Enhancing employability skills of woodwork technology education students through project based learning at Colleges of Education (Technical) in Nigeria

Abstract

Employability skills are essential skills needed in today's work place for effective employment sustainability. However, most graduates of woodwork technology at colleges of education (Technical) in Nigeria lacked employability skills and as such cannot be employed in the wood industry. Therefore, this paper seeks to determine effective strategies for enhancing woodwork technology education student's employability skills through project-based learning (PoBL) at COET in Nigeria. Three research questions and four hypotheses were posed for the study. The study population comprised 67 respondents for the quantitative part and 7 participants for the qualitative part involving WTE lecturers at COET in north western Nigeria. Data for the study were collected through structured questionnaire and interview protocol, and analyse using SPSS version 24 to process the frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test for the questionnaire, while NVIVO 12 was used to transcribe the interview. Findings from the study revealed that most elements of employability skills are not embedded into the curriculum of WTE. The findings also revealed that through effective implementation of PoBL, engaging students in activities that could enhance their creativity, critical thinking, communication skills and application of ICT in WTE teaching and learning, WTE student's employability skills will be enhanced.