Factors Affecting Career Preference of Filipino Senior High School Student

The Problem and Its Background

Our country suffers from multifarious crisis such as socioeconomic crisis, political crisis, and as well as financial crisis which is greatly affected by global economic crisis. Despite of all these crises, Filipinos are imaginative, creative, and courageous to surpass these obstacles in everyday life. Even though there are some companies affected by these crises which they are force to decrease their employees called as “recession”, some of them have job openings that offer new career opportunities to graduated college students.

These job openings also offers a new challenge into their life – a great responsibility lies to his hand that someday will help his family strive to achieve wealthiest, use his acquired knowledge and skills when he engage into a job, and acted as one of the reinforcements in industry that would further improved the depleting economy of the country. All of these come first from wishes and aspirations that arises during childhood years that someday he or she will become a doctor, an architect, a teacher, a police, or an attorney to help those seek needs and help their family to ascend into poverty.

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According to Ginzberg and his associates, during the fantasy period play gradually becomes work-oriented and reflects initial preferences for certain kind of activities. This stage is the preparation for a child’s highly organized social life they will be required to adjust when they enter the first grade. Career preferences are free opportunity to select a desired career. It is also a decision-making in a confusing situation which occurs during the senior year of high school level. When one is confused in choosing a career, he relies on his friends and relatives.

He was confused in a sense that he cannot make his own decision and not yet ready to get into college. According to Tiedemann, career development unfolds within the general process of cognitive development as one resolves ego-relevant crises. He further noted out those decision-making is a continuous process in which individuals will change their courses of career action, generally by leaving a setting or environment. Such as when a student is disoriented in his course he has been taken that will result in decreasing eagerness on that particular field.

He decides to transfer in another school or to shift another course that really fits his own interest and. When one is unstable in making decision, these disoriented strategy may be repeated until achieve different bachelor’s degree which can be a major distraction of one’s future job. Super also considered indecisiveness as a period of developmental process when interest was not fully crystallized. Therefore, this study intends to determine the factors affecting career preferences among senior high school students.

This factors that serve as preferences of student in choosing a career in college includes childhood aspirations, family/ relatives, peer/ friends, interest and specialization, values, in-demand jobs, school guidance counselor; and anticipated problems encountered are presumed to affect the student preferences of their career.

Statement of the Problem

We, as the student chose this topic because we are graduating student and we are now in the point of planning what career are we going to take. Still, we are undecided what course is suitable for us.

We chose this because we want to know what are the factors that affects us to think what are we going to take. The study aimed to determine the factors affecting career preferences of senior high school students. Specifically, it sought to answer the following sub problems:

What are the socio-demographic characteristics of the senior high school students in terms of:

• Sex
• Age
• Parents Educational Attainment
• Parents Occupation
• Size of Income
• Sibling Position

What are the top three expressed career choices of the students?

What re the preferences of students in choosing a career in college in terms of:

• Childhood
• Family/Relatives
• Peer/Friends
• Aspirations Values
• In-Demand Jobs
• School Guidance Counselor

What are the anticipated problems encountered in making their career choice?

Hypothesis of the Study

The following hypotheses are formulated for acceptance or rejection of study: The socio-demographic characteristics (such as sex, age, parents’ educational attainment, parents’ occupation, size of income, and sibling position) does not affect the career preferences of the senior high school students.

The preference of student in terms of childhood aspirations, family/ relatives, values, in-demand jobs, and school guidance counselor does not affect their career choice. The anticipated problem encountered by students does not affect their career choice.

Conceptual Framework Theoritical Framework

The study is anchored on the theory of Donald Super which focuses on the development of life roles over the life p with emphasis on interrole congruence. His vocational concept as a part of self-concept is formed, it is the driving force that establishes a career pattern one will follow through life.

Vocational developmental tasks are derived from vocational stages which provides framework for vocational behavior and attitudes.

