Occupational Aspirations of Secondary School Students in Transkei

One of the main problems of secondary school students is the choice and acquisition of a profession. Many investigations in an African context on this subject have been done (Cassiers, et al., 1980). Our purpose was to identify the choices and preferred subjects for secondary school students in Transkei. W e asked in classrooms 161 representative pupils (76 girls and 85 boys) to answer two questions: What would you like .to do when you complete school? Mention three subjects you like most. Eleven percent of the pupils were 16 yr. old; 34% were 15 yr. old; 20% were 14 yr. old; 32% were 13 yr. old, and 20% were 12 yr. old. Most respondents (85%) indicated they were born and lived in rural areas which is expected as more than 90% of the population lives in rural areas. The main choices for the boys were teacher ( l a ) , doctor (15 ) , derk ( l o ) , police ( 9 ) , and mechanic ( 9 ) ; for the girls choices were nurse ( 3 6 ) , teacher (16) , clerk ( l o ) , and doctor ( 8 ) . The high aspiration reflects prestige associated with the chosen occuparion and lack of awareness of what is required to enter the occupations they have chosen. Boys were more ambitious than girls probably because of the important role they have to play in their own families during adulthood. Culturally they are expected to be heads of families for which they need some economic power. Aparr from this, boys have models of males and more of them in society who are already serving in the chosen occupations. For the second question choices were similar. Xhosa, the mother tongue, is the preferred subject (94 votes) perhaps because pupils identify with it and learning could be relatively easier than other subjects. Xhosa is followed by Mathematics (79 votes), General Sciences (75 votes), English (74 votes), Geography (52 votes), and History (51 votes). These subjects are taught about the same number of periods per week. W e conclude that there is homogeneity in occupational aspirations. Probably because occupations available in Transkei are limited. Most inquiries about educational ambitions in Africa note that students are often unrealistic. W e observe this phenomenon is moderately characteristic of a Transkean context

Context (archaeology · Developmental psychology · Geography · Population · Prestige · Rural area · Sociology · Demography · Education Systems and Policy · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

• Occupational Aspirations of Secondary School Students in Senegal

  Louise Cassiers, Walter D''Hondt et al.•Canadian Journal of African…•1980

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