Effects of Soft Skills Counselling on Career Readiness of Senior Secondary School Students in Jos-North Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

The career readiness of secondary school students is an important issue in the pursuit of higher education and choice of career path, yet, career readiness has been largely undefined, and without the requisite skills for students to confidently engage in it. The study examined the effects of soft-skills counselling on career readiness of senior secondary school students in JosNorth LGA, Plateau State, Nigeria. The study aimed at finding out the effects of soft-skills counselling on career readiness of secondary school students in Jos-North LGA of Plateau State, Nigeria, with regards to students that are indecisive regarding career readiness. This study adopted a true experimental research design which utilized pre-test/post-test control group design. The population comprised all twenty-two (22) public senior secondary school students in Jos-North Local Government Area; consisting of a total of 298 male and 338 female senior secondary school students who were in their third year (SS 111) in Jos-North LGA, (Jos-North Area Inspectorate office. Public Schools Enrolment as at November, 2018). The sample consisted of sixty (60) senior secondary school students. The sixty (60) students were randomly drawn from two (2) secondary schools and randomly selected out of twenty-two (22) public secondary schools in Jos-North LGA. These were randomised into 30 male and 30 female students; consisting of 30 participants (15 males and 15 females) in the control group and 30 participants in the experimental group (15 males and 15 females). The instruments for data collection were the Soft-skills Questionnaire (SQ) and the Career Assessment Diagnostic Inventory (CADI). The content validity of the SQ and CADI were sought through expert’s judgement drawn from a Psychometrics expert, Clinical Psychologist, the Guidance and Counselling Unit, and the Research Measurement and Evaluation Unit. Construct validity was determined via factor analysis; while reliability of instruments was established using the Cronbach Alpha method. The following reliability coefficients were found: Soft-skill Questionnaire had Cronbach Alpha = 0.796; and Career Assessment Diagnostic Inventory, had Cronbach Alpha = 0.855. Data obtained was analysed using the descriptive statistics to answer research questions, and inferential statistic (Independent t-test) was used for analysing the study hypotheses. Results of the findings revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in career readiness mean scores between the control and experimental groups at pretest; there was a statistically significant difference in career readiness mean scores at post-test, this means that the experimental group had significantly higher career readiness mean scores compared with the control group. The results also indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in mean scores between gender in career readiness at pre-test. The result further revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between gender in career readiness mean scores at post-test. Implications of the findings showed that both the soft-skill counselling content and the particular learning strategies that support it play a role in determining how prepared adolescents are for their careers, and that active learning techniques, particularly discussion-based activities, are essential for delivering content because these interactions help students develop and strengthen their soft-skills for effective career path. It was recommended that school managements, counsellors, and interventionists should introduce soft-skill counselling as a matter of school policy to address critical problems of career readiness among students in secondary schools.