The Role Of Geography As A Subject In Preparing Learners For Career Paths: A Study Of Secondary Schools In Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Subject choice marks the beginning of a learner’s career path because most learners choose the subject based on their passion and interest. This study sought to identify career aspirations of secondary school students who opt to study geography; to identify reasons why students choose geography as a subject over other optional subjects in the same category and to establish geography subject’s relevance in understanding societal problems. The study was guided by Donald Super’s Vocational Development Theory because it focuses on an individual’s career development stages. The literature was reviewed according to: 1.History of the development of geography as a discipline; 2.Teaching and learning for skill acquisition; 3.Career aspirations and expectations of students and Geography’s role in the Curriculum. Descriptive survey design was employed because the respondents are given an opportunity to express their views and it determines and reports things the way they are. A sample of 260 form three geography students was obtained through simple random sampling technique from a target population of 868 students from 21 county schools in Uasin Gishu County. Data collection tools were: student’s questionnaire and student’s interview guide schedule. Data was analyzed by transcription and assigning codes according to the objectives of the study. The codes for each objective were recorded in a codebook. All the coded questionnaires were entered into the SPSS program and run descriptive statistics. Data was presented in form of pie charts and bar graphs. The findings indicated that 31% of geography students aspire for careers related to cartography and GIS, and 9% of students aspired for careers related to geographic education. The findings also indicate that 93.8% agreed that they chose geography because they love and understand it while 57 % of the respondents felt that the teacher has influence on the learner’s choice of a subject. 74.6% of the respondents felt that Geography subject is relevant in understanding environmental degradation while (45.8%) felt that the subject is least relevant in understanding drug abuse and violence. Recommendations made are that learners should be encouraged to choose geography subject as it can lead to various careers. Geography should be made compulsory among all the secondary school students because its importance in attaining a clean environment and sustainable development cannot be underestimated.