© Kamla-Raj 2015 Int J Edu Sci, 8(2): 363-368 (2015)

Investigating first Year Students’ Abilities to MakeAppropriate Career Choices

T. D. Sikhwari

University of Venda, Centre for Higher Education Teaching and Learning,Private Bag X 5050, Thohoyandou, 0950, South Africa

Phone: +2715 962 8466, E-mail: sikhwari@univen.ac.za

KEYWORDS Career Choice. Decision-making. Self-knowledge. Career Planning. Occupation. World of Work

ABSTRACT The choice of a career is one of the most crucial challenges currently facing adolescents in SouthAfrica. The purpose of the present study was to investigate first year students’ abilities with regard to careerplanning, awareness of their career interests, career decision-making and exposure to career information. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Four hundred and thirty (430) participants were randomly selected from apopulation of first year students in a historically Black university. The data was collected through a self-constructedquestionnaire and analysed by means of the Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results indicatedthat students were not fully informed about the ‘realistic’ type of careers, that is, careers where they use hands,tools and machines. In addition, students were found to lack self-knowledge with regard to their career interests.The recommendations were provided to the university, especially the Student Counselling and Career DevelopmentUnit, to address the issue of career guidance in secondary schools in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province.

INTRODUCTION

The choice of a proper career determinesone’s future life. Many youths go into unsuit-able careers as a result of ignorance, peer pres-sure, advice from friends, parents and teachersor prestige attached to certain jobs without ade-quate career guidance (Adebowale 2014). Issaand Nwalo ( in Adebowale 2014) found that, con-sequently, many of the youths are unsuited fortheir careers as they usually find themselves injobs where they could not satisfy their valueneeds, thereby, becoming disheartened in thework situation and a nuisance to their employ-ers. Dabula and Makura (2013) viewed that, ca-reer choices for many high school students areaccidental, rush decisions, imposed by externalforces or by circumstances.

One of the factors that influence throughputand graduation rates in institutions of higherlearning is the provision of career guidance anddevelopment programs at high school level toprepare learners for higher education (Dabulaand Makura 2013). Wight and Maree (in Dabulaand Makura 2013) indicated that lack of careerdevelopment programs is one of the issues con-cerning the difficulties in transitioning from highschool to an institution of higher learning. It isimperative, therefore, that career guidance anddevelopment programs in high schools should

be properly provided to prepare learners for post-secondary education and the world of work.Hence, the need is to investigate the first yearstudents’ abilities regarding career choices.

Mabula (2012) pointed out that successfulcareer services provision to learners in schoolsshould involve career programs which comprisethe use of mass media, books, professional jour-nals, the internet, occupational flyers, careercounsellors and teachers, as well as exposinglearners to role models. These career resourcescan enable learners to get career informationavailable within and outside South Africa. Learn-ers need to understand what exists in the worldof work so that they can examine the differentcareer options available to them and decide theirrelevance to their personal characteristics (Mab-ula 2012). Hoppock (in Mabula 2012) indicatedthat career decision- making is guided by infor-mation and awareness about us, information andawareness about occupations, and our knowl-edge about us and occupations. Career knowl-edge and awareness are, therefore, necessary inthe process of career decision- making so as tomatch job requirements with the personal char-acteristics and needs (Hoppock in Mabula 2012).

The study was conducted in an institutionof higher learning situated in the rural part of theLimpopo Province of South Africa. This institu-tion offers educational opportunities to a large-ly rural population, deprived of chances of at-

364 T. D. SIKHWARI

tending institutions of higher learning mainlydue to poverty. In his study, Ngesi (in Shumbaand Naong 2012) found that a poor financialbase for students from disadvantaged commu-nities deters choices of appropriate educationalprograms and careers. Such students tend toavoid careers which require a long period of train-ing because of financial constraints. This sug-gests that students from lower socio-economicfamilies may not be able to pursue careers oftheir choice.

