To Establish Aspects that Influence Career Choices Made among Secondary School Pupils in Senior Secondary Schools in Selected Schools in Ndola District

Career choices play a crucial role in shaping the future of young individuals. They determine their educational and professional paths, which in turn, influence their socioeconomic status, personal fulfilment, and overall well-being. By making informed decisions about their careers, senior pupils can better prepare themselves for the challenges they will face in the job market. A descriptive survey combining both the quantitative and qualitative methods was used.  Quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 22) and qualitative data was analysed thematically by employing Microsoft Word to reveal recurring themes from the data. A chi- square design was used for testing relationships between categorical variables. The target population involved teachers, and grade twelve (12) pupils in government selected senior secondary schools of Ndola District with a sample size of 272 participants. Simple random sampling was used in the study to select pupils while purposive sampling was biased toward teachers and parents. Participants were asked which of the following factors influenced their career choice and the study established that 28(14%) said future job market demand, 60(30%) said peer influence, 76(38%) said parental expectations and 36(18%) said academic interest. The study highlights that parental expectations and peer influence are the predominant factors influencing career choices among the participants. Future job market demand and academic interest were cited by fewer individuals but still played a role in shaping career decisions for a portion of the respondents. The study established that the p=value was less than the agreed significance level, the null hypothesis was rejected. The interpretation of the results was that there was a positive relationship between factors that influenced career choices and senior secondary school pupils. The results from the Chi-square T-test indicated that there was a correlation between the two variables and this was because the statistical significance level which was set at p<0.05 was less than that of the agreed significance level. This implied that the confidence level was higher than the significance level meaning the correlation between factors that influenced career choices and senior secondary school pupils’ was high. This showed that the majority of the respondents strongly agreed that there were factors that influenced career choices among pupils. Pupils were asked how much influence do the teachers have on their career choices and the study revealed that 66(33%) said they are strongly influenced, 45(23%) said they are moderate influenced, 37(19%) said they are slightly influenced and 52(26%) said they are not influenced. The majority of students (strongly influenced + moderately influenced + slightly influenced) amount to 75%, indicating that a substantial number of pupils do perceive some level of influence from their teachers regarding career choices. The study recommended that there must be collaboration between parents, teachers and schools’ authorities for the support of pupils in career choice decisions as a friendly relation between home and school is compulsory for making conducive environment regarding career choice decisions of pupils.