VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING PROGRAMMES IN POST-

PRIMARY SCHOOLS: MODEL FOR PROMOTING CAREER/OCCUPATIONAL

CHOICE OF YOUTHS FOR SUSTAINABLE EMPOWERMENT IN NIGERIA

Okolie Ugochukwu C
Postgraduate Student of Technology and Vocational Education, Ebonyi State University,
Abakaliki
and
Nwuzo Alphonsius C
Dept. of Primary Education Studies, Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo

Paper published in Technology Education Journal, Federal College of Education

(Technical), Akoka, Lagos State. Vol. 9 (1). 293-300.

Abstract
Vast majority of youths in Nigeria do not know what to do with their lives and where they are
going after school. To help youths develop their potentials to the fullest and guide them
regarding the requirement of specific occupations, the services of both the vocational
teachers and guidance counsellors are required. This paper discussed the vocational
guidance and counselling programmes in post-primary schools as a model for promoting
career/occupational choice of youths for sustainable empowerment in Nigeria. It also
discussed Vocational Guidance and Counselling Programmes in Post-Primary Schools,
Occupational or Career Education and Vocational Education and Strategies for promoting
career/occupational choice of youths for sustainable empowerment in Nigeria were also
discussed.

Introduction
A person’s work is the most dominant single influence on the cause of his life. It also affects
his family structure, social and intellectual activities, economic status, personality and
happiness. The choice of occupation in most developing countries, which Nigeria is not
exceptional, is influenced by parents, friends, teachers, printed information and at times by
scholarship awards. Making occupational choice means finding the best possible match of a
person with a particular kind of work. According to Dada (2005), many youths do not know
what to do when they plan to take decisions on occupational choice and also some youths do
not put enough effort into making an occupational choice; these eventually lead many youths
in Nigeria to take on wrong jobs. Okon (1976) in Ike (1997), further opined that a lot of
youths are doing uninteresting jobs, and because of this they seem to be dissatisfied and
hence change their jobs, funny enough are those that change their jobs as soon as they
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complete new training programme. He stated that a vast majority of youths do not know what
to do with their lives and where they are going after school. To help youths develop their
potentials to the fullest and guide them regarding the requirement of specific occupations, the
services of both the vocational teachers and guidance counsellors are required. Their combine
efforts assist the youths in placing talents where it is needed.
Vocational Guidance and Counselling Programmes
The word ‘guide’ means to lead, conduct, or direct: to regulate, to influence. Almost in every
facet of human endeavour, there is one form of guidance or the other. Denga, (1983) sees
guidance as a cluster of formalized educational services aimed at assisting individual children
to attain fullest self development and self realisation of their potentials. Shertzer and Stone
(1976) cited in Ike (1997) stated that guidance is a process of helping individual to
understand themselves and their world. From the above definitions, it can be seen that
guidance is a process and formalised, meaning that guidance as a service do not just occur
haphazardly nor is it a blind and purposeless activity. Guidance is primarily, a total school
programme of activities and services designed for assistance to pupil for useful achievement
of life goals; through adequate planning with good adjustment. Guidance according to
Okonkwo, (2011) is complex in nature and encompass the total needs of the individual
students to be guided; whereas counselling process helps the students to understand him/her
self enough to be able to solve one’s own problems.
Counselling as a service aims at understanding the individual, conceptualizing his problems
or needs and being able to assist him overcome these needs or problems. It is therefore
important that counselling as a service aims at solving a particular problem hence it is
problem-solving oriented in approach. According to Ike (1997), counselling concerns itself
with solving problems in the areas of educational, vocational and personal-socio. Within the
educational field, clients are assisted to overcome their learning problems such as bad study
habits, inability to draw a time-table, reading without understanding, fear of certain subjects
like mathematics, physics, chemistry etc. In the area of vocational, it involves assisting the
individual in making viable and realistic vocational choice, making realistic adjustment into
the world of work as well as assisting the individual to discover his potentialities and his/her
vocational competence. In the area of personal-socio according to Ike (2007), the client is
assisted to overcome his social problems.
The counselling service is concerned with helping the individual in his social, emotional
problems like boy/girl relationship, health habits, interaction with peer and family,
overcoming shyness and anger, etc. In counselling, counsellors do not administer any drug
but rather collect and disseminate information hence it is safe to conclude that guidance and
counselling is essentially information giving. The counsellor works on the popular saying that
ignorance is a disease and the elimination of this ignorance will certainly eliminate this
disease hence in information service, the counsellor ensures that he/she collects and
disseminates valid, current and usable data in the areas of education, vocation and personal-
socio. Within the education area for example, information about the availability of schools,
courses, and their requirements can be collected and disseminated to the needy
students/clients. Also in the area of vocation, information regarding to pay packages, hazards
and prospects of job could be collected and made available to would be employees. From the
definitions, it can be seen that both guidance and counselling have the same focus of helping
clients to attain their self understanding and direction.

