Factors influencing career aspirations among girls in public secondary schools in Nyamira north district, Nyamira county – Kenya

Abstract

The young people need to be equipped with tools and knowledge to realistically plan for their future. This is to a large extent achievable through the process of career information and aspirations. Education girls in secondary schools access plays a role in equipping them with relevant skills, knowledge and values to enable them participate in national and global development. Most importantly, hence, girls need to be enabled towards establishing careers which match their abilities. In Kenya’s educational setting, it is notable that a majority of girls are unaware of training opportunities and requirements at various levels of post secondary schools education. It is worse for the rural schools which have constrained access to career sources such as trained teachers, published articles, media, and NGO partners. This justifies the purpose of this study in analyzing the significant factors that influence career aspirations among girls in public secondary schools. The case of Nyamira North district is preferred due to its rural setting where career gaps and challenges are anticipated. Specifically, the study will be concerned with the guidance and counseling, gender differences, family background, and role modeling. The study will adopt a survey research design and purposively targeting girls in form 4 due to their presumed vantage in accessing career information. Out of the 1251 girls enrolled in form 4 in the 25 public secondary schools (4 single girls and 21 mixed), a sample of 125 will be selected by simple random sampling to form the study group on whose findings generalizations will be made. In addition, career teachers, one from each school, will be recruited for participation as informants. The study will use questionnaire and interview guide, which will be refined to enhance validity and reliability, as the data collection tools. Collected data will be processed and analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data. Study findings will be presented with the help of tables.