Vocational Developmental Stages

1. Growth (birth-age 14 or 15), characterized by development of capacity, attitudes, interests, and needs associated with self-concepts;
2. Explanatory (ages 15-24), characterized by a tentative phase in which choices are narrowed but not finalized;
3. Establishment (ages 25-44), characterized by trial and stabilization through work experiences;
4. Maintenance (ages 45-64), characterized by a continual adjustment process to improve working position and situation;
5. Decline (ages 65+), characterized by preretirement considerations, reduced work output, and eventual retirement.

The crystallization task (ages 14-18) is forming a preferred career plan and considering how it might be implemented. Pertinent information is studied with the goal of becoming more aware of the preferred choice and the wisdom of preference. The specification task (ages 18-21) follows in which the individual feels the need to specify the career plan through more specific resources and explicit awareness of cogent variables of the preferred choice.

The implementation task (ages 21-24) is accomplished by the completion of training and entry into the career and develops a feeling of security in career position. The stabilization (ages 24-35) is reached when the individual is firmly established in a career and develops a feeling of security in career position.

Finally, the consolidation task (35+) follows with advancement and seniority in a career. Super also identified six dimensions that he thought were relevant and appropriate for adolescents:

1. Orientation to Vocational Choice (an attitudinal dimension determining whether the individual is concerned with the eventual vocational choice to be made);
2. Information and Planning (a competence dimension concerning specificity of information individuals have concerning future career decisions and past planning accomplished);
3. Consistency of Vocational Preferences (individuals’ consistency of preferences);
4. Crystallization of Traits (individual progress toward forming a self-concept);
5. Vocational Independence (independence of work experience);
6. Wisdom of Vocational Preferences (dimension concerned with individuals ability to make realistic preferences consistent with personal tasks).

This theory is found to be appropriate because of its stressfulness in terms of developing a career plan that will guide the individual in choosing a career in college. Also, Super’s six-dimension is appropriate for adolescent is truly applicable because senior high school students are fall under this category. Another theory adopted for the research is David Tiedeman’s5 self-development approach to career.

He believes that evolving ego-identity is of central importance in the career development process. He referred to the evolving self-in-situation from the earliest awareness of self to point at which individual becomes capable of evaluating experiences, anticipating, and imagining future goals, and storing experiences in memory for future reference with his context of Erik Erikson’s eight psychosocial crises. Self-in-situation, self-in-world and the orientation of work evolve as one resolves the psychosocial crises of life.

He therefore conceptualized a paradigm for problem-solving as the mechanism of career decision making. His paradigm covers four aspects of anticipation or preoccupation (exploration, crystallization, choice, and clarification) and three aspects of implementation of adjustment (induction, reformation, and integration).

Aspects of Anticipation, Preoccupation, Implementation, and Adjustment

Aspects of Anticipation and Preoccupation

Exploration

1. Thinking is rather temporary and evanescent in nature.
2. There is consideration and reconsideration of possible courses of action.
3. Through imagination, one experiences numerous activities by relating feelings of self within certain structures or premises.
4. There is searching through projection into tentative goals.
5. There is a focus on future behavior with alternative courses of action.
6. There is a reflection upon aspirations, abilities, interests, and future societal implications related to career choice.

Crystallization

1. There is a continued assessment of alternatives.
2. Fewer alternatives are under consideration.
3. There is an emergence of tentative choices.
4. Tentative choices may be reevaluated in the process of valuing and ordering.
5. Goals become more definite and formed but are not irreversible.
6. There is a definite more toward stability of thought.

Choice

1. A definite goal is chosen.
2. There is a focus on a particular behavior necessary to reach the chosen goal.

Clarification

1. This period is marked by further clarification of self in the chosen position.
2. Further consideration of the anticipated position lessens the doubts of the career position.
3. A stronger conviction about the career decision is developed.
4. This ends the anticipatory or preoccupation stage.

