Prioritise career guidance for students

The revelation by the Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed that more than 500,000 students who sat their KCSE last year were not selected to join public and private universities as well as other colleges should be a cause for worry not only by the parents and guardians, but to all stakeholders in the education sector.

Although Ms Mohamed has directed the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to find out the fate of those who failed to apply for university admission despite attaining the required grade, the answer could be lying within their various secondary schools.

While decisions made by students in school have far-reaching effects and make or break their careers, the lack of policy on career guidance in most schools which would help such students to see a variety of available academic options that would help them in making appropriate career choices is partly to blame.

With a lot of emphasis being put on life-skill counsellors, statistics show about 92 per cent of students do not get career-related guidance from their schools.

TEACHERS
It is through proper career guidance that students are facilitated to acquire attitudes, skills and knowledge to help them not only understand themselves better but also explore the various viable education and career options.

Career guidance is a compass that guides the student on what to do and where to go after secondary education.

It should be done at every stage of a learner’s life. In all these, the students’ areas of interest should always be considered.

The role of career guidance in schools often falls on the teachers.

The teachers are expected to be career advisers, helping students in the choice of subjects, talking to them about careers and ensuring career-related information is accessible to students.

PEER INFLUENCE

However, with no clear policy on career guidance in schools, teachers who are tasked with this responsibility often find themselves in a difficult situation due to lack of proper training.

In most cases, they tend to guide the students along what worked for them without realising the ground could have long shifted with the ever-changing labour market.

Most students choose careers due to peer influence, while others tend to take advice from anyone they think has an experience which in most cases, fail to work for them due to the dynamics of the job market.

In some instances parents push their children to choose careers that were once their childhood dreams or would love to be associated with and this has not produced desired results.

COUNSELLORS
Hence it is incumbent upon the career guidance teachers to ensure they address the individual needs of students, have facts about the ever-changing labour market and are able to link the contents of the curriculum to the careers of interest to their students.

In some institutions, students undergo a psychometric test that outlines their strengths and weaknesses and highlights their attitudes and interests.

Where there exists a disparity between their interests and their preferred careers, career guidance teachers step in to help them accordingly.

Since it is the responsibility of schools to help the students in building strong careers, it is upon ministry officials to ensure schools have career counsellors who have acquired proper skills and training to provide the right and most current advice to students on career choices.

They should be individuals who are able to understand students’ thinking and the potential of individual students and subsequently guide them to making suitable career choices.

The writer is a secondary school teacher