Chapter 1
This survey seeks to identify determinants of career choices by learners at Riozim and
Chomuchena secondary school in Chegutu District Mashonaland west province. This chapter
will discuss chapter will discuss the background to the problem, justification of the study,
limitation and delimitations as well introduce chapter 2.
Background to the study
This study was inspired by the experience that the researcher had during teaching practice.
A number of learners kept approaching the researcher for help on choosing the subjects to
register for their O level examinations. Often the researcher recommended that learners sit
for subjects that supported their dreams and aspirations. Learners often replied that they
would want to do anything good, paying or that had better job opportunities. From the
discussion with these learners and fellow workmates, the researcher realised that the issue
of career choices has always been, and remains an area of great concern in schools. From
the time a child begins grade 1, their teachers are interested in knowing the kind of
professionals that the kids aspires to become. Professions such as doctor, nurse, police
officer and teacher are often the ones that primary school learners mention, mostly
because they are familiar with these professions in their day to day lives. However, as the
learners near the end of their secondary school, there is need for the learner to choose a
career path that they will follow. O level examinations in Zimbabwe requires that learners
pay an examination fee for each subject and a pass at ordinary level is only considered if
one passes % ordinary level subjects with C or better. Impoverished parents often find it
difficult to pay for more than 7 subjects for their children, even though the school
curriculum may offer a wide variety of subjects. Even when parents are capable of paying
enough examination fees, learners face the dilemma of being able to balance a large
number of subjects along with extracurricular activities. In 2021, the Ministry of Primary and
Secondary education added the CALA components which seek to see a learner complete 5
activities per subject that would contribute to their exit results. This means with increased
number of subjects, the amount of work to be done also increases. This leaves learners with
an option to drop off some of their subjects, and choosing which one to leave is no easy
task. The major determinant of which subjects to choose is often the career path that the
learner chooses. This is made worse by the fact that when learners turn up for their
advanced level studies, they need to have a combination. A combination refers to at least
there related subjects that a learner can study, and these combinations are grouped into
commercials, Arts and Sciences. University entrance is based on the performance of
learners in these fields.
The learners worry in choosing subjects that will later affect their choices of careers is
understandable. According to Desai (2021) choosing a career is a very sensitive issue
because it determines one’s lifestyle and outcomes in life. The choice needs to be done
during teenage years when the learners are grappling with emotional and physical transition
from childhood to adulthood. The issue of career becomes a daunting task for these
teenagers in an economic environment prevailing in Zimbabwe, where professionally
qualified personnel are either unemployed or underpaid. With the advent of information
and technology, along with stiff job competition, career choice becomes a complex task.
These learners therefore should be equipped with knowledge that would make them more
focused and equipped to make informed decisions.
Statement of the problem
As mentioned in the background, secondary school years are so crucial in deciding one’s
career path. If not properly handled, career choices may result in lifelong stress and
disapproval by the community. The career choices are further made difficult by the fact that
there are many careers available to choose from, the job market is constantly changing and
the youths are scared of making mistakes. Along with this fear of making mistakes, there is
also the anxiety of trying to please parents, and the worry of what will happen if I end up
doing the wrong job. In trying to assist, it is important to keep in mind that learners are
enthusiastic and motivated, but simply directionless. So, if proper interventions are to be
put in place to assist learners there is need to first identify the current factors that are
influencing learners career choices. To ensure that the interventions will be applicable at
grassroots level by the teacher, it is imperative that one looks at the way in which the
current curriculum is affecting these choices.
Objectives of the study
This study aims to
1. Identify factors that influences high school students career choices
2. Establish the extent to which the school curriculum affect career choices in life
3. Investigate the applicability of the Social Cognitive theory to the career choices of
students in Chegutu District
4. Identify appropriate interventions that teachers can make in career guidance
Research questions
This study will answer the following questions
1. What are the factors that affect high school learners’ career choices?
2. To what extent does the school curriculum affect learner career choices?
3. Is the Social Cognitive theory applicable to the secondary school student in Chegutu
district?
4. What are the interventions that may be put in place to assist learners in choosing
careers?
