Influence of Environment and Gender on Career Choice among Secondary School Students in Kaura Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of environment and gender on career choice among secondary school students in Kaura Local Government of Kaduna State. A descriptive research design was used and 18 secondary schools were clustered into three chiefdoms to draw a sample of 6 secondary schools using purposive sampling technique. Also, a sample of 422 students from a population of 3558 students from the three Chiefdoms was drawn using cluster sampling technique. The study developed and used a questionnaire tagged 'Environment, Gender and Career Choice Questionnaire (EGCCQ)' with correlation coefficient of 0.78. The students' career choice was based on the adoption of Career Interest Survey (CIS) and Vocational Interest Inventory (VII) developed by Bakare (1977). Descriptive statistics of simple percentage was used for the research question generated, while inferential statistics of multiple regression analysis was employed to analyse the null hypotheses developed for the study and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students had preferences for career choice based on gender and environment. There was a significant composite influence of environment and gender on career choice among secondary school students in Kaura Local Government of Kaduna State, with the influence of environment being relatively than that of gender. It is therefore recommended among others that students should be well counselled in the choice of career process by professional counsellors and they should take into consideration the immediate environment of the students, their gender, interest, ability, skills and personality.