existence. His conception of who and what he is which include system of ideas, attitudes, values, and commitments. Selfconcept has been seen as the way an individual perceives him/herself, his/her feelings, and thoughts about him/herself. Thus, these perceptions, thoughts and feelings may give the individual an insight about himself/herself. These perceptions include the family background, the school location and gender. Occupational self-concept is an aspect of self-concept which refers to way individuals view, perceive and rate themselves in relation to various occupational activities, and to some extend this occupational self-concept influence individual career interest. Career interest are careers that individual likes and is from these careers which individual has interest that one make his/her career preference and choice.

It was observed by Udoh (2005) that through interaction, some students found themselves confused whenever it comes to deciding which subjects they are to choose for their registration in the Senior School Certificate Examination  (S.S.C.E) or the National Examination Council (NECO). Similarly, Mohammed (2008) observed that many Nigeria secondary school students have incongruent patterns between aspirations or vocational interest and subject combination in the school certificate examination.

It is important to note that a choice of the type of vocation one wants to go into is a crucial and delicate decision as such decision marks the beginning of one‟s identification of which he is and type of person he can become later and also dictate the type of life such an individual will adopt. The career aspiration also shapes the type of friends one has and also exerts some influence upon his personal and social upbringing, particularly at adolescence. Therefore, these consequences identified above, necessitate the need for provision of vocational guidance in the schools so that by the time students are making choices of vocation to enter into, they may likely choose those vocations that could give them inner satisfaction. Also, understanding of one‟s self concept and knowledge of the requirement of various occupations in the world of work are the most important factors an individual should consider when making a career choice (Tiedeman, 2000).

Sambo (2014) reported that some of the effects or consequences of wrong placement in school or choice of career by the students  without adequate knowledge of their ability, interest, personality type, financial involvement, self- concept etc will lead to frustration, underachievement and withdrawn from school (dropout). He further observed that the effects of wrong placement in school or wrong choice of career does not only stopped at pursing the career but it also extends to place of work as it lead to poor motivation, low productivity, job dissatisfaction, vocational maladjustment, vocational failure, outright frustration and constant change or loss of work. Also, Mohammed (2008) observed that incongruent between students‟ self-concept and career aspiration will lead to disappointment and unfulfilment in life. This study correlate occupational self-concept and career interest of senior secondary school students considering only 10 occupational environments, because the instruments used in this study were structured based on the outdoor, mechanical, computational, scientific, persuasive, artistic, literary, musical, social service and clerical occupational environments, and interest areas. These terminologies were used throughout this study. This study was carried out to explore more sources of data in examining the relationship between occupational self-concept and career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.

 

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Career is an important issue in the life of an individual as it influences one‟s general life. It determines both the economic and social status of the entire family. As such, there is need for an individual student to have adequate knowledge of him/herself as well as current information on various occupation/careers before making a career choice. But today unfortunately, due to lack of professional career guidance counsellors in schools, students are ignorant about career choice; many Nigerian Adolescents have unrealistic ideas about career to choose in life. This is because it is common to find students who are only good at Arts subjects but wanting to read Medicine or Engineering. It was also observed that through interaction, some senior secondary school students are found indicated their interest to take to career such as medicine, law, pharmacy, engineering, accountancy, psychology and so on without a single thought of the congruence between their career interest and personality type. These are pointers to the fact that most Nigeria secondary school students lack adequate information about their self-concept and the information in the world of work available.

These challenges are worrisome to many concerned Nigerians because it has lot of effects in the life of the students in the future. These effects may include underachievement, frustrations and withdrawal from the school system in their further studies and some of these effects may not only stop at pursuing the occupation but it may extend to place of work and lead to poor motivation, low productivity, job dissatisfaction and constant change or loss of work.

However, previous studies conducted on relationship between vocational self-concept and career interest has yielded competing and inconsistent findings. Based on this observation and what literature has said on the issue of vocational self-concept and career interest, the researcher was motivated to carry out this study to authenticate the relationship between occupational self-concept and career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The study set out to achieve the following objectives;

  1. To examine the relationship between outdoor occupational self-concept and outdoor career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  2. To examine the relationship between mechanical occupational self-concept and mechanical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  3. To determine the relationship between computational occupational self-concept and computational career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  4. To investigate the relationship between scientific occupational self-concept and scientific career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  5. To investigate the relationship between persuasive occupational self-concept and persuasive career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  6. To examine the relationship between artistic occupational self-concept and artistic career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger

state.

