do street children have vocational aspirations?

8/14/2019 do street children have vocational aspirations?

1/31

Do street children have vocationalaspirations? A study of street children

in AMA- Ghana


2/31

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to find out if street children have vocational aspirations. A descriptivesurvey design was used. The study populationconsisted of 200 street children made up of 80(44%) males and 112(56%) females within the

central business district of the Accra Metropolitan Area. Their ages ranged from 8 to 17 years. Theconvenience sampling technique was used toselect the participants, who were individually interviewed. The results showed that street

children in spite of their challenges havevocational aspirations. They aspired to enter vocations such as the Police, the Army, Medicine,Law, Hairdressing, Dressmaking and the like. Thisfinding showed that street children given the

support either from the Government or NGOs willbe able to achieve their vocational goals and


3/31

Description of street children

Street children can be described as children of school going-age roaming the streets of ourcities engaging in all sorts of activities.any child for whom the street has become his

or her habitual abode and /or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected,supervised, or directed by adults Henry andMorgan (2005)


4/31

Characteristics

According to Campbell and Ntsabane(1995)these children stay on the street for themost part of the day. They are not in schooleven though they are of school going age.

The street child mistrust people, he enjoys hisindependence, he tends to be rebellious, hedislikes authoritarianism or ridged control, hecan be rehabilitated, he can cope under

difficult circumstances and he is nomadic.


5/31

Reasons for being on the street

PovertyConflictsCultural practices(eg forced marriages, FGM,

Trokosi etc)

Child neglect, child traffickingSingle parentingDeath of parents

Peer influence (Asiedu, 2003).


6/31

Categories of street children

A. Children who have run away from home orhave no home; of which he or she sleeps onthe street

B. Children sleeping on the street with their

family or guardianC. Children living at home, but working in an at

risk situation (working at night, casual sex work and begging)


7/31

Activities

BeggingHawkingWashing cars/ windscreens of cars in trafficServing as guards for cars at market placesShoe mending and shinningProstitutionCarrying luggage


8/31

They can live on the street till well overadolescence, which make it difficult to pursuevocations or learn a trade to fulfill theirambitions.

Adolescence is a time when teenagersdevelop certain aspirations regarding theirvocations/careers


9/31

What are vocational aspirations?

Vocation can be described as a job that youdo because you feel that it is your purpose inlife and that you have special skills for doingit.

Aspirations on the other hand represent apersons orientation or attitude towardparticular goals and can be influenced byvariables such as gender, socio-economic

status, family support, parental expectations,and cultural values.Vocational aspirations can therefore be seenas the occupation a person desires to pursue

if there were no reality constraints (Domenico


10/31

Street children and vocational aspirations

Domenico and Jones (2007) assert thatdisadvantaged children or people, have a verystrong desire for certain vocations despitetheir challenges.

A career survey conducted showed thatchildren on the streets in Hanoi, Vietnam and Jamaica desired to be teachers, lawyers,accountants, doctors, pilots, soldiers, nurses

and many more (Henry & Morgan 2005, Hong& Ohno, 2005).


11/31

Cont.

vocational aspirations result as reflects of pastexperiences and perceived barriers whichprevented them from achieving their initialambitions hence a change in vocation to suit

their current situations. It therefore becomesequally important for them to considerlearning of trades and vocations in order toseek employment or earn a better living. Theidea of spirit of enterprise then ignites theirdesires to acquire vocational skills that canlead to providing trained human resources forsocio-economic development.


12/31

Statement of the problem

Accra is functions as both the commercial andadministrative capital of Ghana. It isstrategically situated to attract people of allwalks of life including street children.

These children spend their lives on the streetsand earn income from their activities. The question is do the have any vocationalaspirations looking at their disadvantaged

circumstances?


13/31

Purpose of the study

Estimates of 6000 street children in the tenregions of Ghana(Atakpa,2009).About 800 in Greater Accra

150 in and around Madina and Adenta

200 in Tema200 in Ashaiman300 in Accra metropolis

The purpose therefore is to examine the future

vocational aspirations of street children in theGreater Accra region with focus on the centralbusiness district of Accra


14/31

Research questions

What are the vocational aspirations of streetchildrenWhat are the sex differences in theirvocational aspirations


15/31

MEHODOLOGY

Research designDescriptive survey. Descriptive surveys describeexisting phenomenon by using numbers tocharacterize individuals or a group.

Participants200 street children (88(44%) males and 112(56%)females, age range 8-17 years from the centralbusiness district of AMA;Graphic Road-CMB/Railway LineCentral Police Station-Kinbu GardensCMB-Rawlings ParkSNNIT-Fire Service-Makola


16/31

Methodology cont.