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In most post-primary schools in Nigeria, the students lack the basic vocational guidance and
counselling they need in other to make a career choice. Most of these students in their early
stages of Senior Secondary classes are left at a cross road on whether to choose subjects
majoring in sciences, or to major in arts related subjects, which will eventually determine
their choices of career. Sometimes these students (youths) simply make choices of career due
to peer pressure groups, parental influence, societal influences etc.; which will in turn leave
them in a helpless situation after graduation in Post-primary and Tertiary Schools. This is
where vocational guidance and counselling is highly needed to provide the students the
opportunities to understand themselves, the right form of career to take and why they should
take up studies for such career. If a student (youth), wants to be a civil engineer just because
his friends said they want to be engineers for instance, and he therefore studied sciences in
his/her senior secondary class and graduate passing all the subjects that will qualify him to
enrol into the university to study engineering; you will find out that the student may not really
do well because, he/she did not know what an engineer’s roles in the society is, he doesn’t
know that he/she will get to do a lot of mathematics and calculations on road, building and
bridges constructions. Also, if the student manages to pass all his/her courses in the university
and graduates; he/she will not be fit in the world of work because, he lacked the skills needed
for him to compete in the world of civil engineering.
Occupational/ Career Education and Vocational Education
Many people rightly use the word ‘Career’ to mean job, occupation, or vocation a person has;
because their use overlaps. Okonkwo (2011), defines occupation as the work or profession
which occupies one’s time; from which the adjective occupational is coined. Career also, is
defined as a series of jobs that a person has in a particular area of work, usually involving
more responsibility as time passes. Vocation is defined as an acceptable belief in particular
type of work or way of life as especially suitable for one; with the adjective vocational;
connected to skills and knowledge that one need to have to do a particular job on
qualification after due training.
Although their usage overlaps, the specific and real meaning of career is the pattern of work
and work related activities that develop throughout a life time. It also includes the job or
series of jobs a person has until retirement. Many people have also come up with different
definitions of career education in the United State of America, where the term emanated; a
number of definitions have emerged, as different states define career education according to
the programme they have established for the dissemination of career education concept. One
of such definitions is that by the state of Georgia which defined career education as a concept
through which all teachers, in all curriculum areas assist individual at each education level to
make continuous progress in acquiring the abilities necessary to manage the career aspects of
their lives in ways that are both personally satisfying and productive.
Another definition is that by the state of Lowa, which defined career education as all
educational activities and experiences through which individuals learn about themselves in
relationship to lifestyles and to the world of work. Thompson (1979) cited in Asilokun
(2005), defined career education as the total effect of public education and the community
aimed at helping all individuals to become familiar with the values of a work-oriented
society, to integrate their values into their personal value system, and to implement these
values into their lives in such a way that work become possible, meaningful, and satisfying to
each individual. He maintained that career education has been conceived as a programme that
would coordinate and focus the energies and contribution of the agencies in the country that
are concerned with developing and maintaining our socio-economic system.
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The importance of career education in Nigeria educational system as a developing country for
instance, has been highlighted in the National Policy on Education (2004), where it indicated
that the inclusion of technology, commercial, and other vocational courses was in order to
make senior secondary school leaver immediately employable. Ogidi (1980), cited in
Asilokun (2005) stated the new educational policy required that students are counselled in to
understand their chosen career so that people do not work on wrong jobs. There is need to
expose students to career and vocational guidance and counselling, such as to enable them be
more motivated to embrace the study and thus improve performance in the examinations.
Vocational Education training, according to Okoro (1994), is that aspect of total education
process that focuses on individual occupation. He further stated that the function of technical
and vocational education is to provide knowledge, develop skills and inculcate those attitudes
that are necessary for entry into and progress in occupations. The central purpose of
vocational education is to get people into occupations requiring specialized training. The
skills and knowledge acquired while training for one occupation may be of little or no
relevance in other occupations. Oranu, (1992), views Vocational Education as that training
that enables one to carry on successfully a socially useful occupation. He further stated that
this definition refers to technical or technology education as training for useful employments
in trade, industry, Agriculture, Business and Home making.
According to Okoro (1993), vocational education is any form of education whose primary
purpose is to prepare persons for employment in recognized occupations. Olaitan (1996),
views vocational education as that form of education, which emphasizes the development of
occupational skills needed as preparation for work. It is a form of education, which promotes
the dignity of labour by entrenching work as the goal of education. This explanation is
necessary, because the difference in emphasis of work as the aim of education is the major
distinction between technical/vocational education and general education. Vocational
education therefore, is that part of total educational system, which offers training courses
leading to the acquisition of specific skills to enable one to perform certain job. Vocational
education sometimes, offers retraining to up-grade workers – already in employment.
According to Ochiagha (1995), the major occupational areas, which may fall under technical
and vocational education, include the following:

