The focus of this project is on the quality and relevance of Vocational Counselling programme in Nigerian schools. It analyses the discipline’s training syllabuses in Universities and the extent and manner of its application in secondary schools by graduates in the field and proffers suggestions on how to improve upon both the training and the practice. As a professional field of study, Guidance and Counselling was first introduced at the University of Ibadan, in the 1980s. Within a few years, the Universities of Benin and Lagos also commenced a programme in the discipline. However, and as I have discovered, the products of the programme have really not achieved much impacts in Nigerian secondary schools almost thirty years after it was first introduced. As at today, most secondary schools still do not have professional career counselors. Where they exist, they are not always very competent, and are not often consulted by pupils while selecting their subject combinations. In the Universities, Guidance and Counselling syllabus are found to be outdated. Two major approaches were adopted in carrying out this research. The first method is empirical and was executed through field research. I visited the Universities of Ibadan, Ife and Lagos – all in Nigeria - to conduct interviews with students and lecturers of Guidance and Counselling in the Universities. I also collected documents like manuals, handbooks and course outlines issued by personnels in the Departments. I also visited, conducted interviews with, and served questionnaires on, professional counselors in a selection of public and private secondary schools in Nigeria. At the end of the field work, the documents, questionnaires and interviews were analysed and what I identified as the strengths and weaknesses of Guidance and Counselling programmes in Nigerian Universities were laid out. The second approach adopted in this study has to do with analysis of scientific publications in the field. Books, journals, manuals and even electronic publications by Guidance and Counselling experts in Germany, Europe and other places were assembled and carefully studied. In the end, what constitutes minimum competence requirements were underlined. Applied to the data earlier collected in the field, my conclusion is that the various Guidance and Counselling programmes in Nigeria need to be improved upon II and/updated and that its importance in secondary education needs to be further stressed. To improve the programme, I suggested, among others, the need for Nigerian Universities to actively work toward the development of collaborative and exchange programmes with institutions in Europe and other parts of the world.

The focus of this project is on the quality and relevance of Vocational Counselling programme in Nigerian schools. It analyses the discipline’s training syllabuses in Universities and the extent and manner of its application in secondary schools by graduates in the field and proffers suggestions on how to improve upon both the training and the practice. As a professional field of study, Guidance and Counselling was first introduced at the University of Ibadan, in the 1980s. Within a few years, the Universities of Benin and Lagos also commenced a programme in the discipline. However, and as I have discovered, the products of the programme have really not achieved much impacts in Nigerian secondary schools almost thirty years after it was first introduced. As at today, most secondary schools still do not have professional career counselors. Where they exist, they are not always very competent, and are not often consulted by pupils while selecting their subject combinations. In the Universities, Guidance and Counselling syllabus are found to be outdated. Two major approaches were adopted in carrying out this research. The first method is empirical and was executed through field research. I visited the Universities of Ibadan, Ife and Lagos – all in Nigeria - to conduct interviews with students and lecturers of Guidance and Counselling in the Universities. I also collected documents like manuals, handbooks and course outlines issued by personnels in the Departments. I also visited, conducted interviews with, and served questionnaires on, professional counselors in a selection of public and private secondary schools in Nigeria. At the end of the field work, the documents, questionnaires and interviews were analysed and what I identified as the strengths and weaknesses of Guidance and Counselling programmes in Nigerian Universities were laid out. The second approach adopted in this study has to do with analysis of scientific publications in the field. Books, journals, manuals and even electronic publications by Guidance and Counselling experts in Germany, Europe and other places were assembled and carefully studied. In the end, what constitutes minimum competence requirements were underlined. Applied to the data earlier collected in the field, my conclusion is that the various Guidance and Counselling programmes in Nigeria need to be improved upon II and/updated and that its importance in secondary education needs to be further stressed. To improve the programme, I suggested, among others, the need for Nigerian Universities to actively work toward the development of collaborative and exchange programmes with institutions in Europe and other parts of the world.

Investigación con enfoque cualitativo y diseño fenomenológico, cuyo objetivo fue analizar los procesos subjetivos y de subjetivación durante el proceso de reelección vocacional en jóvenes universitarios. La muestra estuvo conformada por diez estudiantes de universidades privadas limeñas, entre 18 y 21 años de edad, que optaron por la reelección vocacional en una sola ocasión. Se encontró que el proceso de reelección vocacional estuvo conformado por tres momentos: primera elección vocacional, crisis vocacional y reelección vocacional. En un primer momento, los jóvenes se posicionaron subjetivamente de manera pasiva, por lo que sus elecciones respondieron a exigencias sociales y familiares para asegurar un lugar social. No obstante, posteriormente, durante la crisis vocacional, la insatisfacción, el desinterés y el malestar emocional experimentados movilizaron recursos personales para encontrar una profesión que satisficiera sus deseos vocacionales. Finalmente, los jóvenes se reposicionaron creativamente frente a lo social y familiar, apropiándose de sus deseos y construyendo trayectorias vocacionales singulares. / Research with a qualitative approach and phenomenological design, whose objective was to analyze the subjective and subjectivation processes during the process of the switch majors in university students. The sample was ten students from private universities in Lima, between 18 and 21 years old, who opted for the change course only once. It was found that the process of the switch majors consisted of three moments: declaring a major, vocational crisis and switch majors At first, the young people were subjectively positioned in a passive way, so that their choices responded to social and family demands and to ensure a social place. However, later, during the vocational crisis, the dissatisfaction, disinterest, and emotional distress they experienced mobilized personal resources to find a profession that satisfied their vocational desires. Finally, young people creatively repositioned themselves against the social and family, appropriating their desires and building unique vocational trajectories. / Tesis