THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL ON THE CAREER ASPIRATIONS OF ADOLESCENT YOUTH IN BLANTYRE, MALAWI

Abstract

The study investigated the role of the school in the career identity development of adolescents in secondary school. The investigation was important for uncovering the strengths and weaknesses that exist in the school system in career guidance and counseling and how in the end the problems can be resolved by the schools with the direction of the Ministry of Education, Malawi. A quantitative research design and a survey were used with a self-administered questionnaire as a tool for generating data. 1030 students were sampled in clusters. Descriptive statistics measures were used to compute percentages of careers students aspired to join, opinion of levels of influence on factors for career choice and participation in student extra-curricular activities and frequency graphs of students’ opinion on the way career guidance is done in their schools. The study found evidence showing that students aspire to join careers like nursing, medicine, engineering, accounting and business management. Multiple factors, namely passion, money, job opportunities, the media, parents, teachers and siblings, were reported to be very influential in students’ career choices. Additionally, the school was found to be lacking in the level of support it offers its students as shown by students’ opinion on various aspects of the school relevant to career guidance and counseling. The implication is that most careers students aspire to join are highly related to mathematics and science. The school’s level of influence appears to diminish since when taken into consideration with other factors it comes several steps down the line. Schools lack resources and organization for supporting student career identity development.