- Trade and industrial/Technical education.

- Business education
- Agricultural education
- Health education
- Home education
- Distributive Education and
- Technological Education.
In relation to paragraph 5 of the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria,
2004), technical/vocational education is that form of education, which equips individuals
with appropriate skills, abilities and competencies as equipment for the individual to live in
and contribute to the development of the society. According to Okonkwo (2006), vocational
education like any other form of education, is a most potent instrument for poverty
alleviation. He further stated that since vocational education emphasizes preparation for the
world of work, its contributions to positive change of development are also related and
sometimes derived from work.
According to UNESCO (1973), in Okorie (2001), technical/ vocational education training is
education designed to prepare skilled workers for Industry, Agriculture, and Commerce etc.
4
that is usually provided on the upper secondary schools level. Okorie, (2001), defined
vocational education as that type of education which develops the mental and physical
qualities of people thereby increasing their skills, knowledge and attitudes required for
utilizing the natural resources needed for economic development of the nation and for their
own self-improvement. It is equally part of total process of education aimed at developing the
competencies needed to function effectively in an occupation or group of occupations.
Vocational education brings about right attitude towards self-employment after acquiring
appropriate skills in respect of his/her chosen occupation. According to Awosope (2004),
vocational Education is that aspect of education that leads to the acquisition of skills as well
as basic scientific knowledge. It is also that aspect of education, which involves practical
training. Roberts, (1971) in Trurkura (2004), views Technical/Vocational Education as that
education, which essentially intended to provide saleable skills and manpower for industrial
and economic development of a nation. According to Orah (2002), Vocational education no
doubt produces manpower with skills, competencies and knowledge that are needed to work
in our private and public sector organizations in order to produce goods and services which
are essential for the survival of the individuals and the growth of the nation’s economy in
general. This is in line with technology education, which is essentially intended to provide
saleable skills and manpower for industrial and economic development of a nation.
Strategies for promoting career/occupational choice of youths for sustainable
empowerment
Sustainable empowerment means (1) to give official authority or legal power to, (2) enable
(3) to promote self actualization or influence. Youth empowerment therefore means
developing competences needed to become successful contributing members of the
communities. Empowerment can also become one of the most effective strategies for
providing youth with opportunities to develop saleable skills which will not only be for the
employment but also to bring about the much designed industrial and technical development
in developing nations. According to fajimi (2005), looking at Nigerian youths today for
instance, many are unemployed. This probably could be that the expected jobs are not
available or that majority posses no saleable skills due to lack of proper guidance and
counselling on the right form of career choice to make. If these unemployed youths are made
to pass through vocational trainings after they must made their career choices, probably
things will become better for the nation.
Empowering youths according to pitman and Wright (1991) is a process through which
adults begins to share responsibility and power with young people. It is the same idea of
teaching the youths skills that they will need to survive in life, However, it is Important that
youth are empowered as it will lead to competence and the competence will lead to self-
esteem. Additionally, youths with increased competence can become a great resource for
organization, communities and the nation because they will assure increasing responsibility
within the day to day activities and running the overall programmes of the nation. Vocational
education could be rightly regarded as education for work empowerment. Apparently, when a
person learns how to work he is receiving vocational education. In acquiring marketable
skills, the individual discovers what he needed to know, what he needs to be able to do and
how well he must be able to do it to meet standards set by his employer, by the consume or
by society.
In addition, according to Fajimi (2005), to acquiring this knowledge, the ability; he also
acquires habits and attitudes necessary for success on the job. One learns what he/ she must
5
do to quality for a better job or to advance in the work in which he is engaged. Vocational
education training is the answer to empower teaming youths that roam about without doing
any meaningful work in the society today. From the above analysis and explanations, one can
deduce that vocational education/training is:

