Parents serve as a major influence in their children’s career development and career decision- making.

Parents want their children to find happiness and success in life and one factor which influences
happiness and success is career choice. Parents influence the level of education or training that their
children achieve; the knowledge they have about work and different occupations; the beliefs and
attitudes they have to working; and the motivation they have to succeed. Most of this is learned
unconsciously – children and teenagers absorb their parents attitudes and expectations of them as they
grow up. Despite the central importance of the self-concept to career development. Integrating self-
verification and career construction theories, we develop and test the prediction that parental
engagement indirectly contributes to career adaptability and career persistence by serving as a tacit
signal of the child’s positive worth. Parents support has much to do in influencing the strand selection of
students (Aguado et al., 2015). Parents have played a vital role in influencing their child what strand to
be choose in SHS (Hellen & Kitainge, 2016). However, selecting a strand was inclined with the security
and motivation, which highly ranked factors such as exploration, advancement, opportunities, exposure
and knowledge which are responsible in selecting a career. This concludes that having background
knowledge about the career is essential in building an interest towards the career (Nyamwange, 2016).

In spite of the given state, graduating students from secondary schools enter college without a clear
idea and solid decision on what degree program or career to pursue (Ramirez & Dizon, 2014). Mangaoil,
Rungduin, Abulencia, and Reyes (2017) pointed out that incoming college students experienced
indecision concerning career decision-making, which their parents have influenced their career choice.
Many students don’t have enough capacity and consciousness to process and apply information from
different perspectives, and have difficulty in contextualizing this knowledge for the realization of their
profession (Aguado, Laguador, & Deligero, 2015). Significantly, parents and teachers contribute to
students’ career choice; however, it depends on how students perceive their life in the future. This
phenomenon of declining trends in students’ interest in science and the shortage of researches explored
in science education explicitly on the driving forces of students’ choice in specializing science prompted
the author to conduct the study through qualitative analysis to deeply understand the driving forces,
and reciprocate its advantage to attract students’ to specialize in science.
References:

 Amarnani, R. K., Garcia, P. R. J. M., Restubog, S. L. D., Bordia, P., & Bordia, S. (2016, December 8). Do
you think I’m worth it? the self-verifying role of parental ... Do You Think I’m Worth It? The Self-
Verifying Role of Parental Engagement in Career Adaptability and Career Persistence Among STEM
Students. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1069072716679925?journalCode=jcaa
 Dela Fuente, J. A. (2019, December). Driving Forces of Students’ Choice in specializing science: A Science
Education Context in the Philippines Perspective ... Driving Forces of Students’ Choice in Specializing
Science: A Science Education Context in the Philippines Perspective.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338750564_Driving_Forces_of_Students
%27_Choice_in_Specializing_Science_A_Science_Education_Context_in_the_Philippines_Perspective

 Tortor, A. L. C., & Ohayas, R. L. (2020, March). Financial status, parents influence, peer influence and
self-choice of Students in Selection of Strand in The Senior High School Cebu Philippines.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340178399_Financial_Status_Parents_Influence_Peer_Influence_
and_Self-Choice_of_Students_in_Selection_of_Strand_in_The_Senior_High_School_Cebu_Philippines.
 https://www.qualifax.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=179&Itemid=207