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.