Abstract
This study investigated the extent to which student data collected in secondary schools in Kenya is used in career choice. After admission in form one, a student undertakes a four-year study program and at the tail end selects a career to pursue later. During the admission process and throughout their stay in the school, a lot of student data is usually collected and stored either in the school database, in students’ files kept by various departments and/or in the online platforms e.g. National Educational Management Information System (NEMIS) etc. However, it is possible to collect data and fail to use it to guide decision making and this can result in wastage of a precious asset of these institutions. The population of the study were career masters/mistresses and deputy principals in charge of academics. Stratified random sampling was used to select 50 secondary schools and a sample of 60 participants. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics using frequency tables. The study findings revealed that schools do keep data on family background, career aspiration and academic data but leave out data on student personality and job opportunities which are key drivers of career choice. The most common data in secondary schools is academic data (65%) which is majorly used to guide learner progress (77.5%). This data is mainly collected during continuous assessment (57.5%) and is kept under the custody of the director of studies (52.5%). Though majority of the respondents (85%) believed that data collected has an effect on the student career choice, it was noted that the available student data isn’t used directly to guide career choice. This is because most of the collected data is stored in offline storage systems which limit access. However, majority respondents (95%) believe that data collected can help improve student career choice. The fact that inadequate data is collected and it isn’t accessed easily then it follows that the decisions made in the school aren’t based on fact. The study therefore concluded that there is low usage of student data in career choice. The study recommends that secondary schools should ensure that comprehensive student data is collected and stored in portable formats to increase access and usage. This data should form the basis for career choice by the students. This findings will help to enhance student data collection in schools which in turn will improve the career decision making leading to appropriate career choices.
Keywords
Career Choice, Student Data, Data Usage, Decision Making.
Citations
IRE Journals:
Robert Masika , Dr. Richard Rono , Dr. Robert Kati
"Extent Of Usage of Collected Student Data in Career Choice in Kenya" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 5 Issue 6 2021 Page 62-68
IEEE:
Robert Masika , Dr. Richard Rono , Dr. Robert Kati
"Extent Of Usage of Collected Student Data in Career Choice in Kenya" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 5(6)
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