CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Successful career development requires increased career Aspiration and contemporary career orientations accordingly stress the importance of being self-directed, values-driven, and flexible. This piece of work provides an overview of key perspectives on contemporary career orientations in relation to career Aspiration of students in some Government and Mission secondary Schools in Bamenda III municipality.

Career orientations refer to the way in which people view and approach their career, which is assumed to be an essential driving force behind their career aspirations and career self-management behavior (Briscoe & Hall, 2006; Sullivan & Arthur, 2006; Tschopp, Grote, & Gerber, 2014). In essence, contemporary career orientations encompass a variety of attitudes and preferences that help people to become more self-directed and flexible in managing their careers in today’s dynamic world of work (Gubler et al., 2014b, Gubler et al., 2014a; Wiernik & Kostal, 2019). Rojewski (2005) said that a person’s career aspirations were largely linked with value expectancy, belief system and self-efficacy of that person. Sharif, Ahmed and Sarwar (2019) also mentioned  value expectancy of that  profession as one one of the key influences in career aspirations. Thus, career orientations and career Aspiration represent two closely intertwined concepts that are pivotal to address the challenges and opportunities in contemporary career development.

The major aim of Guidance Counselling Services is to encourage students’ academic, social, emotional and personal development. To reach this aim, guidance counselling services help students get to know themselves better and find effective solutions to their daily problems. Therefore, Guidance counsellors in secondary schools render three major orientation services (information, counselling and placement services) in assisting students in the realisation of their career aspiration.

To address these issues, the core aim of this piece of work is to advance our understanding of the nature and relation between career orientation and career aspiration and to bridge these two literature streams. The researcher therefore, provided a systematic review of both concepts which builds a foundation to integrate the literatures on career orientations and career Aspiration.

Background of the study

Historically, the history of career orientation can be traced back to America in the late 1890s and in the early 1990s. Frank Parsons who is considered as the grandfather of Vocational guidance was among the pioneers of guidance and counselling movement. Through his efforts, guidance and counselling became an organized service and it gained recognition for its important contribution to society. Parsons (1908) established the first institution in the United States of American, and set the pace for the development of psychological testing. Increasingly, the guidance and counselling movement developed into an organized service, which has had a sustained significant contribution to the development of society (Makinde, 1984). Important support towards the growth of guidance and counselling also came from Weaver (1972). She provided help to students who had difficulties upon leaving New York City schools. The movement spread throughout the country as wildfire and groups with the same vision came up in other cities. These efforts led to the creation of the National Vocational Guidance Association (N.V.G.A) and the hosting of a conference in 1910 in Boston. The vocational guidance bulletin was published at the end of this conference.

In Africa, counselling has been in existence since the history of man. Madu (1996) referred to African counselling as “African indigenous counseling” or “African traditional counseling.” Nwoye (2010) noted that African counselling was devoted to the study of the psychological healing systems allied to the traditional communities of Africa.

In Cameroon, guidance and counselling can be traced back to the 1940s, with an in-service unit in counselling opened in the Public Works Department (Ndongko&Leke, 2000) in the then French speaking part of Cameroon. It however underwent a series of changes in naming, for instance in 1949, it was called the Centre for Psychological Counselling and Vocational Choice (C.P.C.V.C.). In 1963, this name changed from C.P.V.C to the Service of Vocational Guidance and Psychological Studies of Labour Problems (this time in the reunified Federal Republic of Cameroon). It was thus placed under the Secretariat for Labour and linked to the focal point of Secondary Education, where it is well rooted up to this moment.  However, in 1949 in Cameroon public secondary schools and universities leaving out the primary schools whether primary school pupils do not have problems/ needs that warrants the services of a guidance counselor. Where they offer services such as career orientations that inspire students in thinking or aspiring towards certain career occupations.

Conceptually, A career may generally be defined as an occupation that an individual opts for a specific period of time to achieve his/her goal and to progress in any specific field. Career may also be defined as a paid occupation which  may  involve training  and  formal qualification.  Wilnesky (1961)  has more  specifically  explained career  as a  series  of  related jobs  arranged  in a  prestige  hierarchy through  which  a person  moves  in a predicted sequence. Super (1980) has defined career as an outcome of positions held by a person. According to Hughes (1937), career may be explained into two different ways; objective and  subjective. Subjectively, a career is defined by individual’s own desires, values and experiences (Stebbins, 1970) while objectively, it may be seen how others observe it through the positions, situations, and status “that serve as landmarks for gauging a person’s movement through the social milieu” (Barley, 1989, p. 49). Career orientations refer to the way in which people view and approach their career, which is assumed to be an essential driving force behind their career choices and career self-management behavior (Briscoe & Hall, 2006; Sullivan & Arthur, 2006; Tschopp, Grote, & Gerber, 2014). Counsellors in secondry schools orientate students using the  three main orientation services of information, counselling and placement that degenerate into career aspirations in students which are strongly what they want to become when they enter professional life. Rojewski (2005) said that a person’s career aspirations were largely linked with value expectancy, belief system and self-efficacy of that person. Sharif, Ahmed and Sarwar (2019) also mentioned  value expectancy of that  profession as one of the key influences in career aspirations.

