Parents’ Role In Career Guidance Among Secondary School Students In Kikuyu Sub-County: A Case Of Kiambu County – Kenya

Abstract

Parents invest heavily in their children’s education with career success as the desired outcome. Since adolescent’s decision-making ability is still developing, they need guidance from adults such as parents and teachers when making career decisions. The objective of the study was to identify parent engagement strategies used in career guidance. The study involved mixed methods of social inquiry under a descriptive research design. A sample of 207 parents was chosen from Form 3 pupils of 17 schools in Kikuyu Sub-County. The study established that circulars and newsletters were the most common methods used while career days / expos and parents meetings were the most common interactive programs offered by secondary schools in Kikuyu SubCounty to assist parents in providing career guidance to their children. A wide range of interventions could be adopted to help improve the effectiveness of career guidance by parents in secondary schools in Kikuyu SubCounty.