In their study of socio-demographic factorsthat influence career choice among Psychologystudents in South Africa, Mudhovozi andChireshe (2012) found that the participants whoattended rural schools made delayed career de-cisions. The same study also found that partic-ipants were mainly influenced by parents, teach-ers and friends to choose Psychology as a ca-reer. Sax (in Shumba and Naong 2012) examinedstudents’ initial interest in science careers, fac-tors influencing career choice during college,and how these factors differ between male andfemale students. Sax found that male studentswho abandon career aspirations appear to bedriven by financial concerns, while female stu-dents were more concerned with the social as-pects of their career choice. In a similar vein,Perry (in Shumba and Naong 2012) asserts thatadolescent career choice is influenced by lifecontext, personal attitudes, and educational at-tainment.

Theoretical Framework

An understanding of the theories of careerdevelopment and choice can assist the careerguidance teacher to realise that career decision-making is not a single event in time, but a long-term process which, in some cases, might stretchover the entire life-span of an individual (Naudeand Bodibe 1986). Some of the major theories ofcareer choice or career development are dis-cussed below.

The Developmental Theory of Donald Super

The Developmental Theory is also referredto as the ‘self-concept theory’ because the roleof the self-concept is emphasized (Jacobs etal.1991). Super’s theory is summarised in the fol-lowing points.

People differ among themselves with regardto abilities, interests, personality traits andvalues;The different occupations demand a uniquepattern or profile of abilities, interests andcertain personality traits from the potentialpractitioner;Occupational preferences, skills and livingconditions of people and, therefore, theirself-concepts as well, change with time andwith experience. Having this, occupationalchoice and adjustment become an on-go-ing process;This process takes place in a series of stag-es or phases of life, namely growth, explo-ration, settlement, maintenance and deteri-oration; andThe individual’s career pattern is deter-mined by his parents’ socio-economic sta-tus, his intellectual ability and personalitytraits, and the opportunities to which he/she is exposed.

The Developmental Theory of Ginzbergand his Fellow-Workers

Ginzberg (in Jacobs et al. 1991: 7) pointedout that occupational choice is a “lifelong pro-cess of decision-making in which the individualseeks to find the optimal fit between his careerpreparation and goals and the realities of theworld of work”. Other points in Ginzberg’s theo-ry are as follows:

Occupational choice is a process that re-mains open-ended as long as the individualhas to make decisions about his career;Occupational choice is a reversible processas specific factors can cause occupationalrelated behaviour or decisions to bechanged. Practical considerations such asthe cost and length of training often makepeople reconsider their decisions; andAn individual’s attitude towards compromiseis replaced by the approach of optimization,because practising an occupation is dynam-ic and continually strives for the best bal-ance between an occupation and the per-son’s ever-changing desires and circum-stances.

Frank Parsons’ Trait-Factor Theory

The basic idea of the trait-factor approach isthat occupational choice is a rational decision,

INVESTIGATING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ ABILITIES 365

which a person makes after he has weighed hisaptitude, interests, and other personality factorsagainst the specific requirements of a certain oc-cupation (Jacobs et al. 1991). Parsons (in Jacobset al. 1991) identified three factors that are impor-tant in choosing an occupation, namely:

Obtaining self-knowledge with regard to at-titudes, abilities, interests, aptitudes, aspi-rations and the person’s limitations and thepossible reasons for them;Obtaining knowledge with regard to the de-mands made by different occupational fields,to succeed in them; andReflecting on and integrating these two setsof information that have been processed toknowledge by the person concerned.

John Holland’s Career Guidance Model

John Holland was a career counsellor whocategorised individuals according to specificpersonality types and related these types tospecific occupational environments as a basisfor structuring career guidance classes (Jacobset al. 1991). According to Holland’s model, aperson’s personality type is determined and thepersonal particulars are then related to occupa-tional environments from the world of work.Holland’s model consists of the following sixpersonality categories:

Realistic Type: Persons with a preferencefor working with manual tools, machines,animals and/or plants;Investigative Type: Persons who prefer ac-tivities that involve problem-solving, intel-lectual and analytical thinking;Artistic Type: Persons who prefer creativework such as music, sculpting and writing;Social Type: Persons with a preference forcaring for others, helping and teaching them;Enterprising Type: Persons who prefer tak-ing the lead, managing and convincing oth-ers in attaining specific objectives; andConventional Type: Persons who prefer or-ganisation and routine in performing theirjobs. (Cited in Jacobs et al. 1991).

