Influence Of Guidance And Counselling In Career Choice Of Secondary School Students
[EKITI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KWARA STATE]

In addition, Krumboltz, Mitchell and Jones (1976) opined that there are four factors that affect career choice of individuals, these are: genetic enrolment and special abilities (such as race, gender, physical appearance and characteristics), environmental conditions and events like social, cultural and political, economic forces; natural forces and natural resources), learning experiences (instrumental learning experience which consists of preceding circumnstances.sti1mulus; behavioural responses (overt and covert); consequences, associative learning experience, and task approach skills (personal standards of performance; work habits, emotional responses).
    Fundamentally, the goal of guidance and counselling is to make it possible for an individual to see and explore his or her unlimited endowed options. Many scholars such as Odeck (1999), Ipaye, (1995), Makinde (1981) opined that the major service areas of guidance and counselling which assists students in their curriculum and school life choices, vocational guidance and counselling which assists the individual to choose and prepare for an occupation that is compatible with his interests and aptitudes, and personal and social guidance and counselling which assists the individual to behave appropriately in relation to other members of the society.
    As part of vocational guidance and counselling programme, career development enables guidance counselors to assist individuals to identify and learn the skills by which they can be more effective in planning for and choosing jobs, in making effective transitions effectively. Career development, for most people, is a life long process of engaging the work world through choosing among employment opportunities made available to them. It is a process of getting ready to choose, choosing, and continuing to make choices (Brown, Brooks, and Associates, 1996). 
    The National Career Development Association (NCDA) (1993) noted, helping individuals increase self-understanding of their abilities, interests, values, and goals is a vital foundation of the career development process (p.2). The NCDA suggested that career development activities help students develop positive work habits (for example, organization, following directions, completing assignments on time), set goals, make informed decisions, identify interests and abilities and explore jobs (for example, job shadowing and apprenticeships).
    From the foregoing, the factors influencing career choices include psychological, sociological, physical, economic, educational and choice factors. It should be noted that the roles of guidance and counselling on career choices of the secondary school students cannot be overemphasized.

Statement of Problem
    A major turning point in adolescents’ lives involves the career choice that they make while in senior secondary school. Frequently, it is viewed by family and community as a mere start to workplace readiness; however, this decision plays a major role in establishing youth in a career path that opens as well as closes opportunities (Lazarus, 2011).
    Essentially, parental influence has been influated in the career choice of children (Roe 1987, Adigwe 1981, Okeke 1996, Gesinde 1986). Okeke for example also studied the relationship between parental occupations and their children’s occupational preferences. Okeke found that 60% of the children were willing to take after their fathers’ occupations (medicine) while 23% were willing to follow their mother’s occupations (nursing). Gesinde on other hand posits that parents influence is much more intricate and more pervasive that is shown, students of secondary schools are often not aware of these influences and may accept the choice of their parents as theirs. The situation owes its origin to early childhood when the child grabs his parent’s attitude towards different vocations. A conflict therefore occurs when the child submits to his parent’s choice while at the same time deeply resenting his submissions as he becomes aware of his loss of independence and finds his area of interest (Gesinde, 1986).
    Peer groups also have influence on the occupation choice of students. In his view Hinchilife (1973) observes that friends are important factor in the career choice of adolescents. Durojaiye (1970) also found that 76.6% of the pupils he studied said that their classmates would be employed in professional occupations just like them; while 24% said that their choosen jobs would be same as those of their friends. 
    Interest is also a significant factor in students’ vocational choice. Owie (2003) advanced the position that the most important reason why a person chooses a particular career is that the person has intrinsic interest in the field, while this may be highly influenced by prior academic achievement.