Relevance of public secondary school students' career aspirations to the manpower needs of Ghana

Abstract

The thesis examined the career and educational aspirations of secondary school students in Ghana. The study, which was a cross-sectional descriptive survey specifically, aimed at determining the type of jobs students wish to do, sectors of the economy and places they wish to work, relationship of their career aspirations to the manpower needs of Ghana as well as factors influencing their career aspirations. Students' intention and desire to pursue further studies as well as the type and extent of education they aspire to achieve were also investigated. Effects of students' demographic characteristics on their career and educational aspirations were examined. Participants consisted of 1265 girls and 1075 boys (N=2340) randomly selected from 22 senior secondary schools in Ghana. Respondents answered one set of hand-delivered questionnaire. The main statistical tools used in data analysis were percentages, chi-square (it t-test and Analysis ofYariance (ANOYA). The study revealed, among others, that senior secondary school students generally have the desire to pursue further full-time education. University education and Business programme were reported as students' most preferred tertiary educational institution and academic programme respectively. Students' demographic characteristics related to the type of educational institutions and acade.0mic programmes they aspired to pursue. The study further revealed that Government sector employment and enterprising work environment as well as working abroad have high attraction for students. Significant differences were found in students' career aspirations based on gender, academic programmes, school setting, school type, age, and their places of residence. In the light of these findings, implications for human resource development are discussed.