INFLUENCE OF PARENTS OCCUPATION AND EDUCATION ON STUDENTS CHOICE OF CAREER IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN OWERRI MUNICIPALITY (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
1.1Background to the Study
Family is a place in which children learn to interpret realities Wary and Passman, (1996). Parents serve as significant interpreters to children for information about the world and children?s ability Hall, Kelly, Hasen and Vulwein, (1996). Family influence is an important force in preparing students for their role as workers. Young people form their attitude about work and career as a result of interaction with the family. Family background provided the basis on which student?s career planning and decision making evolves. However, within each family, the level of involvement can be very positive or negative. Family background factor found to be associated with career choice includes parents? socio-economic status (SES), their level of education and biogenetics factors such as physical size, gender, ability and temperament. Pamic and Tepson (1992), in a study on adolescent vocational development reported that the most effect on educational plans and occupational aspiration was education. Montgomery, (1992) asserts that students talented in mathematics viewed their career choice as reflective on the interest that stem from early family, influence and educational opportunities. De Piddeo (1990) however, points out that the lower level of parents? education can retard adolescents career choice. Being bom to parents with limited educational and income reduces the likelihood of going to college or achieving professional and occupational goals and essentially predetermined the child likely career choice.
Family income is another aspect of family background that influences the career choice of a student. Mortimer, (1992) ?The impact of family background on career choice?, one reason for this is that family with limited economic resources tends to direct children, the olderchildren in the family giving less hope and encouragement to the younger children in the family. It is therefore, understood that students in respect to career opportunities is linked to the economic support they can expect from their parents.
Generally, Hairston (2000) in ?family role in career development?, says that parent?s career aspirations aid children in selecting occupational goals and this influence their knowledge of occupations and familiarize them with occupational roles and requirements. Lee (1984) in ?family role in career?, also agrees that the occupational orientation of parents familiarize children with occupational roles, while the value orientation of parents provide the learning environment that motivates the aspirations of children. It is generally known that in Nigeria, people set higher premium on some jobs such as, medicine, engineering, architecture, law and less on others such as teaching, carpentry, and farming. That is to say that some jobs are prestigious while some are mean. These influences are promulgated by the influence of various factors such as psychological, sociological, educational, economical and parental occupational levels.
