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Need For Parental Career Guidance and Counselling Program- A Next Generation Perspective |
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| Paper Id :
18972 Submission Date :
2024-06-09 Acceptance Date :
2024-06-17 Publication Date :
2024-06-23
This is an open-access research paper/article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.12651888 For verification of this paper, please visit on
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| Abstract |
Career counselling needs to be turned into an
interpretative process with the ever changing world of work. The purpose of
this study was to assess the perception of students for the need of parental
career guidance and counselling services for their parents. The sample
consisted of 217 active respondents, who were in the age group of 15-20 years,
who are currently involved in the career decision making process. The results
suggested that majority of students believed that a proper parental career
guidance and counselling services would have a positive impact on their
ultimate career choice. The findings applied across males and females
respondents, to urban and rural area, to educational qualifications of their
parents, in addition to this to the nature of father’s occupation of
respondents.
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| Keywords | Career Decision Making; Career Counselling; Parental Counselling. | ||||||
| Introduction | Career counselling and career guidance is a verbal profession in which counsellors and guides try to provide solutions for different aspirations, confusions, anxieties and choices of a person. Career counselling is not just a tool to support young people but also to ensure the effective career choices and implications of a successful career. Many studies have revealed that career guidance plays a major role in the career trajectory of students. The beans of career guidance were planted in India in late 1930’s. In 1938 Acharya Narendra Dev committee underlined the requirement and urgency of career guidance in education. Later many other committees also recommended formalization of career guidance service throughout the country (Mudaliar committee, 1952; Kothari Education Commission, 1964-66). Earlier studies have shown that people who have taken career guidance service have shown a great coherence in their career. However, the term has varied in its meaning throughout the time according to the requirements of the individuals. The ever changing environment surrounding a person prompts them to ponder their career identity and transform their identity into their personal actions. India being a developing nation provides numerous promising employment opportunities. An evident corollary for economic development is expanding the occupational possibilities, which not only opens the portal of various opportunities for capable contenders but also demands efficient aspirants for viable growth. For this the optimal utilization of human resource becomes vital. Out of all these available opportunities choosing a pathway could become a difficult task for young people. And that’s the point where career counselling plays a crucial role. However, Indian career choices are found typically stuck to the restricted career choices. One of the presumed reasons for this could be that parent’s cognizance is a major contributor in student’s career decision making. In that case the awareness of the parents about various occupational possibilities becomes indispensable. That would not only provide them a satisfactory career path but also boost up their confidence in their choices (Arulmani and Nag- Arulmani, 2006). |
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| Objective of study | Although, career has become a fundamental aspect of
modern India, yet some dimensions of career counselling are still left
unexplored and are very different from the patterns followed in the West. The
intent of the present study is to explore an angle of career guidance services
by focusing on the perceptions of students and to analyze their viewpoints on
importance of parental cognizance about various careers which will help
students in making their vocational choices. |
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| Review of Literature | The primacy of parents in career counselling is evident when the acquainted students report the need of it. Parents have a significant role to play when their adolescents seek answers to their identity and begin to endeavour the career options which fuse with their identity (Marcia, 1966). Saltiel (1985) in his study put parents into a category called definer influencer, which means those people who are in direct contact with adolescents and provide them information related to various occupations. There are undoubtedly other factors that influence adolescents in their career selection, but they always seek an ultimate counsel from their parents and look for their advice and guidance related to important matters. A majority of young people wants to discuss their career plans with their parents (Otto, 2000; Papini et al., 1990). In India context it is evident that parental inclination towards a particular career moulds the career choices of their children also and is the ultimate decision making factor. (Arulmani et al., 2003). The interests of parents regarding a particular occupation influence their choices of career selection (Keller and Whiston, 2008). Agarwala (2008) in her study reported fathers as the most influential factor in career selection of their wards. Otto (2000) also reported that majority of youth share similar ideas to their parents. Parental support is believed to play a major role in nurturing a sustainable career choice for their children. It not only makes them have a positive attitude towards their choices but also increases their future success rate. (Ginevra, 2013; Lent et al., 2002, Katz et al., 2018). Sinacore et al. (1999) in his study found that parents are the primary sources that most potentially contribute in their children’s career. Mc Daniels and Hummel (1984) believed that parents can become effective counsellor and consultants in their children’s career development if they frequently keep themselves updated with career information resources. Through a careful intervention, counselling and information availability parents have the potential to facilitate adolescents in their career decision process (Middleton and Lounghead; 1993). In another study Trusty and Watts (1996) found that parents seem to be receptive about various career information available outside the family and suggested that counsellor should devote their time to help parents access