Aspects of Implementation

Induction

1. This period begins the social interaction experience with career identification.
2. There is a further identification of self and defense of self within the career social system.
3. As acceptance is experienced within the career, part of self is merged with the accepting group.
4. There is a further progression of individualized goal but within the framework of the totality of a career concerning social purpose.

Reformation

1. The career group offers acknowledgement of acceptance as a group member.
2. There is assertive action on the part of the individual the career group and outside the career group, spawned by the newfound conditions.
3. Assertive action takes the form of convincing others to conform to the self-view held by the individual and toward greater acceptance of modified goals.

Integration

1. A compromise of intensions of goal is achieved by the individuals as he/she interacts with the career group.
2. Objectivity of self and the career group is attained.
3. Identification of a working member within the total system of the career field emerges.
4. Satisfaction of a committed cause or action is at least temporarily attained.

Tiedemann stressed out why individual change their courses of action because of external factors because of external forces (such as the call of the armed forces, an economic crisis, the work setting itself) or by broad psychological drives (such as unmet needs, changing aspirations, role diffusion). According to the prescribed sequence, a new decision unfolds and must be made, beginning with exploration and eventually reaching integration.

If integration is not reached once again, the individual may adapt to a career environment or may simply withdraw and begin a new search for eventual integration.

Theoretical Paradigm

The rationale between these two theories is one follows a vocational self-concept which is a driving force that establishes a career pattern one will follow through life but there are some factors could might altered this pattern. These factors, such as external forces (called of armed services, economic crisis, work setting itself) and psychological drives (unmet needs, changing aspirations, role diffusion) altered the career patterns of individual.

Super said that indecisiveness is a period in developmental process when interests have not been fully crystallized. Individuals lead to discriminate 2 or more choices of two or more occupational objectives when uncertainty about future occurs. Tiedemann noted that as individuals become more aware of the developing character of the career process itself, they are more willing to make changes and to alter or redefine a decision.

Conceptual Framework

Future-tension can be surpassing if individual has a preparation to overcome it. Career preparedness will help the student become more effective and successful in life with his chosen job. Childhood aspiration has a major role on individual’s striving force. As they grow older, the more they want, the more they will strive to get it.

But external factors (environment and society) and internal factors (self-crisis and family) changes their aspirations in life. Such as when a child wants to be a nurse to cure a patient in his illness but because of her interest like drawing and painting changes his aspirations. His interest got more concentrated so she will take a course which is suitable for it.

Some graduated high-school students gradually stop in pursuing their college career. Financial sustainability plays a major role in alterations of career life. They need to work in order to sustain their studies, as wells as to help their family about expenses and earlier exposure to a company. Career preferences, then can be conceptualized as a process of decision-making. It also involves a series of prime factors such as the socio-demographic profile (sex, age, parents educational attainment, parents occupation, size of income, and sibling position).

Likewise, it will identify the top three expressed career choices, preferences for the career choice such as childhood aspirations, family / relatives, peer /friends, interest and specialization, values, in-demand jobs, and school counselor; their anticipated problems encountered and how these problems affect the students in making their career preferences; and sibling position.

Conceptual Paradigm Scope and Limitations

The respondents were taken from the different secondary schools in the City of Calamba. The senior high school students were whole selected as a part of the study.

This study focused on their career preferences of senior high school students of different secondary schools here in the City of Calamba. It looked into their socio- demographic characteristics in terms of sex, age, parent’s educational attainment, parents occupation, size of income, and sibling position; top three career choice; preference of students in choosing a career in terms of childhood aspirations, family/relatives, peer/friends, values, “in-demand” jobs, and school guidance counselor; and anticipated problems encountered in making their career choices.

The researcher considered senior high school students as the respondents since some of them are still undecided of course they want to pursue and suffers from difficulties in deciding their last term in high school excluded lower years since they are not yet capable of making a career decision and still pursuing their target specialization.

Significance of the Study

Education is the totality of learning acquired by individual which is inherited from one generation to another, while career is serve as its application.