Significance of the study
Primarily, this research aims to furnish the researcher and fellow teachers with actual facts
on the factors that are affecting secondary learner’s choices of careers. Since practicing
teachers are the learners first port of call when asking for career related advice, the
researcher will be better equipped to give proper advice based on facts. Secondly, the
school will be able to put up proper programmes and structures that will inform learners
and help them make informed decisions with regard to careers. Furthermore, fellow
researchers at the university and in Zimbabwe at large will benefit from this knowledge, can
carry out similar studies in different schools such as boarding schools, mission schools,
private schools and schools of the disabled. The results of similar studies in different
settings can then be used to make generalisations about secondary school students as a
whole in Zimbabwe. Once such studies have been carried out and results have been
published, the policy makers and the curriculum development unit can then come up with
relevant interventions such as mandatory career guidance classes and fairs. The economic
sector will benefit when it receives mentally prepared youngsters who have passion for
their careers and are driven by the zeal to succeed. Finally, the society will be made up of
emotionally stable people who will be working in fulfilling careers.
Delimitations
This study focuses on determinants of career choices by secondary school learners in
Chegutu. Geographically this study will be carried out at Riozim High and Chomuchena High,
rural secondary schools in Chegutu District, Mashonaland West Province in Zimbabwe. A
survey research method will be adopted based on qualitative approach in which data will be
generated using only O level learners’ response analysis. Although A level learners face the
same dilemma of career choice, only registered form 4 learners will be involved.
Limitations
Due to Covid 19 pandemic and restrictions on travel, travelling long distances for data
collections was very difficult. These schools are community run day schools hence findings
are not be applicable to all secondary schools in Zimbabwe due to different backgrounds.
The research tool used which is the questionnaire also gives high chances of dishonest
responses from learners who may shy away from expressing their true career aspirations for
fear of being labelled or laughed at. Learners may also fail to explain their behaviours since
they may not be used to describing themselves. Where participants were not physically
available due to covid19, the researcher incurred an extra cost to send emails and hold
online interviews via call.
Overcoming limitations
The study was carried out on two schools that are within a walking distance of the
researcher to avoid clashing with authorities on travel bans and curfews. The information
will be useful for generalisations in Chegutu district and at school level. To reduce dishonest
when answering questionnaires, the researcher explained clearly how information will be
used and how secrecy will be maintained throughout the study. The researcher adhered to
using understandable jargon in short precise questions in the questionnaire and
respondents simply ticked where appropriate. To cater for extra cost incurred via e mails
and online calls, the researcher sought donations from family members.
Assumptions of the study
The researcher assumed that career choices do not happen spontaneously but there are
underlying factors that affect the choices made by individuals. It is assumed that
participants in this research will cooperate willingly and honestly and openly share entails of
their career aspirations and the motives behind. The researcher further assumes that if
learners are equipped with the right information they can also be empowered to choose
careers that provide them enriching experiences, and the data collected in this study can be
helpful to both teachers and candidates in matters of career guidance.
Definition of key terms
Secondary school learner –students at Ordinary level of education in Zimbabwe that form
three and four
Career - a person’s work roles throughout one’s lifetime both paid and unpaid (UNRSCO,
2004).According to Hooley (2012) it is of work both formal and non formal that one does
throughout their lifetime. From these definitions, a contextual definition that encompasses
the major work related activities that occupies one for most of their lifetime, mainly to earn
a living has been crafted.
Career choice – conscious decisions that people make on the kind of work to engage in,
based on their circumstances, social background, environment and culture (Okafor, 2012).
In this research, career choices are the selection of jobs from available options based on
what is within one’s reach (Abbasi and Sarwat, 2014).
Career guidance – a set of processes and services provided to individuals to enable them to
understand themselves, available job opportunities, required educational qualifications and
skills required to be part of a given occupation (Kerka, 2000). Information provided to an
individual to enable one to make informed decisions on the career of choice based on their
personality, skills and academic prowess. In this research it refers to sessions held by
schools or private educational consultants to high school students to help them aware of
careers they can choose and requirements and benefits of each career.
Influence – the power to change, cause an event to happen or control outcomes without
necessarily using force for the outcome to occur
Determinant circumstances that influences the choices or one’s preferences
Family – anyone related to a person by birth. Immediate members of the community with
whom we leave, share sustenance or rely on for daily survival. Families can be nuclear,
extended, adoptive, foster or simply guardians at law. Family in the context of this research
refers to nuclear and extended families related by birth, since these are the commonest in
the Chegutu district.