career related information. Parents should be included as a part of student’s career decision making process to construct an effective career choice structure (Sinacore et al., 1999). There are a large number of parents who don’t have related information related to viable careers. If they are granted with reliable information they could empower them to guide their children in a better way (Jeffery, 1992; Middleton and Loughead, 1993). In his study Sinacore et al. (1999) suggested that sex stereotype regarding career selection should be challenged and transcended. Both males and females should be given equal opportunities to choose a career. In another study females reported that their parents show major involvement in their career related decisions, where as their male counterparts are mostly free to choose a career of their choice (1997). It is important for parents to be more aware about different career choices to get over sex-role stereotype (Birk and Brimline, 1984). Parental education is also considered to plays a vital role in the career choices of career selection of students. Smith (1991) found that formal education of mother and fathers also have an impact on career selection of their children. The students with parents of higher educational background are more consistent about their career choices (Mbagwu and Ajaegbu, 2016; Falaye et al., 2008). Parents especially from rural area expressed that there limited education level is another reason for not being able to be a better role models informants (Jeffery, 1992). Many other researchers also supported that parental education is a contributor in children’s career choices (Wilson and Wilson, 1992, Yuen et al., 2018). One can conclude from the literature the importance of parents in their children’s career choices and the importance of gathering career related information (Marcia, 1966; Otto, 2000; Sinacore et al., 1999,). The literature highlights the importance of parental educational background, their receptiveness towards information regarding career options that are available. Indeed, they have been turned as definer influence, however, the perceptions of students whose career is influenced by parental factors, has not been investigated much, thus in order to bridge this gap in literature, the present study focuses on the perception of students in their need for parental career guidance and counselling. Therefore, study was conducted with two objectives, firstly, to find out the perception of students about their need for parental career guidance and counselling and secondly, to compare their perceptions according to demographics. |
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| Methodology | Instrument The data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire which was developed with the help of previous literature review. The questionnaire was further divided into two parts. First part focused on the demographic information related to respondents. Demographic variables included age, gender, location, mother’s job profile and father’s job profile. The second part constituted statements which were related to parental career counselling that were perceived to have an influence on career decision making of the respondents. To measure different responses a five point likert scale was adopted where the scale ranged from 5 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree. Participants and procedure: After explaining the purpose of the questionnaire all the respondents were asked to complete their questionnaire with accuracy and caution, without leaving any statement. For a higher response, questionnaires were personally delivered to all the participants. The sample comprised of respondents who were in the age group of 15 to 20 years. Overall, 230 questionnaires were distributed in different districts of Haryana (India), out of which 217 valid questionnaires were returned, which represents a response rate of 94.35 per cent. Statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA were used to unveil the results of this study. |
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| Result and Discussion |
Demographic profile of respondents: Table 1 represents the demographic profile of respondents. The sample consisted of 217 respondents who were in the age group of 15-20 years. 106 (48.8 percent) were females, whereas male respondents were 111 (51.2 percent). In the study 51 (23.50 percent) students belonged to families in which fathers were self employed, 47 (21.66 percent) had fathers working in a govt job and about 51 (23.50 percent) students belonged to the families with their fathers working in private sector, whereas 68 (31.34 percent) students were from the families in which their fathers were in agricultural or related jobs. Only 57 students (26.27 percent) out of 217 had working mothers of which 23 (10.60 percent) were in government sector, 25 (11.52 percent) in private job and 9 (4.15 percent) were self employed. A total of 115 (53 percent) respondents belonged to urban area, whereas, 102 (47 percent) respondents were from rural area.
Gender and perception regarding parental career guidance and counselling In order to ascertain hypothesis H1 (i.e. there is no significant difference in the perception of females and males for the need of parental career guidance and counselling programs) data was analyzed with the help of independent t-test. Table 2 presents the research findings with regards to the difference between females and males. The research findings demonstrated the t-value obtained from females and males. No significant differences were found (p = .090 > .05). The results shown by independent t-test demonstrated that there is no significant difference in the perceptions of both males and females regarding their need for parental guidance and counselling programs. Further, although the mean score of females was a little higher (i.e. 4.32), than their male counterpart, but the difference is not so high and share similar perception related to parental guidance and counselling. Location and perception regarding parental career guidance and counselling Similarly t-test was applied to test hypothesis 2 (i.e. there is no significant difference in the perception of respondents from urban and rural area for the need of parental career guidance and counselling programs.). Table 2 presents the research findings that illustrate that t-value obtained from respondents of urban and rural area shows significant results. No significant differences were found among students whether they belong to urban or rural area. (p = .458 > .05). Mean scores from both groups indicates that their perception regarding the need for parental guidance and counselling hardly differs.