  1. To determine the relationship between literary occupational self-concept and literary career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state
  2. To investigate relationship between musical occupational self-concept and musical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state
  3. To determine the relationship between social service occupational self-concept and social service career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state
  4. To examine the relationship between clerical occupational self-concept and clerical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.

1.4 Research Questions

For the purpose of this study, the following research questions guided the study.

  1. What is the relationship between outdoor occupational self-concept and outdoor career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  2. What is the relationship between mechanical occupational self-concept and mechanical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  3. What is the relationship between computational occupational self-concept and computational career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  4. What is the relationship between scientific occupational self-concept and scientific career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  5. What is the relationship between persuasive occupational self-concept and persuasive career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of

Niger state?

  1. What is the relationship between artistic occupational self-concept and artistic career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  2. What is the relationship between literary occupational self-concept and literary career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  3. What is the relationship between musical occupational self-concept and musical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  4. What is the relationship between social service occupational self-concept and social service career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?
  5. What is the relationship between clerical occupational self-concept and clerical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state?

1.5  Hypotheses

For the purpose of this research work, the following null hypotheses were tested;

  1. There is no significant relationship between outdoor occupational self-concept and outdoor career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  2. There is no significant relationship between mechanical occupational self-concept and mechanical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.

 

  1. There is no significant relationship between computational occupational self computational career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  2. There is no significant relationship between scientific occupational self-concept and scientific career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  3. There is no significant relationship between persuasive occupational self-concept and persuasive career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  4. There is no significant relationship between artistic occupational self-concept and artistic career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  5. There is no significant relationship between literary occupational self-concept and literary career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  6. There is no significant relationship between musical occupational self-concept and musical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state
  7. There is no significant relationship between social service occupational self-concept and social service career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  8. There is no significant relationship between clerical occupational self clerical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.

1.6    Basic Assumptions

This study has the following basic assumptions:

  1. That positive relationship may exist between outdoor occupational self-concept and outdoor career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  2. That positive relationship may exist between mechanical occupational self-concept and mechanical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  3. That positive relationship may exist between computational occupational self-concept and computational career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  4. That positive relationship may exist between scientific occupational self-concept and scientific career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  5. That positive relationship may exist between persuasive occupational self-concept and persuasive career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  6. That positive relationship may exist between artistic occupational self-concept and artistic career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  7. That positive relationship may exist between literary occupational self literary career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  8. That positive relationship may exist between musical occupational self-concept and musical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  9. That positive relationship may exist between social service occupational self-concept and social service career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.
  10. That positive relationship may exist between clerical occupational self-concept and clerical career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.

1.7       Significance of the Study

It has been a common practice among parents, guardians, teachers and society in general to make occupational choice for students, and this is hazardous to both students and even the society. In line with this the researcher hopes that the findings of this study will provide vital information that will enable parents, guardians, teachers and others to realize the importance of occupational self-concept in relation to career choice, and also see reasons why they should allow their children or students to choose careers that commensurate with their occupational selfconcept. This will in turn minimize or even eliminate the problems of dissatisfaction, unproductive and failure in imposed career.

It is also expected that the findings help to provide relevant information to the students and interested readers to recognize the value of occupational self-concept in relation to career

 

choice, and subsequently, it will serve as guide to them in making appropriate career choice that will match with their occupational self-concept.

Similarly it is hope that the findings of this study will be of immense use to career counsellors, educational planners and policy makers. It will enable them to identify the problems related to students‟ occupational self-concept and career choice and find ways of solving them.

Also, Findings of this study will serve as additional literature to the relatively few existing ones on occupational self-concept and career interest for the researchers to review for further studies in order to establish more evidence on the relationship between occupational selfconcept and career interest among senior secondary school students.

          1.8       Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The area of coverage in this study comprised all the fifty three (53) public senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger State. These students comprised both male and female students as well as students from urban and rural public senior secondary schools in Suleja educational zone of Niger state. The study however, covered only five (5) schools selected randomly in five (5) Local Government Areas across the zone and the study is delimited to investigate the relationship between occupational self-concept and career interest among senior secondary school students in Suleja educational zone of Niger state.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL SELF-CONCEPT AND CAREER INTEREST AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN SULEJA EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

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