Development of an assessment tool for career counseling in some selected high schools in Yaoundé municipality

Abstract

The strides to emerge Cameroon by 2035, have placed accent on key areas and sectors of development, such as the need to develop the labor sector or man power requirements, which is the responsibility of the Education Sector. Much progress has been made in this sector over the years, butin spite of the thousands of students enrolled in our schools, a chunk of the students in the grammar schools do not have specific career orientations, leading to a lot of wastage of skills in the long run. As such, there is need, to focus on orienting these students to take up STEM roles (Science and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), to complement sector development plans for Cameroon. With this in mind, the study was embarked on producing a Students Career Orientation Inventory that will enable Career Guidance Counselors to discharge their duties effectively. Questionnaires were used in a survey research design to collect data from 403 respondents. The basic issues raised to develop this tool were; the career needs of students in High school, the procedure to produce a valid and reliable test and the extent to which the test could identify students with STEM interest. The Delphi technique was employed in the survey research design, to establish a pool of items through a cyclical process and ascertain their reliability through the split-halve method. Cronbach Alphas for the test components for VIP (Values, Interests, Personality) for p˂0.05 and reliabilities of at least ˃.3 were accepted. The tool was recommended for use at the entry stage of career counseling, to identify students with STEM interest and find appropriate ways to motivate them to pursue such roles in their careers. The study recommended that a comparative study between grammar and technical colleges should compare their attitudes towards the instrument to verify the extent to which lodging of students in particular careers influences their career aspirations. Furthermore, other researchers should develop a program to motivate or encourage students to offer science related fields in Cameroon Grammar schools, in order to boast the provision of man power requirements, needed to emerge Cameroon by 2035 to a middle income economy.