THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY BACKGROUND ON CAREER CHOICE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

1.1 Introduction

Family background refers to all the conditions and circumstances in the family which influence the child physically, intellectually and emotionally (Muola, 2010). Children coming from different family backgrounds are affected different by such family condition and that is why some children have good family background while some have poor background. Citing Eke (2009) noted that with some families, the background may vary from time to time for the same individuals. Formal education therefore remains the vehicle for human development which must start from the family. There are different categories of families. A family could also be categorized as extended or nuclear. Extended families are those in which large group of related kin in addition to parents and children live together in the same household.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Education is as old as man himself. Man is by nature curious and that inspires in him the urge to explore the environments around him. Through the ages, man has attempted various means to transmit knowledge in whatever form he had acquired to the upcoming generation. The place of education in the development of individuals and the nation at large cannot be under-estimated. It is evident in the fact that education helps individuals develop their mental capabilities and become functional members of the society. Every society therefore, plan its own system of education in terms of the aims, contents, processes, etc.

The family unit is the first and primary foundation of the child learning process. Apart from the materials stimulation, needed by the child and provided by his family for his intellectual development a child also is expected to be emotionally balanced. This will enable him to cope with the entire social tolerant that would disturb him at school. All families do not have equal economic and social status and since children from different homes attend different problems therefore the various children under this condition would be disturbed at school much effect is therefore required of the teachers in identifying the child’s problems which may be traceable to his family. The teacher should study the student’s family background and correlate them with the child performance at school.

Education is the process of transmitting what is worthwhile to members of the society. According to Okafor (2014), Education embraces all those experiences of the individual through which knowledge is acquired and intellect enlightened. For Nwabachili and Egbue (2013) education is what goes on from one generation to another generation. In this context, education is the process of socializing the child to grow up as a fulfilled member of the society through informal, formal and non-formal process. Informal education is the process of acquiring knowledge about the environment and beyond through living with one another.

According to Clifford (2011) family remains the primary environment of the child. The author emphasized that family environment has more chances of increasing or decreasing the intellectual performance of the child.

Parents who are of in more lucrative job would have more or enough fund to expand on the basic needs and academic requirement of their children, particularly in the subjects that are core in secondary education, particularly mathematics. Education is likely to provide different ways for the needs of their children and inhabit different aspects of cognitive, emotional and motivational development. Individuals in the society as well as families are different in all aspect of life; determining factors of such are the educational level, occupation and income of the family.

Nwabachili and Egbue (2013) stated that, formal education is a consciously planned form of socialization in a formal setting such as school. They stressed that non-formal education involve all those systematic programmes and processes of education and training that is done outside formal education setting. All these forms of education cannot be achieved without the influence of the family. Family is the first social environment the child finds itself.

A home environment is viewed as consequential for child developmental outcomes such as cognitive ability, school readiness, academic achievement and emotional adjustment (Fantuzzo et al., 2000). Historically, examinations of the influence of home environments on developmental outcomes have focused on distal variables as the primary measures of home experience, such as the family income, parents educational level, parents occupational status, parental involvement and parenting styles of (authoritarian, demanding and permissive parenting styles).

Ayeni (2008) and Musgroove(2000) articulated that child from higher socio-economic background has advantages over the child from lesser status. In a higher class there may be a television sets, radio, picture, home teacher, home library, computer, reading and writing materials all of which help to prepare a child for learning in school. The children are given high motivations for success in school. The parents’ ability to provide books and other reading materials in order to bring about a positive attitude stimulates children to learn more. Furthermore, the upper class child eats a balance diet and belonging to a comfortable social school environment further helps home to show his best. It is against this background that the researcher is interested in investigating the Influence of Family Background on Career Choice of Secondary School Students.

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1.3 Statement of the Problem

Investigation revealed that the culture of poor attitude and low educational achievement among secondary school students is currently one of the prevalent issues in education. In a bit to understand the immediate and root cause of this, there is misunderstanding among stakeholders in education. Government, parents, teachers and students blame one another. Given the fact that the family is the first social environment of a child and each brings with him or her family experiences, it is pertinent to examine the Influence of Family Background on Career Choice of Secondary School Students.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to explore the Influence of Family Background on Career Choice of Secondary School Students using Umuahia LGA, Abia State as a Case Study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the degree in which socio-economic status of parents influence the career choice of students in secondary school.
2. To examine the relationship between the level of education of parents and the career choice of students in secondary schools.
3. To determine if the size of a family have any influence on the choice of career of secondary school students.
4. To examine the relationship between living condition at family and choice of career of students.
5. To find out if the ability and temperament of parents affect the choice of career of students in the area under study.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Is there any relationship between the level of education of parents and the career choice of students in secondary schools?
• Does the size of a family have any influence on the choice of career of secondary school students?
• Is there any relationship between living condition at family and choice of career of students?
• To what degree does the socio-economic status of parents influence the career choice of students in secondary school?
• To what extend does the ability and temperament of parents affect the choice of career of students?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant influence of family structure on educational aspirations of secondary school students in Uyo Local Government Area
• H1: There is a significant influence of family structure on educational aspirations of secondary school students in Uyo Local Government Area

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant influence of family socio-economic status on educational aspirations of secondary school students in Uyo Local Government Area
• H1: There is a significant influence of family socio-economic status on educational aspirations of secondary school students in Uyo Local Government Area

Hypothesis Three

• H0: There is no significant relationship between the level of education of parents and the career choice of students in secondary schools
• H1: There is a significant relationship between the level of education of parents and the career choice of students in secondary schools

Hypothesis Four

• H0: There is no significant relationship between living condition at family and choice of career of students.
• H1: There is a significant relationship between living condition at family and choice of career of students.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The findings of this study will be of immense help to parents as it will make them understand the role of the family in educational aspiration and achievement of their wards. It will enable them identify the problems of poor home background so as to make the family environment more conducive for the children. It will help teachers realize the necessity of individualizing their teaching by structuring their teaching methods and instructional resources to take care of the divergent family backgrounds of the students.

To educational administrators, the findings will be used in the formulation of polices that will regulate equal educational opportunities for all children irrespective of their family backgrounds and location in the distribution of equipment, facilities and amenities to schools.

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1.8 Scope of the Study

This study considers the Influence of Family Background on Career Choice of Secondary School Students. It is limited to public secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area of Anambra State.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Operational Definition of Terms

Family: Family is a primary social group of parents, offsprings and possibly other members of the household.

Family Background: Family background refers to all the conditions and circumstances in the family which influence the child physically, intellectually and emotionally.

Influence: Influence is the effect that a person or thing has on the way another person thinks or behaves.