Sampling techniques/procedureConvenience sampling techniqueInstruments for data collection

Interview schedule(for those who could not read or

write, opportunity for clarification, response to allitems, observation of nonverbal cues andreactions to specific questions)

Two parts; section A and BA for demographic information and B for vocationalaspirations, reasons for being on the street andactivities engaged in.


17/31

Procedure

Administration by three trained bi-lingualassistantsItems were read and interpreted in thelanguage of the respondents

Participants consent was obtained and eachinterviewer proceeded with the interviewInterviews were conducted within 7 days anda minimum of 10-15minutes per participant


18/31

Data analysis

The percentage and frequency counts wereused in analyzing the data under the variousthemes.


19/31

ResultsAge N %

8-10 45 22.511-13 85 42.514-16 66 3317 `4 2

SexMale 88 44Female 112 56

Educational statusNever enrolled 76 38Dropped out 80 40Primary school 22 11

J.H.S 18 9S.H.S 4 2


20/31

Results cont.

Parental status N %Parents together 30 15Parents separated 50 25Parent divorced 88 44

Parents deceased 32 16Activities on the street

Begging 15 7.5Carrying goods 60 30

Hawking 107 53.5Car washing/cleaning in traffic 6 3Shoe polishing and mending 12 6


21/31

Vocational Aspirations of the sampleVocations Males

N %

Females

N %

Police 10 5.0 -

Soldier 10 5.0 5 2.5

Nurse 5 2.5 1 5.0

Doctor 10 5.0 5 2.5

Teacher 10 5.0 10 5.0

Lawyer 5 2.5

Trading(business

)

8 4.0 12 6.0

Hairdressing 1 25Dressmaking 1 10 20 10

Engineering 5 2.5

Accountant 5 2.5


22/31

Results cont.

Sixty(30%) of the females desired to pursuefemale oriented vocations, hairdressing andnursing.Forty-five(22.5%) males aspired to be in male

oriented vocations eg police, law, accounting,engineering, army


23/31

Discussion

Street children in spite of their challengeshave vocational aspirations.It is interesting to note that they hadaspirations such as being in the police, the

army, law, engineering and medicine,although this was in the minority, comparedto vocations such as trading, dressmaking,hairdressing.


24/31

Discussion cont.

Results are similar to that of Henry & Morgan(2005) and Hong and Ohno (2005) who foundin their survey among street children on thestreets in Hanoi, Vietnam and Jamaica thatthey desired to be teachers, lawyers,accountants, doctors, pilots, soldiers, nursesand craftsmen, truck drivers, fishermen,firemen and bank clerks.


25/31

Discussion cont.

The choice of such occupations asdressmaking, hairdressing and trading wasnot surprising as this sort of training did notrequire long term training with or withoutformal education to complete.

The findings are also in fulfillment of Rojewskiand Yang (1997) study which state that socio-economic status was the most significant

indicator of low occupational aspiration. Thusthere is a correlation between socio-economiclevel and career choice and careeraspirations.


26/31

Discussion cont.

The few who chose occupations such as; thePolice, Army, engineering, law and medicinemaybe as a result of the influence of

Television and the movie industry whichportrays such occupations as prestigious andattracting respect from societythey could still be holding on to the hope of achieving these vocations, it is also possible

that they might be too young to realize thattheir status poses a challenge to thesevocational goals.


27/31

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The study sought to examine the vocationalaspirations of street children;it is interesting to note that even though thechildren were disadvantaged, they still haveindividual dreams to fulfill.

They had strong desires for vocations irrespectiveof their circumstances and reasons for which theywere on the streets.

This is one positive indication that giving thechildren the opportunity to have some economicrelief they would leave the streets to channel theirenergies into more productive ventures that canbe of decency.


28/31

implications

The concept of street children phenomenon isa multifaceted oneIt would be a challenge to use a singleintervention that will fit the needs of all these

children to solve their problems.Children who have become successful throughtheir activities on the street though havevocational aspirations, may not be motivated

to leave the streets, however others who arewilling to be helped can be given skills foremployments and free education.


29/31

Recommendations

Community leaders, Assemblymen/women,Opinion Leaders and Politicians must assist inthe full implementation of the FCUBEprogramme to enhance school enrolment.Effective retention and maintenance of pupilsin school will minimize the child streetism inGhana.Withdrawn children who are now in decent

professions must serve as role models to theexisting generation to emulate.Government must develop a Training andRehabilitation Centre for street children.


30/31

Recommendation for future research

A comparative study of children both on thestreet and off the street and their vocationalaspirations could be looked atExploration of how they came to prefer the

occupations they have chosen The relationship between age, educationalattainment and the vocational aspirations of street children.


31/31

Limitations of the study

Period of data collectionUnwillingness of participants to open upPayment for taking part in the study

do street children have vocational aspirations?

Documents