These categories are not mutually exclusiveas most people have more than one of thesepersonality traits. However, in most cases, anindividual more clearly represents a specificgroup of traits. For example, a person could bemainly realistic and have enterprising and cre-ative traits in addition.

Research Objectives

The study had the following objectives:(1) To investigate the first year students’

abilities regarding career planning;(2) To determine whether first year students

are aware of their career interests and in-tellectual abilities;

(3) To determine first year students’ careerdecision-making abilities; and

(4) To establish the level of first year stu-dents’ exposure to career information.

Hypotheses

Based on the discussed literature and theo-ry, and to address the objectives of the study,the following hypotheses were formulated:

H1: First year students are not adequatelyinformed about career planning

H2: First year students are not significantlyaware of their career interests and intel-lectual abilities

H3: First year students are not significantlyable to decide on their career choices

H4: First year students are not significantlyexposed to career information

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

A cross-sectional survey design was usedto investigate the views of first year studentswith regard to choosing careers. This designhas the advantage of measuring current viewsor practices, and it can also provide informationin a short space of time (Creswell 2012).

Sampling

The study used simple random samplingmethod to select 430 participants from the pop-ulation of all the first year students in a histori-cally Black institution of higher learning in SouthAfrica. The simple random sampling method waschosen so that every first year student had anequal probability of being selected from the pop-ulation (Creswell 2012). The sample included stu-dents from different faculties and degreeprograms.

366 T. D. SIKHWARI

Instrument

A self-constructed questionnaire was used tocollect data. The instrument had four sectionswhich focused on the following four areas:

Section A: Career Planning (Q1–Q8)

Questions in this section were aimed at es-tablishing whether students are able to plan theirshort-term and long-term career goals. Shertzerand Stone (1981) investigated that, career plan-ning consists of thinking through short-term, aswell as long-term career goals. These authorsstate further that the attainment of short-termgoals often contributes to the achievement oflong-term goals. For a student, career planningshould be an attempt to determine “what is thereto be done? What do I want to do? What can Ido?” (Shertzer and Stone 1981: 378).

Section B: Self-Knowledge in Relation toCareer Fields (Q9 – Q15)

The purpose of the questions in this sectionwas to find out whether students are aware oftheir interests, aptitudes and personalities. Ma-ree and Ebersohn (2002) are of the opinion thatthe students’ career choices should be in linewith their interests, aptitudes and personalities.

Section C: Career Decision-Making Q16– Q23)

These questions were aimed at determining therole that parents, teachers and peers played in thecareer aspirations and decision-making of studentsand whether students consulted parents and/orteachers regarding their career choices.

Section D: Career Information (Q24–Q32)

These questions were aimed at establishingwhether there were sufficient sources of careerinformation in the schools and the community,and whether the students were utilizing thesesources to get information.

Validity and Reliability of the Instrument

The questionnaire was given to an experi-enced statistician to establish its ‘content’ and

‘construct’ validity before it was administeredto the selected group of participants.

The Pilot Study

Twenty-five students from the Humanitiesand Management Sciences Foundation Programparticipated in the pilot study. The question-naires were administered to the participants as agroup. The participants completed the question-naires without any difficulty and it was, there-fore, not necessary to change items or the word-ing in the final version of the questionnaire.

Procedure

The researcher administered the question-naires to the whole sample of 430 students dur-ing normal class periods. One period of fifty min-utes was sufficient as it took approximately for-ty five minutes to answer the questionnaire. Allthe questionnaires were collected at the end ofthe sessions.