ANOVA on mother’s educational qualification Table 3 reports the results of one way ANOVA to analyze difference in the perception for need of parental career guidance and counselling of respondents on the basis of their mother’s educational qualification. For this purpose, mother’s educational qualification was divided into six categories i.e. below secondary, secondary, senior secondary, graduation, post graduation and doctorate. A balanced PC score for mother’s educational qualification and perception of need for parental career guidance and counselling were achieved through ANOVA. The significant value was achieved through Brown’s test which gave a significant value of .078.The significant results were given by one-way ANOVA, i.e. F (1.944) = .088, p < .05. The results represented that there is no significant difference in the perception of respondents based on their mother’s educational qualification.  ANOVA on father’s educational qualification Table 4 concludes the research findings regarding the influence of father’s educational qualification on the perception of respondents regarding parental career guidance and counselling. For this purpose, father’s educational qualification was divided into six categories i.e. below secondary, secondary, senior secondary, graduation, post graduation and doctorate. The requirement of parental career guidance and counselling was examined on the basis on the above mentioned categories. The significant results were given by one-way ANOVA, F (.568) = .702, p < .05. Result shows that there is no significant difference in the perceptions of respondents because of how qualified their father’s were. This represents that all the respondents hold similar opinion for a parental career guidance and counselling, irrespective of their father’s qualification.
ANOVA on father’s nature of organization Table 5 shows the research findings of one-way ANOVA regarding difference in the perception of respondents regarding parental career guidance and counselling on the basis their father’s nature of organization. For this purpose, father’s organization was categorized into government sector, private sector, ones who were self employed and those who were associated with agricultural activities were categorized in subgroup titles “other”. The requirement of parental career guidance and counselling was examined on the basis on the above mentioned categories. The significant results were given by one-way ANOVA, F (2.171) = .092, p< .05. Result showed that there is no significant difference in the perceptions of respondents. This indicates that all the respondents hold similar opinion for a parental career counselling, irrespective of their father’s profession. 
Discussion of Results There results of the study indicated that there is no statistically significant difference across demographics (i.e. gender, location, mother’s educational qualification, father’s educational qualification and father’s nature of organization.) regarding perception of respondents for the need of parental career guidance and counselling. Based on the research findings it was found that males and females hardly differ in their perceptions regarding parental guidance and counselling. Participant’s responses points out their strong likelihood to their level of acceptance for such change. They believe that parents should be facilitated with different educational material to improve their involvement in their children’s career decision making. Parents with different information regarding various occupations and comprehensive counselling are more likely to skillfully deal with the confusions and anxieties of their children. Respondents from both urban and rural areas have shown their curiosity for the need of parental career guidance and counselling. One seemingly viable explanation could be that in Indian society parents are mostly the ultimate decision makers of a student’s career decisions. However, proper counselling sessions are still inaccessible to a large section of society. The schools in different areas have to take initiatives to conduct various seminars and counselling sessions for parental awareness. They have to ensure an active parents’ participation in various sessions to let them know about different career assessment tools and counselling sessions to guide their children for a better career selection (Jeffery, 1992). Well assisted and informed parents are believed to be more receptive and supportive. Results for hypotheses 3 indicated that influence of mother’s educational qualification does not alter the perceptions of respondents regarding career guidance and counselling. The positive response from respondents toward the need is believed to be because of the limited knowledge of their mothers about different career options. Other reason could be because of their inclination towards the traditional or safer career choices. The evidences of these results were also found in the study conducted by Birk and Blimline, (1984). India still being a patriarchic society is believed to have a high influence of fathers on an individual’s career choices (Agarwala 2008). Therefore, to get a better image, the need for parental career guidance and counselling was tested among different respondents on the basis of educational qualifications of their fathers. Results indicated that respondents believed that a proper guidance and counselling program could make a difference in their career choices. The major reason that is believed to be a possibility for these findings is father’s inclination towards the traditional career choices. Whereas students these days have better exposure to the changing trends of world of work and different career options available in it. The support for our findings was found in studies conducted by Wilson and Wilson, 1992 and Jeffery, 1992. Further, results related to the father’s nature of organization and need for parental guidance and counselling program suggested that irrespective of the types of organization their fathers were employed in, the respondents showed readiness for inclusion of an effective parental career guidance and counselling program. |
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| Conclusion |
An insight into the findings of the study elaborates that irrespective of demographics students believe that parental career guidance and counselling programs can contribute in their effective career selection. An understanding of influence of parental career guidance and counselling has a potential to improve the career decision making process of their children. Thus results highlights that there is an essential need for considering parental career guidance and counselling program an essential part of student’s effective career pathway process. An effective intervention would be able to accommodate the demands of an effective career choice. Therefore, it is also important that these programs be formulated effectively and should reach out to maximum individual who are in the need of it. |
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| Limitation of the Study | We believe that our findings would elucidate the issue of parental guidance and counselling program and bring forward the need of it by the adolescents. However, the current results of the study were based on data collected from Haryana, India. An extensive research could also be conducted to cover a larger area and capture a wider image in this issue. Relevance of study The way with which world of work is progressing it is very important to consider the concept of career counselling and its various branches in Indian context. People are getting more and more aware about the concept of career counselling in the modern Indian culture. Yet its major benefits are left unexplored and underutilized. Our study emphasizes that parental career guidance and counselling services is yet another area which should be prioritized for effective results in career process of students. It is essential that these prospects should be kept in account for developing an effective and reliable career choice. |
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| References |
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