INFLUENCE OF SELF-EFFICACY AND CAREER ASPIRATION ON STUDENTS’ CHOICE OF COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS IN KOGI STATE SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

The study investigated the perceived influence of self-efficacy and career aspiration on students’ choice of commercial subjects in senior secondary schools in Kogi State, Nigeria. A Descriptive survey research design was adopted on a target population of 830 (SSS 3) students offering financial accounting, commerce and economics from 73 public senior secondary schools in the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission (KSTSC) for 2020/2021 session. The entire population was used as sample for the study because the population was considered to be of manageable size. The instrument for data collection was a self-constructed questionnaire titled “Self-efficacy and Career aspiration Questionnaire (SECAQ)” that was administered to students after validation and tested for reliability. The analysis of the data was done using mean and standard deviation for research questions and independent t-test analysis was used to test the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Strongly Agree and Agree was collapsed into Agree while Disagree and Strongly Disagree was collapsed into Disagree. The findings from the study revealed that students have positive perception towards Self-efficacy and career aspiration on students’ choice of commercial subjects in senior secondary schools. Based on the findings, part of the recommendations made are that since self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments, parents and school councilors should not force any student on the choice of a particular subject. And that a strong parent-child relationship is essential in shaping the students career choice. In this regard, it is recommended also that parents should take time to discuss different career choices with their children. Whenever necessary, the parents should express satisfaction with the child’s decision in order for them to realize their career aspiration.