And Many Are Never What They Want to Be.

Abstract

This study explored the career choices and aspirations of ‘A’ Level students in schools which are located in and around Harare, Zimbabwe. Concretely, the aim was to see if schools and schooling in general assists students to realise the career aspirations. A total of 150 ‘A’ Level students (N = 150) were involved in this study. The research design, because of the nature of the study, was a survey type. Data were collected through a questionnaire supplemented by interviews. Percentages and proportion tests were the statistics used to analyse the data. Overall, the study established that many students end up pursuing subjects and therefore careers that are imposed on them either by the school, teachers or parents. It was also observed that male and female students have similar career aspirations. Among the recommendations is the need for schools, teachers and parents to respect students’ subject choices in order to enable students to realise their career aspirations.