The Influence of Guidance and Counseling in Career Choice of Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) and General Academic Strand (GAS) Students

Abstract

The Career Guidance Program (CGP) aims to help secondary school students make educated career decisions to become useful and productive members of society. In 2019, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Secondary School Career Guidance and Counseling Act into law, which applies to public and private high schools. Better knowledge of these factors enables educational institutions, curriculum designers, and career counselors to support and assist students in making more informed career choices.

This study examines the influence of guidance and counseling on the career choice of ABM and GAS students, the extent of support and resources provided by the school and the policy recommendations and program improvement plans to be developed based on the findings of this study. The researcher employed a descriptive quantitative research design. The research participants were surveyed using a self-structured questionnaire. Of 230 senior high school students of the GAS and ABM strands enrolled in the school year 2024–2025, 146 were chosen as respondents. There were (62) students from the ABM strand and (84) from GAS.

The findings revealed that guidance and counseling have a moderate influence on students’ career choices signifying that it can be further intensified. Moreover, the extent of support the school provides yields a neutral result that also needs to be enhanced. Based on these results, policy recommendations and program implementation plans are to be developed. A “Comprehensive Career Guidance Development Program” was proposed. This will address the following: career information, skills assessment, job market trends, and educational pathways. It also provides more frequent guidance and counseling sessions. It is highly recommended that: school administrators and guidance counselors work hand in hand to develop and allocate funds for more comprehensive career guidance services, students should actively participate in the success of the programs to be implemented, and researchers should explore the effectiveness of these programs.