An Assessment of Work Place Performance of Graduates of Technical and Vocational Education
Chapter One
Objectives of the Study
The study sought to discover the views of students, and technical and vocational education teachers on the state of practical skills training to meeting the socio-economic needs of the region.Specifically, the study sought to;
- Know the challenges facing the effective preparation of technical students for employment and work output.
- Determine the extent to which teachers’ qualifications and quality of teaching affect technical vocational graduates work place performance.
- To examine the performances of technical vocational education graduates in the labour market.
- Know how relevant technical and vocational skills are to graduates in the work place environment.
- To examine the performance of technical and vocational education graduates in delta state.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
Throughout the world, and in particular the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, governments are renewing efforts to promote technical and vocational education and training (TVET) with the belief that skill formation enhances productivity and sustains competitiveness in the global economy. According to Bhuwanee (2006), in recent years, concerns have been raised by most African countries about the move towards making TVET complementary to post-basic education. Abban and Quarshie (1996) pointed out that the paradigm shift towards practical skills training with TVET in Africa is increasingly being reshaped to make it more attractive, efficient and effective. One of the most important features of TVET, as recognized by African governments, is its orientation towards the world of work with the curriculum emphasizing the acquisition of employable skills. African Union (2007) report also stressed the current vision of African countries in developing a new strategy to revitalize TVET in Africa. The expectation is that TVET will promote skills acquisition through competency-based training. If this vision should materialise, it will require proficiency testing for employment in order to promote sustainable livelihoods and responsible citizenship. To achieve this goal of practical skills acquisition, Roeske (2003) explained, the Ghana Industrial Skills Development Centre was established in 2002. This centre, working in close collaboration with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), was tasked to harness the financial and material resources required for achieving excellence in skills training. A number of other institutions like Integrated Community Centre for Employable Skills (ICCES), the Opportunities Industrialization Centre (OIC) and the Department of Social Welfare’s Vocational Centres are part of government’s effort to produce skillful technical personnel. Other innovative programmes like the Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP) and the Vocational Skills Project (VSP) were also put in place to turn out skillful technical personnel for the job market (Roeske, 2003). The Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Service (GRATIS) and Intermediate Technology Transfer Units (ITTU) are also providing TVET trainees with additional and enriched practical skills to enable them set up their own enterprises. National development is an exploitation and utilization of both human and material resources to improve the lots of a nation. It involves the improvement of the social welfare of the people of that nation. Education on the other hand, is particularly acknowledged as the cornerstone to any form of development as well as democratic processes. In Nigeria, Vocational and Technical Education is the form of education perceived to be the greatest weapon that can be used to bring or achieve a quick desirable changes or development in the country’s economic, political, sociological and human resources. Technology unarguably emerged as the dominant factor in determining the wealth of a nation. The technology applied in Nigeria today has been imported which impact negatively to the development of our indigenous technology (Habibu, 2007). No nation can be self reliant without developing and utilizing her indigenous talents and technologies. According to Abdullahi (1993), development in Technical and Vocational Education are intimately linked to the general trends in the economy and labour markets which are particularly susceptible to the effects of technology changes. It is believed that the promotion of technical and vocational education would enable an individual to be better, more useful and productive citizen of the society for a sustainable development in Nigeria. To clarify issues raised here, the research seeks to examine the following:
- Technical and vocational education overview.
- Goals of technical and vocational education in Nigeria.
- Concept of National development.
- Technical and vocational education and productivity.
- Constraints of effective TVE development in Nigeria.