- Education geared towards career orientation for self- sustenance/ self-reliance.

- Training geared toward a gainful employment.
- Education tailored towards the development of appropriate skills, attitudes and
understanding required to fit one into any chosen occupation for a living.

- Education for training or retraining for the development of competencies in specific

jobs.
For vocational (career) guidance of youths to be effective it should take the following reform
stances for satisfaction of peculiar needs of the individual students (youths) in schools:
1. Systematic instructions regarding the place of education in one’s life, how the
vocations and education are related, and the nature of the world of work, the
importance and nature of systematic planning should constitute an integral portion of
the regular instructional efforts from Junior Secondary School to Senior Secondary
School levels.
2. Parents or guardians should consistently be involved in vocational guidance
programme in schools since evidence abounds that attitude, ideas and values begin to
develop early in life. For many children, home influence is included and important.
Therefore, special attention needs to be given early by helping children and parents
achieve mutual understanding and acceptance of self help (Okonkwo, 2011).
3. Students (youths) should be provided with the kind of experiences in schools with
positive impact considering the technological changes towards formation of ideas,
attitude and values.
4. There is need in every school to have in operation a continuing professionally directed
highly critical assessment of the occupation/vocational information being used for
instruction and counselling. Due to the rapid or fast advances in technology, and
accompanying application in methods; some information existing may be outdated
and should be reviewed periodically.
5. The service of professional school counsellors must be more widely provided in both
primary and post-primary schools. And the governments have lots of roles to play in
provision of adequate funding of such services.
6. The guidance programme of schools must be sharpened with skills, to identify early
children with special needs, as well as those with special talents. It is worth
noteworthy that any school in which teachers complain by saying such things as ‘the
children here do not have Art talents, is usually found to be a school with a weak
programme on arts instruction; so also other subjects.
7. Greater attention to work experience or work study referred to as attachment while in
school should be systematically practiced and evaluated to ensure congruency with
economic, social and industrial requirements and needs.
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Conclusion
In view of natural and inevitable role of the teacher in providing guidance and because the
majority of school counsellors are drawn from the teaching profession, more reality-oriented
content should be included in the experiences of teachers-in-training so that they may become
more effective partners to counsellors in the total process of education. To compliment the
shortage of guidance and counselling services in our schools, every means possible should be
made to train interested vocational teachers who would like to work as guidance counsellor in
most schools. The federal, state, local government and non-governmental organisations
should help in this direction such that guidance counsellor must play a major part in assuring
provision of adequate occupational guidance as a significant factor in helping the individual
youth find personal adjustment. Finally, the curriculum of our schools needs to be modified,
extended and interpreted broadly to include kinds of experiences, which bring the world of
school and the world of work closer and together.

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