The collaboration of these two fields plays a key in improving individual’s competence and professionalism and serve as their personal achievement. Therefore, this study is deemed significant to the following stakeholder for the following reasons:

• To the Students – The respondents are the center of the research because ultimately they develop the awareness of themselves, strength, and weaknesses for their career development by continually summarizing and reflecting upon what they are learning from home, school, and community. In totality, students are in charge of their own choice.
• To the Parents – In this study, parents will realize how important they are as a source of encouragement in which children are free to explore different areas of career preferences. This study will look forward in giving their children an assurance to acquire quality education that would enable them to obtain better job, better income, and brighter future.
• To the Teacher – This study will give information to the teachers of ACC and LCBA as to the preferences of students such that they can focus on the skills needed by the students if ever the latter would pursue the career they have chosen.
• To the School Administration – The result of this study will help the school administration in putting up an effective, integrated career information and guidance system that plays a very helpful role in guiding students towards making the best possible career decisions.
• To the Researcher – The process and outcome of this study will produce a great satisfaction, competence, and professionalism to the field.

Although the topic of the study is focused on career which belongs to the field known as Industrial Psychology, the purpose is to have a diversity and idea about the field rather than understanding the abnormalities of human behavior.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are conceptually or operationally defined to enhance the understanding of the readers of this paper.

1. Crisis – an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs whose outcome will make a decisive difference for better or worse. In this study, crisis is mentioned into four: socio-economic, political, financial, as well as global economic.
2. Recession – a period of reduced economic activity or withdrawal. In this study, recession refers to a decrease of employees in a company affected by economic crisis.
3. Career – a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life. In this study, career is the application of education whereby it is the totality of acquired knowledge.
4. Ego-Relevant Crisis – is derived from Erik Erikson’s eight psychosocial crises such as *Trust*Autonomy*Initiative*Industry *Identity*Intimacy*Generativity*Ego-Integrity.
5. Disoriented Strategy – displace from normal position or relationship. In the study, this term refers to mechanism of students when he or she is unstable in choosing a career which can be repeated.
6. Socio-Demographic Characteristics – refers to sex, age, parent’s educational attainment, parent’s occupation, size of income, and sibling position.
7. Sibling Position – the position of respondent in his family, whether he or she was a first child, second child, third child, etc.
8. Preference – other term for recommend ; the power or opportunity of choosing. In the study, the term career preference refers to the basis of student in choosing the course he wants whether it comes from his childhood aspirations, relatives, peer, his values in life, interest and specialization, and school guidance counselor.
9. Childhood Aspirations – the child’s infantile wishes of what he wants when grew up.
10. Interest – to induce or persuade ; to participate or engage.
11. Specialization – to concentrate one’s efforts in a special activity of field.
12. Values – refers to motivated drives the individual is striving to achieve their aspirations in life.
13. “In-Demand” Jobs – refers to the majority of present occupation which many companies are in need for a particular job.
14. School Guidance Counselor – is a type of counseling profession specialized in assisting the tudents in choosing their career in college and as well as vocational or educational problems.
15. Anticipated Problems – the expected problems of student’s career choice. For example, financial sustainability, poor health, self-conflicts, etc.
16. Self-Concept – the mental image one has of oneself.
17. Vocational Self-Concept – a driving force that establishes a career pattern one will follow through life.
18. Vocational Ego-Involvement – a term which describes Tiedemann’s self-development approach to career.

Review of Related Literature and Studies Career preference is the process of decision-making

A great number of studies, researches, and write-ups has been conducted for a period of time and still emerged as one of the top-priority research due to rapid changing and need of time. This chapter is the presentation of literature and studies from foreign to local which may directly or indirectly bearing to study at hand. Relevance to present studies will give a big picture why these literature and studies from foreign to local are used.

Foreign Literature

According to Howard stressed out that whenever students are in their high school experience, they are the center of learning.

