Parents’ Influence, Career Views and Choice of Institution as Correlates on Students’ Choice of Science Education Career in Some Rivers State Tertiary Institutions

The study sought to investigate Parents’ influence, Career views and Choice of institution correlates on students' choice of science education in Rivers State tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The survey type of research method was adopted. Disproportionate stratified sampling technique was used to select six departments in 2010/2011 academic session in faculty of science in three tertiary institutions Rivers State. These are Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, and University of Port Harcourt. A representative group of 28 boys and girls from both 200 and 300 levels each from these institutions were selected to ensure equitable representation. The instrument, Science Education Career Choice Questionnaire (SECCQ) was used to collect data and was face and content validated by experts in science education. The reliability coefficient was determined using Cronbacth Alpha 0.0786 for parental influence, 0.857 for career views and 0.974 for Choice of University influence. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, t- test as well as multiple regression analysis. The result shows that parents plays an important role in the course of study. Career choice and institution attended by their children