A Comparative Study of Career Preferences & Career Conflicts among the Secondary and Senior Secondary School Students

Abstract

Education has a significant effect on the behaviour and profession of the individual. It prepares students for a career so that they can earn their livelihood. Thus, selecting an appropriate career is the most important decision that human beings have to make in their lives. This decision will affect them throughout their lives, so nothing is more important than choosing a career. When selecting a career, individuals have to struggle between two or more situations that need to be resolved, known as career conflicts. In today's world, where there are several career options available, there is pressure on individuals to select the best career for themselves. In the same way, most students in the secondary and senior secondary stage face a lot of career-related problems. Understanding the students' career plans and preferences can facilitate them to determine their future prestige, wealth, and status. Thus, it becomes important to help them in their career selection and to avoid conflicts. In this regard, the presented study was conducted to analyse the career preferences and career conflicts among secondary and senior secondary school students. The study was descriptive; therefore, a survey method was used to conduct this study.  This study selected a representative sample of 240 students from class 10th and class 12th from eight schools in two blocks of Sirsa districts of Haryana using a stratified random sampling technique. Appropriate data was collected through two standardized scales: the Career Preference Record (2009) by Bhargava & Bhargava and the Career Conflict Scale (2005) by Kumar and Rekha. The study's main findings were that overall, most of the secondary and senior secondary school students had given the first preference to law and order, second to education, and the least priority to agriculture as a career. It was also noticed that 'law and order' first, 'education' was the second preference of secondary students, whereas senior secondary students had given the first preference to 'education,' second to 'law & order,' and both secondary and senior secondary students, had given the least preference to agriculture as a career option. However, it was observed that there existed no significant differences between the career preferences of secondary and senior secondary school students. Further, it was found that there existed a significant difference between the career conflict among secondary and senior secondary school students. Moreover, it is also important to mention here, that the senior secondary school students had higher career conflicts rather than the secondary school students.  It is suggested to the school administration, teachers, and counsellors that they need to develop a mechanism at the school level that will help the students select the best career options in their lives to avoid career conflicts.