In a traditional high school, the center of the system is the content or subject, not student learning. Howard and Ill present a system to promote the shift from traditional content or subject –centered high schools to student-centered high schools which is called as Collaborative Career Pathways – a system of organizing the student learning interests and aptitudes around career paths. It provides a structure for students to reference their learning and comment each year of their high school experience. It allows students to plan and practice their skills while creating a smooth and successful transition to a post-secondary option.

Goffredson’s Developmental Theory of Occupational Aspirations describes how people become attracted to certain occupations. Self-concept in vocational development is the key factor to career selection and people want jobs that are compatible with their self-image. The key determinants of self-concept are one’s social class, level of intelligence, and experiences with sex-typing. Roe’s need approach emphasized that early childhood experiences play an important role in finding satisfaction in one’s chosen field.

The need structure of the individual, according to Roe, would be greatly influenced by early childhood frustrations and satisfactions. According to John Holland , individuals are attracted to a given career by their particular personalities and numerous variables that constitute their backgrounds. First of all, career choice is an expression of, or an extension of personality into the world of work followed by subsequent identification with specific occupational stereotypes. Accordingly, one chooses a career to satisfy preferred modal personal orientation.

Modal personal orientation is a developmental process established through heredity and the individual’s life history of reacting to environmental demands. If the individual has developed a strong dominant orientation, satisfaction is probable in a corresponding occupational environment. If, however the orientation is one of indecision, the livelihood of satisfaction diminishes.

Local Studies

According to the study conducted by Siguan Jr. (1994), it was found out that the students self-concept showed no significant influence on their career preferences.

The academic achievements of students proved to be significant related to their career preferences. The school were students came from had no influence on their choice of career. He recommends that a more improved and functional guidance provided in school to help students make sound career choices. The guidance services in school must be collaborative efforts of the administrator, guidance counselors, and teachers.

Classroom teachers are encouraged to do their best in improving teaching learning processes, considering that academic achievement of student influences their career preferences. Another tudy conducted by Almerino (2003), it was found out that a big picture of a big family with low educational attainment and inadequate investment was the sole foundation of choosing a course, which was psychologically motivated.

The respondent’s level of preferred intelligence did not match to their chosen course. This could be drawn from the required level of the course in contrast with their level of preferred intelligence. The necessity of developing a career development program was need in order to prevent any misfits and to assist students in the process of crystallizing their career in life.

She recommended that this program be effectively implemented. Personal interests, abilities, skills, and values are the most influential factors in coming chosen occupation by the participants according to Pabiton (2007). These imply that like other graduating students in high school students, the participants seemed to have chosen occupation. She also noted that the students be given all the chances to learn and develop the skills and attitudes required for various occupations. She recommends that career counselors could give more emphasis on this environmental factor during individual and small group career counseling.

Foreign Studies

According to the study conducted by Garcez (2007) , it was found out that by increasing career development activities, which includes setting career goals, students had a higher self- esteem. Maybe even more important, however, is that students were more satisfied about the education they were receiving. This will, in turn, hopefully lead to students having a deeper desire and commitment to succeed in their education. Another outcome of a higher self-esteem, is that those students chose more difficult goals than students with low self-esteems.

She noted that excellent detailed plan for teaching parents and teachers how to teach young students to set career goals. The plan requires a total community effort through educators, parents, and businesses. Students must be given an opportunity to identify and explore their desired careers.

They can accomplish this through the “School to Work Transition” or “Job Shadowing Program. ” Through the cooperative efforts of the entire community, students can identify career choices, set career goals, and have higher self-esteems at an early age.Ultimately, they will further their education and have a better chance of succeeding in the “do or die” world in which we live.

Local Literature

According to Elmer (1989), career planning is life goal-setting. Without such a plan, it is like making a journey to an unfamiliar destination without a map. He proposed a Career Planning Guide that will help the students in choosing their appropriate course from planning a career, steps in planning career, goal-setting and self-understanding.

Also, it reveals that guidance and counseling is intervention of underemployment individuals and career preparedness must be initiated.