Theoretically, Holland’s (1959) theory of Vocational Types and Adjustment involves assessing individuals in terms of two or three prominent personality types and then matching the respective types with the environmental aspects of potential careers. The theory predicts that the higher the degree of congruence between individual and occupational characteristics, the better the potential for positive career-related outcomes, including satisfaction, persistence, and achievement.

Abbasi and Sarwat (2014), stated that students especially those from Asian countries face one question from the  very  beginning of  their  academic life,  “What  do  you  want  to become  in  your  future?”  Students usually  answer this  question according  to personal  and social  factors (Lee,  Capraro,  & Viruru,  2018). Different students have different types of career aspirations. These aspirations not only vary from region to region, and country to country; but also from family to family, and person to person.

Gottfredson (1981) presented the Theory of Circumsciption and compromise in which he provided a theoretical framework about how career development takes place in different phases of early life. He explained that from the age of 3 to 5 years, children fascinate to become the dream characters. From the age of 6 to 8, they tend to attend to their  gender based  roles  and careers.  Later from  9 to  13  years,  they aspire  to  the social  standings  of different professions. They further attend to their unique personal characteristics at the age of 14 onward.

According to Wildman and Torres (2002); parents, siblings, elders and teachers have great  influence on  the career aspirations of a  student. Gender influence, environment, media  and  social  status  are  some  of  the  contextual  factors  which  are  also  important  in  this  regard (Rojewski, 2005; Lee, Capraro, & Viruru, 2018; Sharif, Ahmed, & Sarwar, 2019).  

Contextually, the focal point of counselling in Cameroon has been to enable students understand and accept who they are, so that the innate talents can be discovered and used efficiently to make life more meaningful.

Today, the State has opened departments of guidance and counseling in several teaching training colleges (HTTC,Yaounde, HTTC,Maroua, HTTTC, Douala, HTTC,Bambili, HTTTC, Bambili, HTTT, Kumba, HTTC, Ngaoundere,  HTTC, Ebolowa). Graduates of these colleges are posted to work in universities.

Statement of the Problem

Career aspiration decision making process is one of the key elements in an individual’s life. There exist numerous problems encountered by students in their process of career aspiration. Wrong career selection opens the door for lifelong consequences. Such individual’s by underperforming becomes a source of inefficiency not only for themselves, their organization but also for the economy as a whole. Normally, students choice of subjects should tide with their career aspirations. It has come to the notice of the researcher that, students graduate from secondary schools in the Bamenda III municipality yet finding it difficult to land at their aspired careers.This could duely as a result of the instability in the region stemming from the Anglophone crisis that subsequently leads to family instability, trauma and unconducive learning environment to graspe adequate skills and knowledge in the demand of their aspired careers. It’s undoubtedly true that the above factors influences career aspirations of students in GTHS Nkwen and ASACCO Bayelle. Despite all these, the researcher still believe that guidance counselling services like the Information, Counselling and Placement services still have an influence in their career aspirations. It could still be that the students here receives inadequate career orientation and choice of subject combinations from the limited school counsellors. Since there is a problem of students misappropriation of subjects as a result of little or no career orientation of students, they are bound to pick up off subjects and series that cause them end up in misseries. Based on this, the researcher seeks to find out if students’ career orientation have a relationship with students’career aspiration. This land the research the question, does students’ career orientation influence their career aspirations?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Main objective:

 To investigate how career orientation influence students’ career aspiration in secondary schools

 Specific Objectives:

To investigate how information service influences career aspiration of students in secondary schools.

To investigate how counselling service influences career aspiration of students in secondary schools.

To investigate on how placement service influence Career Aspirations of students in secondary schools.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Main research question

To what extent does career orientation influence career aspirations of students in secondary schools?

Specific research questions

To what extent does information service influence career aspirations of students in secondary schools?

To what extent does counselling service influence career aspirations of students in secondary schools?

To what extent does placement service influence career aspirations of students in secondary schools?