Data Analysis

The Statistical Program for Social Sciences(SPSS) was used to analyse data.

Ethical Considerations

Permission to conduct the study was grant-ed by the university’s Research Ethics Commit-tee. Participants were informed about the pur-pose of the research. Their participation wasvoluntary, and they were informed of their rightto withdraw from the study at any time, and thattheir identities would be confidential as they didnot use their names.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results on all individual questions are shownin Table 1. The number of participants and per-centage of those who either agreed or stronglyagreed are indicated. The scores on the respons-es were coded as:

1 - Strongly Disagree2 - Disagree3 - Agree4 - Strongly Agree

INVESTIGATING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ ABILITIES 367

Table 1: Participants who either agreed or strong-ly agreed to the individual question

Question Participants who agree orNo. strongly agree

Sample (N) Percent (%)

1 356 89.452 366 91.963 230 57.784 242 60.815 387 97.246 317 76.657 330 82.918 336 84.429 198 49.631 0 243 71.111 1 365 91.711 2 258 64.831 3 283 68.111 4 215 54.021 5 326 81.911 6 345 76.681 7 236 59.291 8 230 57.791 9 150 37.692 0 282 67.862 1 275 69.0922 359 90.22 3 372 93.472 4 349 87.682 5 328 82.412 6 279 86.942 7 333 83.662 8 293 73.622 9 300 75.383 0 278 69.853 1 284 71.353 2 227 57.04

From Table 1, it can be seen that a high pro-portion of participants either agreed or stronglyagreed to all the questions except question 9and 19.

Less than 50% of the participants eitheragreed or strongly agreed to question 9 and 19.Question 9 was aimed at establishing whetherthe participants were aware of their interests inrelation to careers where they use hands, toolsand machines, as well as make and mend things,or grow plants and take care of living creaturessuch as animals (Jacobs et al. 1991). This alsorelates to Holland’s ‘realistic personality type’,which refers to persons with a preference forworking with manual tools, machines, animalsand plants (Gevers et al. 1997). This result maybe due to participants’ lack of information andawareness about these careers as noted by Hop-pock (in Mabula 2012) when he said that career

decision making is guided by information andawareness about various occupations. Adebow-ale (2014) asserted that occupational informa-tion may include valid and usable data on suchissues as employment prospects, entry qualifi-cations, nature of work, conditions of serviceand training opportunities. The researcher hasalso noted that very few first-entering studentsat the university in question register for degreeprograms in Agriculture such as Animal Scienceand Soil Science, even though most of thesedegrees are regarded as ‘scarce skills’ areas inSouth Africa. This may partly be due to lack ofinformation on the part of prospective studentsabout the importance of these degrees for theeconomic development of the country.

Question 19 was aimed at finding out wheth-er friends had some influence on the participants’career choice and decision-making. Shumba andNaong (2012) point out that peers play a majorrole in the career choice of the students. Stuart(in Shumba and Naong 2012) found that peers’attitudes toward gender and ethnicity may in-crease or decrease a person’s confidence in pur-suing a career. Stuart indicates further that ado-lescents are easily influenced by their peers be-cause they rely on their friends to provide vali-dation of the choices that they make includingcareer decisions. On the contrary, Bojuwoye andMbanjwa (in Shumba and Naong 2012) foundthat peers were reported not to be influential incareer decision-making among university stu-dents. The result of this study is in line with thelatter findings by Bojuwoye and Mbanjwa.

Table 2 shows that 39.95% of the participantswere fully aware of their interests in relation tocareers. This is in line with a low percentage ofparticipants who either agreed or fully agreed inquestion 9 in the self-knowledge section. Ac-cording to Parsons’s trait-factor theory (Jacobset al. 1991), gaining self-knowledge with regardto career interests is an important factor in choos-ing a career. Sharf (in Mabula 2012) explains that,to select a career, an individual should ideallyhave information which indicates a clear under-standing of himself/herself, his/her attitudes, abil-ities and interests. The result indicated that par-ticipants had not fully acquired knowledge aboutthemselves in regard to choosing a career.

