Occupational Aspirations of Secondary School Students in Relation to Their Achievement Motivation and Parental Occupation

The transition of young people into work force marks a crucial stage of independence, the application of academic learning, social and economic productivity, as well as it sets the stage for an individual‟s potential in terms of earning capacity, job options and the possibility of future advancement. Youngsters of the day are not confined to the traditional carrier choices as they are more exposed to the mass media than the older generations. The Indian youth is well informed and is having high aspirations and urges for education and employment. Since aspirations and expectations of today‟s adolescents will be the base for the future productive manpower of the nation, it has become the focus for national and international agenda for the holistic development of youth. The present study specifically focuses on occupational Aspirations of adolescents which initially develop as vague representations of possible future outcomes based on societal norms and parental expectations but with development, they become more realistic, based on their interests, perceived abilities and individual characteristics as well as the opportunities available to them. There are many factors responsible for the formation of these aspirations including intelligence, gender, Age, interests, values, family pressures, group expectations, and cultural traditions, socio-economic status etc. Out of the major factors affecting the occupational aspirations of the students Achievement Motivation – also referred to as the need for achievement, is an important determinant of an individual‟s aspirations, efforts and persistence when he/she expects his performance will be evaluated in relation to some standard of excellence. Another major variable affecting and shaping the occupational aspirations of the young ones is the family influence especially the parents who invest their time and money in activities that affect their child‟s well-being. Saifullah (2011) pointed out that parents‟ occupation which is the main work undertaken by the parents for the subsistence of the family significantly influences students‟ achievement.

viewed as significant determinants of both short-term educational and long-term occupational choices and as a reflection of young one‟s future social mobility and career self-concept (Rojewski, 1995). It would be of immense practical value to evaluate the occupational aspirations of 10th class students as students are offered electives at the higher secondary stage after passing this class and the type of course they choose will ultimately influence their future occupational choices. The parents wish to make their wards doctors, engineers etc. considering the prestige associated with these occupations and without taking into account whether they can meet the cost or not. The students too may aspire for jobs which attract them irrespective of their competence and economic conditions. Hence the present study is a humble effort to explore the occupational aspirations of secondary school students in relation to their achievement motivation and parental occupation.

Occupational aspirations of secondary school students in relation to their achievement motivation and parental occupation

1. Occupational Aspirations: occupational aspirations refer to the type of occupation the students would choose at some point in the future if they were free of barriers or limiting factors. 2. Achievement Motivation: Achievement motivation is the behaviour of an individual who strives to accomplish something, to do his best, to excel others in a performance. 3. Parental Occupation: Parental occupation is defined as the main work undertaken by the parent/guardian in order to earn a living. Here parental occupation refers to father‟s occupation.

1. To study the level of occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary school students. 2. To investigate the relationship between the occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary school students. 4. To find out the significance of gender differences in the occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary school students.

1. There is likely to be a significant relationship between the occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary school students. 2. There is likely to be a significant relationship between the occupational aspirations and parental occupation of secondary school students. 3. There is likely to be significant gender differences in the occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary school students. 4. There is likely to be significant difference in the occupational aspirations of secondary school students with high, moderate and low achievement motivation. 5. There is likely to be significant difference in the occupational aspirations of secondary school students with different parental occupation.

Sample of the present study comprised of a total of 400 secondary school students (200 male and 200 female) studying in class Xth of CBSE affiliated schools of the Haryana State selected randomly from four districts ( choosing one district from each division by lottery method) of the state.

Occupational Aspiration Scale by Dr. J. S. Grewal (2011) and Achievement Motivation Scale (n-Ach) by Prof. Pratibha Deo and Dr. Asha Mohan (2011). Information regarding parental occupation will be obtained from students and by consulting school records.

Table 1 and Figure 1 show that the majority of secondary school students are having moderate level of occupational aspirations and achievement motivation.

** Significant at the 0.01 level of significance

It is depicted from the table 2 that the coefficient of correlation between occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary schools students is 0.207 indicating that the occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary schools students are significantly and positively correlated. It is also depicted that correlation between occupational aspirations and parental occupation of secondary schools students is 0.075 indicating that there is insignificant negligible positive correlation between occupational aspirations and parental occupation of secondary school students. This means parental occupation has almost no effect on the occupational aspirations of secondary school students.

Table 3 and figure 2 clearly depicted that the obtained t-value for occupational aspirations and achievement motivation are significant at .01 level. Also the Calculated mean shows that occupational aspirations of male secondary school students are higher than that of female secondary school students while on the variable of achievement motivation, female secondary school students excels their male counterparts.

Significant at 0.01 level of significance

Table 4 and figure 3 shows that the calculated F-value 4.009 is significant at 0.01 level. This implies that there is a statistically significant difference in the mean occupational aspirations of secondary school students with high, moderate and low achievement motivation levels.

Not significant at .05 and.01 level

i. Findings revealed that maximum number of the secondary school students have moderate levels of occupational aspirations and achievement motivation. ii. It was found that there is significant positive correlation between the occupational aspirations and level of achievement motivation of secondary school students. iii. No significant correlation was found between the occupational aspirations and parental occupation of secondary school students. iv. It was confirmed that there exists significant gender differences in the occupational aspirations and achievement motivation of secondary school students. Male students are having higher occupational aspirations as compared to the females but the female students are having higher levels of achievement motivation than their male counterparts. v. It was observed that the occupational aspirations of secondary school students in high, moderate and low achievement motivation groups differ significantly from each other. But no significant difference was found in the occupational aspirations of secondary school students with different parental occupation.

The present paper concluded that majority of the students have moderate levels of occupational aspirations and achievement motivation and also

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Karen Leppel K. et. al (2001). The Impact of Parental Occupation and Socioeconomic Status on Choice of College Major. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, December 2001, Volume 22, Issue 4, pp. 373–394. Mwaa Mutinda Alphonse (2016). Parental Factors Influencing Career Choice among High School Students in Nairobi County. Research Project, University of Nairobi, retrieved from http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke Saifullah, S. (2011). Effect of socioeconomic status on students‟ achievement International Journal of Social Sciences and Education Volume: 1 Issue: 2. Schoon, I., & Polek, E., (2011). Teenage career aspirations and adult career attainment: The role of gender, social background and general cognitive ability. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(3), pp. 210-217.

Research Scholar, Department of Education, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India E-Mail – seemaposwal2011@gmail.com