Chegutu District – a geographical area in Mhondoro area, marked on the map, and
identified as by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education, marking boundaries on
the schools’ sphere of influence rather than the map boundaries.
Conclusion
An investigation into the determinants of career choices is very timely for both parents and
students faced with task of choosing a lifelong career. This chapter pelt out the background
to the study, statement of the problem and its significance. The chapter also outlined the
objectives of the study, stated the key questions that the research seeks to answer, and
stated the delimitations, limitations and defined key terms. The next chapter will review
literature related to the study, both theoretically and methodological.
Chapter 2 Literature review
The previous chapter highlighted the background of the problem, scope of the research, its
significance, objectives and defined key terms. In this chapter, literature related to this
study will be discussed.
What is a career?
A career choice is a very important decision that one makes in life because it determines
one’s level of success both materially and socially. Given such weight, right career choices
seldom happen randomly. A career is defined in the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary
(2021) as the job or series of jobs that you do during your lifetime. Hooley (2012) further
defines a career as a totality of work that one does through their lifetime. According to
Abbasi and Sarwat (204), “a career is the sequential set of experiences and attitudes related
to work that an individual has over the span of his/her work life”. In this light, a career is not
simply a job, but the experience one gains as he works. The term career choice was firmly
defined by Hewitt (2010) as the broad opportunities that exist for long vocations. Okafor
(2012) puts across the idea that youths have wide range of opportunities that they can
choose from in order to meet their life goals. Based on these definitions, choosing a career
is simply choosing a job or a line of trade for survival and accomplishment of one’s goals.
Theoretical background
Career choice is a very important decision that affects one’s financial accomplishment and
job satisfaction later in life. Due to this significance it carries in one’s life, career choice has
gained much attention from academics, psychologists and employers. Research has been
made around intrinsic factors such as attitude and personal interests as well as other
external motivational factors such as salary scales and job opportunities Abbasi and Sarwat
(2004). Psychologist Bandura is one of the earliest researchers using the Social Cognitive
Theory to attempt to explain factors that affect one’s choice of a career (Choo et al, 2012).
It takes into consideration factors such as basic academic and career interests, how career
choices are made based on educational attainment and how academic and career success
can then be achieved. According to Bandura, variables that affect each other are
behavioural determinants, environmental determinants and personal determinants.
Therefore, based on Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory, a person’s career choice is a product
of the interaction between one’s behaviour including attitudes and skills, personal attributes
such as childhood aspirations and environmental factors such as school, family, society and
peers.
In 1994, researchers Lent, Brown and Hackett used Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory to
come up with the Social Cognitive Career Theory that explains the circle of career choice in a
modern manner (Lent, 2013). Just like Bandura’s theory they also used three variables in a
triadic model, and these a self efficacy beliefs, outcomes and expectation then goals. Self
beliefs are built when one sees their peers succeeding, then they believe they too can do it
(Mills, 2009). Expected outcomes such as respect and a hefty salary also work perfectly as a
determinant (Bandura et al, 2001). The social cognitive theory acknowledges the influence
of environment, family and personal attributes on career choice, hence appealed to the
researcher and was used as a theoretical framework. Bandura (2002) also recognises the
influence of the socio economic background of learners, the institutions to which they
receive education, role models in the family and peers as having a strong bearing on the
career choice that one makes. The researcher would therefore want to investigate the
applicability of the theory in Chegutu District, Mashonaland West Zimbabwe.
Determinants of Career choices
Factors that determine the type of career one chooses were broken down by Kerka (2000)
into family, school, gender and peer influences. Using an almost similar grouping, Hewitt
(200) suggested that career choices are affected by parental decisions, educational
outcomes, ones passion as well as friends’ input. This classification corresponds with
Bandura (2002) who used a Triadic Reciprocal Causation Model to break down factors that
influence career choice. Eremie and Okulehle (2019) supports the same classification that
parents, teachers, peers and the self desires are the influential factors in the final decision
that learners make in career choices. This research will focus on the environmental aspect
of the Bandura’s classification of factors. Environmental factors such as family influence,
school factors, gender and peers.