Synthesis of the Present Studies

The studies reviewed provide ample evidence that career development program is in need and must have a collaborative efforts made by school administrator, teachers, and mostly guidance counselor in crystallizing student’s career decision. The teaching methodologies or strategies must be improved and concentrate on student’s learning and not by subjects.

Research Methodology

This chapter presents the research design, population and sample of the study, research instruments, data gathering procedures, and statistical treatment of data.

Research Design

This study used a descriptive survey method used to assess socio-demographic characteristics such as sex, age, parent’s educational attainment, parent’s occupation, size of income, sibling position; the top three expressed career choices; preference of student in choosing a career and anticipated problems that affect the career choices of senior high school students of Laguna College of Business and Arts and Asian Computer College.

Descriptive research is a purposive process of data gathering, analyzing, classifying and tabulating data about prevailing conditions, practices, beliefs, processes, trends, and cause-effect relationships and then adequate and accurate interpretation about such data with or without aid of statistical treatment.

Population and Sample of the Study

There are 173 respondents of this study came from LCBA and ACC but only 124 participated answering the survey questionnaire. Stratified random sampling is used to select randomly, samples from the different strata of the population.

This type of sampling is used when the population has class stratifications or grouping either horizontally or vertically.

Research Instrument

The instrument used was a researcher-made questionnaire checklist to gather the needed data for the student’s profile. The draft of the questionnaire was drawn out based on the researcher’s readings, previous studies, professional literature, published and unpublished thesis relevant to the study. In the preparation of the instrument, the requirements in the designing of good data collection instrument were considered.

For instance, statement describing the situations or issues pertaining was toned down to accommodate the knowledge preparedness of the respondents. Open-ended options were provided to accommodate to free formatted views related to the topics or issues. In this way, the instrument is authorized to obtain valid responses of the students.

Preference for the use of the structured questionnaire is premised on several research assumptions such as a) cost of being a least expensive means of gathering data, b) avoidance of personal bias, c) less pressure for immediate response, and giving the respondents a greater feeling of anonymity.In the end, it encouraged open responses to sensitive issues at hand.

Data Gathering Procedure

The first step before going to the testing proper is to make a request letter. Upon approval, the researcher retrieves the request letter. The Prefect-of-Discipline, as well as the High School Department OIC, class advisers and other faculty members were selected in the administration.

In administering the questionnaire, the researcher was use the time allotted for vacant to avoid distractions of class discussions. The student responses were given enough time to answer the questions.After data gathering, the researcher now collected it for tallying the scores and to apply the statistical treatment to be used with the study.

Statistical Treatment For Data

The responses made by students describing their socio-demographic characteristics, preference of choosing their career, and anticipated problems were presented. For instance, sex, age, parent’s educational attainment, parent’s occupation, size of income and sibling position. This was also applied for top three career choice and students preference in making his career choice.

In providing overall picture of the socio-demographic characteristics and career preference, as well as anticipated problems in pursuing their studies and its effect on students, summary presentations will also presented. Responses to the questionnaire by senior high school students were statistically analyzed with the data requirements of the study. Students were statistically analyzed with the data instruments of the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, mean, percent and rank are considered.

Statistical Treatment For Data

In this chapter, the data gathered from the senior students of Asian Computer College and Laguna College of Business and Arts in relation to the research objectives. This chapter discusses the result of the semi-structured questionnaire responded by 124 participants. Before the initiation of the research study the significance, rationale and purpose of the study were provided respondents. Furthermore, the respondents have also been given the assurance that all the data they will give are used for the purpose of the research and the identities of the respondents will be confidential.

The object is to determine the effects of choosing career preferences in the College Degree. The conduct of this study entails a detailed account of the socio-demographic profile of the respondents. It is assumed that the attributes of the respondents influence their behavior and answers on the survey questions. Of particular significance to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the study – which is to be an instrument of analysis of the institution to gauge where it is now and where it is heading, thus what changes are to be made –is to be able to answer the research questions.

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