Implementation of technical and vocational education in Nigeria

Abstract

This research was conducted to identify the factors that affect the implementation of technical and vocational education in Nigeria. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used using concurrent design. The instrument for teachers and students was adapted from Employability skills for Australian small and medium sized enterprises. The teachers’ questionnaire contains 50 items while students’ questionnaire contains 41 items to examine the training of students at technical and vocational schools, students’ competencies as well as challenges of technical and vocational education in Nigeria. Two hundred and twenty (220) teachers and two hundred and thirty three (233) students participated in the quantitative aspect. In selecting the respondents for this research, simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. T-test and Regression analyses using SPSS version 17 were used to measure the differences among the dependent and independent variables. Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) version 16 was also used to identify the factors that influence the Implementation of Technical and Vocational Education in Nigeria. Interviews were conducted with five principals and five heads of department in order to identify the challenges of implementation of technical and vocational education in Nigeria. Observation on infrastructural and instructional facilities was conducted in all the technical schools under the study. In the analysis for the qualitative data, content analysis was used to analyze the text recorded during the interview as well as field note. The study found employability skills, learning skills, technical skills, and teaching methods play a significant role in the training of students towards skills acquisition. No significant difference was found between the teachers in terms of importance of teaching methods. The students’ level of competency was found to be low in all the aspect of skill areas. However, several factors were identified to be the factors that hinder effective implementation of technical and vocational education in Nigeria. A conceptual model on the implementation of TVE was developed based on the findings of the study.