Factors at play in career decision making among post-secondary school youths in Garissa municipality, Kenyaa

This study investigated the factors at play in career decision making among post-secondary school youths in Garissa Municipality, Kenya. The study aimed at achieving the following objectives: To examine the career fields considered by post-secondary school youths, to analyze the influencers of career choices among post secondary school youths in Garissa Municipality, to establish the sources of occupational information on career choices among post-secondary school youth and to establish the measures to sound and informed career choices among post-secondary school youths. It is hoped that the findings of this study will help parents guide their children’s career planning and decision making and teachers to articulate interest in career goals among students. The findings of the study will enable educationists, policy makers and curriculum developers to establish and support career development programs for post secondary school youths. The study employed a descriptive survey design and made use of mixed methods approach to collect information from relevant respondents. The study targeted 4 government county youth officers, 720 youth group leaders and 2852 community youths who graduated from Form Four between 2010 and 2012. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the study area and county youth officers who participated in the study. Stratified random sampling was used to select the villages from the five locations. Simple random sampling was used to select the youth group leaders and post secondary school youths from the selected villages. Three instruments used to collect data that included one interview guide for county youth officers a questionnaires for youth group leaders and other one village youths. The research instruments were piloted on a small representative sample identical to but not including the group that was involved in the actual study. The instruments were subjected to analysis by a team of specialists in educational psychology after the pilot study in consultation with the supervisors before the actual data collection was done. For qualitative data, patterns and themes were identified and data for all questions were analyzed descriptively. Quantitative data were analyzed by use of frequencies and percentages. The study established that the main career fields that are considered by post secondary school youths included education, law, health related courses, engineering, architecture, business management and administration. The main influencers of career choices included educational grades, role models, skills and abilities, gender, family, peer pressure and school environment. Sources of occupational information that was available for post secondary school youths included electronic and print search, media friends and family and social networks. The main measures to sound and informed career decision included developing collaborative career programs, engagement of parents in career decision making of the young people, volunteer work and internships. This study recommends that the post-secondary school youths should be given necessary career guidance while in high school or immediately after leaving secondary school in order to make their participation in post-secondary studies more effective and explore clear and specific career options which would also help them make sound and informed career decisions.