Religion and parental occupation as determinants of Ghanaian Senior Secondary School students’ aspirations for entrepreneurial careers

Abstract

Career decision making in secondary schools provide the students with the competencies they need to advance in their careers. The development of entrepreneurship in high school students can foster an understanding of entrepreneurial interest. This study sought to determine the differences in senior secondary school students’ aspirations for entrepreneurial careers on the bases of religion and parental occupation. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. A total of 2,000 students were selected from Forms 3 and 4 for the study using a multistage sampling procedure. Three research questions guided the study. A questionnaire was used to obtain relevant data which were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that religion influenced students’ entrepreneurial career intentions whilst students who have self-employed parents had high aspirations for entrepreneurial careers. The conclusion of this study was that there are differences in senior secondary school students’ aspirations for entrepreneurial careers on the bases of religion and parental occupation. Among the counselling implications are that counsellors need to  understand how parents can have a positive influence on their children and facilitate their career development. Another implication is that entrepreneurship training skills should be incorporated in counsellor  education programmes. It was recommended that parents should be included in the school career intervention programmes and plans.

Keywords: Religion, Parental Occupation and Aspirations for  Entrepreneurial Careers