Master Thesis

This study was aimed at identifying the relationship of the demographic profile and personality profile to the career preferences of high school students in the International Christian Academy, Paranaque City,Philippines as based-reference to formulation of Career Development Program as considered one of the services of the Guidance Department in the said institution. Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the demographic profile of the high school students of International Christian Academy (ICA) in terms of : 1.1. Sex 1.2. Year level 1.3. Socio economic Status 1.4. Parents' Occupation 2. What is the personality profile of the respondents? 3. What are the career preferences of the respondents? 4. Is there significant relationship between the personality profile and career preferences of the respondents? 5. Is there significant relationship between the personality types of the respondents and their demographic profile? 6. Based on the findings of the study, what career development program can be proposed? Methodology A descriptive correlational design was utilized in this study which intended to describe the nature of the existing relationship between the personality types and career preferences of the respondents, as well as with some selected variables toward development of a proposed career development plan as an output of this study. There were a total of 77 high school students from second to fourth year levels who were currently enrolled at the International Christian Academy in Paranaque City, School year 2011-2012. In this particular study, a set of self-administering survey forms and standardized tests were used as instruments which included Demographic Profile Survey Form the Philippine Aptitude Classification Test (PACT),the Philippine Occupational Interest Survey (POIS), and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The frequency, percentage, weighted mean and chi-square were the statistical treatment of data utilized in this study. The study was guided by the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship among demographic profile, personality profile and career preferences among high school students of International Christian Academy. Summary of Findings The following are the significant findings of the study based on the data gathered: 1. The profile of the students was as follows: 1.1.There were a total of 77 respondents,51.94% were female and 48.05% of them were male. 1.2. The most number of respondents were second year students in International Christian Academy with a total of 36 students or 46.75%. 1.3. Majority of the respondents belonged to the middle class status with 70 or 90.90%. 1.4. Parents' occupations were congruent with the career preferences which are in line with Social Sciences, Business, and Law among high school students. 2. Both 2nd year and 3rd year students were more of the intuitive type with 22 or 28.57% and 10 or 12.99%, respectively compared with the fourth-year level who were more of the sensing type as seen in its frequency and percentage of 12 or 15.58%. 3. The career preferences of the respondents were as follows: For the first and second choices of career, the results consistently showed that they have the highest interest in the fields of Social Sciences, Business, Law and Science which concluded that the respondents have greater chances to succeed in life. 4. The personality profile and career preferences of the respondents revealed that only Intuitive and Feeling (NF) and Intuitive and Thinking(NT)had a significant relationship with their personality type since the computed X2 values were 11.49,9.71and 6.79.The contingency coefficient obtained was 0.50,0.61 and 0.63, while the critical r values were 0.33, 0.47 and 0.68, respectively. The contingency of 0.50 was significant because it was greater than the tabular value. Therefore, the null hypothesis which stated that there is no significant difference between Intuitive and Feeling and Intuitive Thinking personality types and career preferences was rejected. 5. With regard to the relation between the respondents' personality types and their demographic profile with selected variables, results showed that: 5.1. Having the computed value of X2 is 6.14 which is less than tabular value of 12.59 at a significance level of 0.05 with df = 6, thus the null hypothesis that stated there exists no significant relationship between the respondents' personality types and their socio-economic status was thereby accepted. 5.2. Since the computed value of X2 is 12.86,which is less than the tabular value of 28.87 at 0.05 level of significance therefore, the null hypothesis which stated that there is no significant difference between the respondents' personality type and their parents' occupation was accepted. 6.The proposed career development program as an output of this study will supplement the existing guidance program of International Christian Academy (ICA) by spearheading appropriate and/or related activities that will enable the students to address areas of concern as to their personality types and career preferences. Conclusions The following conclusions were drawn based from the significant findings of the study. 1. There were more high school female than male students in t International Christian Academy; majority of them were in the second year level, and belonged to the middle class while majority of their parents' work were in the Service and Social Science, Business and Law. 2. Majority of the respondents exuded intuitive personality type with combined thinking and feeling. 3. Second and third year students preferred those careers in line with social science, business, law and science while the fourth year students to go into social science, business and law. 4. There is a significant relationship between personality type and career preference of respondents. 5. There is no significant relationship between the socio-economic status of the respondents and their personality type while no significant difference between the respondents' personality types and their parents' occupations. 6. A relevant career development program was designed to further guide the students on their career choice as the school's primary purpose of its existence which is to prepare the latter for their future. Recommendations Based on the study, the following are recommended: 1. Since the demographic profile of students has a significant bearing on their career choice, the Guidance Counselor should continuously keep records of students that can be used for further analysis and assessment of the latter's career preferences. 2. The school should strengthen career orientation program especially focusing on those appeared to be career preferences of students not only in the light of realigning the curriculum, but also in preparation for K to 12 program. 3. Upon determining the personality types of students which have great bearing on determining appropriate course to take in college, the Guidance Office should orient parents and teachers in realigning students' preferred career through counselling, advising and following up. 4. The school should administer at least three (3) types of personality tests to every student to ensure validity and consistency of assessment results thereby would lead to formulation of related activities. 5. Since parents' occupation affects career choice of students, therefore parents should be oriented on their role in guiding and enlightening their children on effective career decision making. 6. The school administrators should further review and implement the proposed career development program and evaluate later to find out its effectiveness and usefulness.