Table 2 also shows that only 51.26% of theparticipants were fully exposed to career infor-mation. The majority of students who enrol atthis university come from relatively poor educa-

368 T. D. SIKHWARI

tional backgrounds. The schools which thesestudents come from are in rural areas and theseschools have little or no resources necessaryfor adequate provision of career information tolearners. Shumba and Naong (2012) asserted thatcareer choices of tertiary students from previ-ously disadvantaged schools are negativelyimpacted by lack of career information. In hisstudy, Maree (in Shumba and Naong 2012) foundthat many learners passed Grade 12 without hav-ing received adequate career information.

CONCLUSION

Based on the findings above, the study con-cludes that the participants were not fully in-formed about careers where they use, hands,tools and machines, or where they grow andtake care of animals or plants. The study showsthat friends or peers have less influence on theparticipants’ career choice and decision-making.The study further indicated that participants didnot know themselves well, or their level of self-knowledge with regard to career choice and de-cision-making was inadequate. Finally, the par-ticipants did not have full exposure to careerinformation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order for learners to make right careerchoices and choose suitable study programmesin tertiary institutions, schools need to providecareer guidance to learners during their highschool studies. Schools should establish spe-

cific units for the purpose of gathering, process-ing and disseminating career information tolearners. The units should be staffed by trainedcareer guidance teachers. Teachers should guidelearners in choosing appropriate careers in linewith their aptitudes and abilities in various sub-jects. The Careers Exhibition and InformationAssociation (CEIA), a non-governmental organ-isation in Limpopo Province, should maintainan effective working relationship with the De-partment of Education in the province and con-tinually liaise with schools to keep them informedabout forthcoming Career Exhibitions. The CEIAshould strive to satisfy the need for updatedinformation regarding the ever changing studyenvironment in tertiary institutions, career op-portunities and study programs available in var-ious colleges and universities.

REFERENCES

Adebowale O 2014. Career information processingstrategies of secondary school students in Osun State(Nigeria). Inkanyiso, Journal of Human and SocialScience, 6: 66-76.

Cresswell JW 2012. Educational Research: Planning,Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qual-itative Research. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Dabula P, Makura AH 2013. High school students’ per-ceptions of career guidance and development pro-grammes for university access. International Jour-nal of Education Sciences, 5:89-97.

Gevers J, Du Toit R, Harilall R 1997. Manual for theSelf-directed Search Questionnaire. Pretoria: HumanSciences Research Council.

Jacobs CD, Van Jaarsveld WH, Van Mollendorf J W1991. Career Guidance for the Primary and HighSchool. Hatfield: Unibook Publishers.

Mabula N 2012. Career services provision to second-ary school students in Tanzania: Is it a dream orreality? International Journal of Learning and De-velopment, 2: 242-257.

Maree JG, Ebersohn L (Eds.) 2002. Life Skills and Ca-reer Counselling. Sandown: Heinemann Publishers(Pty) Ltd.

Mudhovozi P, Chireshe C 2012. Socio-demographicfactors influencing career decision-making amongundergraduate psychology students in South Africa.Journal of Social Sciences, 31: 167-176.

Naude GN, Bodibe RC 1986. Manual for GuidanceTeachers: A Theoretical and Practical Approach.Pretoria: Acacia Books.

Shertzer B, Stone SC 1981. Fundamentals of Guid-ance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Shumba A, Naong M 2012. Factors influencing stu-dents’ career choice and aspirations in South Africa.Journal of Social Sciences, 33:169-178.

Table 2: Percentage of students responding tocareer planning, self-knowledge, decision-making and career information questions

Aspect Response Percent

Career Uninformed 1.26Planning Partially informed 35.68

Adequately informed 63.07Self-knowledge Not aware 2.76

Some awareness 57.29Fully aware 39.95

Decision- Unable 2.26making Able 97.74Career Not exposed 6.28Information Exposed 42.46

Fully exposed 51.26