The relationships between personality types and career aspirations of students who are visually impaired: a case of Thika secondary school for the blind, Kenya

Abstract

Career choice is one of the most important decisions young people make before the end of secondary school education. Many experience difficulties in this choice, due to changes in the world of work and market demands in the 21st century. Learners with visual impairment experience more such challenges owing to their handicap and job requirements, with their environment seemingly not nurturing autonomy. Thus, they may make decision not based on their personality and career aspirations, but out of desperation. The study therefore, sought to understand the relationship between personality types and career aspirations of visually impaired students. The objectives of the study were; to investigate the relationship between personality and career aspirations for the visually impaired, to examine their personality types, to examine their career aspirations, and to investigate gender differences in their personality types and career aspirations. The study was guided by John Holland’s theory of career choice and used a case study, involving a target population of 266 students with visually impairment in Thika High School for the Blind. The Form 3 class was purposefully and case sampling utilized. Data collection was done using the Self-directed search (SDS) and Occupation finder (OF). Piloting was carried out at Kibos School for the Visually Impaired in Kisumu County. Cronbach’s coefficient alpha α= 0.818 was obtained. Focus group discussion was done to assess relevance of the instrument. Descriptive statistics, specifically frequencies and percentages were used to analyze data. The inferential statistics tool used was Chi-square test (x2) and hypotheses were tested at alpha (α) .05. The results revealed that there was a significant relationship between visually impaired students’ personality types and students’ career aspirations χ (2) =51.731, df. =20, p = 0.003. Additionally, the results revealed that there was no significant relationship between female visually impaired students’ personality types and students’ career aspirations χ (2) = 5.642, df. =20, p = 0.228. Chi square test further revealed that there was no significant relationship between gender and students’ personality types χ (2) =7.210, df. = 5, p = 0.205. Further, the study found that although most students had low vision, they had different personality types found in the Holland’s theory, with majority of them having social personalities, and thus social career aspirations. Notably, none of the students had a conventional career aspiration. In regard to career aspirations per gender, there was a significant relationship between male visually impaired students’ personality types and students’ career aspirations χ (2) = 40.881, df. =20, p = 0.004. The results also revealed that there was significant relationship between gender and students’ career aspirations χ (2) = 10.362, df. = 4, p = 0.035. The study thus concluded that there was a relationship between visually impaired students’ personality types and students’ career aspiration and therefore recommended educational placement for students with visual impairment to be done considering their personality and career aspiration.