Dr George Apebende Agaba, Abdullateef Ambali & Edward E. Idiege
Abstract
An ex post facto research design was adopted to investigate labour market information and career aspirations of senior secondary school students in Ogoja Education Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Using systematic random sampling technique, a sample of 720 senior secondary II students was drawn from a population of 5,840 students of 2018/2019 academic session in the 90 public secondary schools in Ogoja Education Zone of Cross River State. The instrument used for data collection was the researchers’ designed “Students’ Labour Market Information and Career Aspirations Questionnaire” (SLMICAQ). The instrument was validated by five experts and had Cronbach Alpha coefficient of .72. The data collected were analysed using Pearson contingency chi-square statistics. The hypotheses were tested at .05 significant level. The findings showed that labour market information (job availability, employability skills), has significant relationship with career aspirations of senior secondary school students in Ogoja Education Zone. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended, among others, that Cross River State Government should train and post more guidance counsellors to secondary schools to help students gather relevant labour market information needed to make realistic career plans.