Family determinants of career choice
Family is made up of parents, siblings, extended family members such as grandparents,
aunts and uncles. According to Bandura et al (2002) the environment in which a person
spends most of his or her time determines what the person becomes, and a person is a
product of his environment. Taylor et al (2004) reported that children often tend to choose
careers that fulfil their parent’s desires simply because they want to please them. Parental
level of education and former career path determines their financial class which in turn
determines whether their children can admire that path and follow it. The parental financial
standing also influences the quality of education that they can afford their children. In a
study by Kazi and Akhlaq (2017), 60% of children whose parents were financially stable
ended up in careers of choice because their parents sponsored their dreams while, some
children claimed that they did not get into their dream jobs because they lacked
sponsorship for educational qualification. Children also pursue parental occupations
because they want to continue the family legacy (Okafor, 2012). Older siblings who make
big early in life provide motivation to their younger siblings that strengthen belief in their
self efficacy (Lent, 2013). The older siblings also provide financial support and career
guidance to the younger siblings. However, it is not always the case that families influence
career decisions in a strong way. A study by Ma and Ye (2010) revealed that in the Chinese
society, as children grow older, the desire for independence outdo the desire to please
parents, hence their choices reflects nothing to do with the family. Siyakwezi and Dengu
(2000) reported that children are now more informed about their rights that they desire to
express their freedom of choice in career choices. This means that they are moving away
from the traditional view of pleasing parents over oneself. The current study seeks to
establish whether the same suggestions hold among the school students at Riozim and
Chomuchena Secondary School.
School determinants
Learners spend most of their growing years going to school hence are shaped by the school
environment. In the first place, the reason why learners go to school is to prepare them for
future careers by equipping them with skills such as writing and reading. The school more
than prepare learners with skills but also shapes learners aspirations through its curricula.
Directly the school affect career choice through its guiding counselling lessons. These often
include career related information that discuses the requirements of various careers and
the available options. In a study by Kerka (2000) learners career choices were based on
interesting facts learnt during a career guidance lesson. During these career guidance
lessons, various resource persons from different vocations are invited and give details of
their professions. Several studies show that the outlook presented by resource persons
have a greater impact on the career choice of learners, by igniting a passion through
motivation. The hidden curriculum in schools prepares learners for various job roles later in
life. In a study in Kenyan students, learners who once held leadership roles such as prefects
an class monitors in school also chose leadership careers in management (Oladele, as cited
in Nyarko and Simpson, 2013).School books often depict women as nurses, teachers,
waitresses and housekeepers while boys are depicted as doctors, chauffeurs, engineers and
chefs. This socialises learners into certain adult roles. A study by Korrir and Wafula (2012)
further highlights that Kenyan students confessed that high school activities planned or
unplanned shaped their career choices. In Zimbabwe, Siyakwezi and Dengu (2000) provided
supporting evidence that that learners are shaped into various careers when they are
grouped into Sciences, commercials and Arts. This study aims at finding out how secondary
school students at Chomuchena and Riozim High Schools in Chegutu District are affected by
school curriculum in choosing their career choices.
Influence of peers
Tella et al (2007) suggested that students visualise the kind of work they want to do later in
life based on the information they share with their peers. Their choice of subjects is also
affected with what their friend choices (Kazi and Akhlaq, 2017). Bandura (2002) brings out
the idea that what one’s peers aspire works also to strengthen the belief in self efficacy that
if peers can achieve it, then one can also o it. Several other studies reported that peer
interactions between students affect academic orientation and career outcomes (Kiuru,
2008; Sharf, 2010; Bandura et al, 2001; Hewitt, 2010). A study by Yi-Hui (2006) in China also
showed that beliefs and preferences in Chinese students changed depending with the
diversity of peers they interacted with. Similarly, Chireshe (2030 noted that local
Zimbabwean students disseminated information on career and academic pathway through
peer counselling and group discussions. However, there is no study specifically on how
peers, school and family affect career choices of learners in Chegutu district. Also all the
available researches focus on high school students and college students. This is one study
that seeks to discover career determinants in secondary school learners, since a greater
number of learners do not return for high school or continue to college.
Summary
This chapter highlighted how the Social cognitive theory will be used to discuss factors that
influence career choices. Various literature that has been used to gather information factors
that affect career choice and the information have been categorised into effects of family,
school and peers. The next chapter will give an outline of the methodology and tools used.