An appraisal of technical skills possessed by technical college auto-mechanics graduates in Nigeria

Abstract

The study was aimed at identifying the level of technical skills possessed by technical college automotive graduates in Auto-Electrical system maintenance and the factors influencing the level of technical skills possessed in auto electrical maintenance. A total of 56 auto-mechanics technical college graduates that are working in Bauchi and Gombe states and their 42 supervisors served as the respondents of the research. Auto-Electrical task cluster from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) modular curriculum was used in developing the instrument for data collection (questionnaire). A test-re-test was used in determining the reliability of the instrument and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to compute the reliability coefficient. The instrument had a reliability index of 0.72. Mean was used to answer the research questions and t-test statistics were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significant levels. The findings of the study revealed that: technical college auto mechanic graduates exhibited low level of technical skills in auto-electrical maintenance. The use of outdated teaching and learning facilities, teacher’s competency, mismatch between curriculum content and needs of industry are the major factors affecting the acquisition of technical skills in auto-electrical system maintenance among auto-mechanics students. It was recommended that real or prototype of modern automobile and up to date equipment and learning facilities should be made available for teaching students in technical colleges, refresher courses be organized for auto mechanic teachers regularly in the auto mobile industry to update their technical skills, Curriculum of auto-mechanics trade should be reviewed on regular basis to reflect the need of the industries and the school learning environment should be a replica of working environment.