DEVELOPMENT OF TVET IN NIGERIA
Ngome (1992) noted that TVET in Nigeria attracted increasing attention during the 1970s, because of the expectations that practical skills training as offered by TVET institutions would address the need for skilled labour. As a result of these developments, many African governments started technical and vocational education institutions modelled after those of their former colonial powers. The technical skills acquired were supposed to raise individuals’ job prospects and productivity. As a result, enterprises were expected to become more competitive and make a greater contribution to economic growth, on condition that those trained in these institutions actually matched the requirements of the labour market. However, public TVET institutions, according to Atchoarena and Esquieu (2002), continued to attract a great deal of criticism. First, they were unable to train skilled workers to meet the requirements of enterprises and were unaware of the need for continuing education. Second, they were extremely costly. Often, the graduates of these institutions joined the ranks of the unemployed, an indication that the training provided did not match the jobs available. In many countries, including Ghana, public TVET institutions have not been able to adapt to the new structure of the labour market and the new skill requirements of companies in both the formal and informal sectors. It is commonly accepted that all forms of education will help people to improve themselves and to get better jobs, but many parents believe that only a university education will offer their children the opportunity to acquire a good job. As a result, many countries find that the number of graduates from universities far exceeds the capacity of the labour market to provide appropriate employment. At the same time, these countries are unable to attract enough people to train for those positions of greater need, which might be ‚blue collar‛ jobs that might appear to involve manual labour, be dangerous, dirty and difficult (Commonwealth of Learning, 2001).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine the work place performance of graduates of technical and vocational education in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the study an assessment of work place performance of graduates of technical and vocational education. 200 graduate of technical and vocational education was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to examine work place performance of graduates of technical and vocational education.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges encountered by management on the employability and job proficiency of technical and vocational education graduate in Nigeria.
Summary
It is important for our TVET institution to develop and enhance graduates’ employability skills to meet the demand by employers. In order to reach stated development goals and become recognized as an industrialized nation by 2020, Nigeria must ensure that technical students have high employability skills. Having employability skills will ease the transition from school to work, thus reducing the unemployment rate among high school graduates. Due to the importance of these skills, students should be given opportunities to acquire them, but not necessarily by developing a separate subject. Employability can be infused and integrated across curriculum using different teaching approaches. For example, project-based learning, case studies, problem-based learning, teamwork activities, and student leadership development activities can all be utilized to provide students with the necessary skills. Thus, we suggest that all TVET institutions should consider designing the curriculum with the objective of developing and enhancing students’ employability skills.
Conclusion
The linkage between the technical institutes on the one hand and the industry on the other is not strong enough. The technical institutes have not been able to access opportunities for industrial attachment for both teachers and students. As a result, the practical skill training is not closely related to the requirements at the world of work. Technical institute graduates lacked the requisite skills for the job market, so had few chances of gaining employment. This situation left many of the technical graduates unemployed. There are four main conclusions based on the findings of the study.
There is generally inadequacy in the provision of instructional materials which leads to focusing more on theoretical teaching leading to trainees
lacking proficiency in their chosen fields of specialization.
Large class sizes do not match with inadequate supply and provision of training resources. These inadequacies negatively affect the necessary skills for the world of work.
The importance of industrial attachment is relegated in priority. This seriously affects training with a resulting mismatch with job market expectations. There are inappropriate teaching methods used for practical teaching
Recommendations
In view of the findings and conclusions, five recommendations are made. To address the short supply of training materials and basic hand tools for skill training in the two technical institutes, all stakeholders should contribute in providing adequate training materials. Final year students and all females in the male-dominated programs should be encouraged to possess own basic hand tools.
Large class sizes should be discouraged in the technical institutes. Efforts should be made in securing more facilities to match the upsurge of student intake into the technical institutes.
The technical institutes should ensure that practical lessons are both effective and efficient to achieve the desired result of imparting the practical skills necessary for the world of work.
For the realization of quality in practical skill training, the technical institutes should vigorously promote industrial attachment programs for both staff and students.
Reference
- Abban, C., & Quarshie, J. (1996). Integrated skills training for self-employment: The case of Ghana. In Grierson, J.P. & Mckenzie I. (Eds): Training for self-employment through vocational training institutions. Turin, Italy: ILO International Training Centre.
- African Union (2007). Strategy to revitalize technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Africa. Addis Ababa: Final Draft. Bureau of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF II+)
- Akplu, F.H., & Amankrah, J.Y. (2008). Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) Sector mapping for learn4work: Draft. Dutch schokland programme on TVET.
- Atchoarena, D., & Esquieu, P. (2002). Private technical vocational education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Provision patterns and policy issues. Revised final report. Paris, France: UNESCO.
- Bhuwanee, T. (2006). Reforming technical and vocational education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Case studies of Ghana – Mauritius – Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Dakar, Senegal: BREDA.
