RE-CONSTRUCTING VOCATION AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION FOR SKILLSACQUISITION BY SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS.

BY

OMORODION SYLVESTER OSAZEE

Metalwork Department School of Technical Education

E-mail: omosylvester2010@gmail.comPhone No.: 07062210000,

AJADBE, OLANREWAJU AHMEND Automobile Technology Department School of Technical Education

Phone No.: 08069206572

AND

CHUKWUKA FLORENCE OBIAGELI

Department Home Economics School of Vocational Education Federal College of Education

(Technical), Asaba.

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BEING A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 3RD COLLEGES OF EDUCATIONACADEMIC STAFF UNION (COEASU) SOUTH

SOUTH ZONAL CONFERENCE HELD AT FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (TECHNICAL) ASABA

FROM 15TH -18TH APRIL, 2014.

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Abstract

This paper focuses on re-constructing Vocational and Technical Education in skillsacquisition by Secondary School Students. The survival of any nation or people ispredicated on the level of development. Where the standard of living is low, thenation is at risk of total collapse. Vocational/Technical Education therefore isamong the vital tools which can be used to develop individuals. It is field whereopportunities exist for gainful employment being mostly practically oriented; thegraduate of vocational and technical education can easily be self employed, andvery often an employer of labour. Opportunities abound in jobs though suchopportunities are never realized as Nigeria like every other developing country isfaced with the problem of inability of her educators to relate education toemployment opportunities. This is practically true in the nation’s secondary schoolswhere many teachers are said to be incapable of assisting student to perceiveclearly a picture of the world of work. Even with the limited area of- subject optionsoffered by many Nigeria secondary schools, the students still find it extremelydifficult to choose subjects. On account of inaccurate and inadequate information,many students do not know the relationship of the subjects they are being taughtto the various vocational opportunities in the job-markets. Students do not havethe capability to proper choice of vocation the need for vocational guidance, aswell as occupational information for jobs.

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INTRODUCTION

Education has been variously defined by different

authors. According to Fafunwa (1974) education is a process

of socializing or initiation into the norms, values,

practices and attitude accepted by the individual society. It

involves the individual’s adaptation and his behaviour

pattern or style of life.

Osuala, E.C. (1987) argued that survival of human beings

is dependent upon their ability to apply rationality in

solving problems within their environment. To accomplish this

every society even the most primitive relies on scientific

and technological pursuits in its daily existence. The

society is complex hence technical education is now viewed as

a social phenomenon. (Edward and Johnson, 1978) Vocation and

technical education embraces the means by which manpower

development of a nation can be controlled and modified to

meet societal needs and to alleviate poverty.

The advent of formal education in Nigeria neglected

vocational and technical education entirely. Even when

efforts were made to give it recognition, very little

attention was given to it. No meaningful development was made

in the area of vocational education until 1981, when the

National Policy on Education was published. Due to total

neglect, vocational education suffered a major decline in

quality, number, policy and directive in Nigeria. It was

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after the oil boom era 1970s that it dawned on the nation

that there was an acute scarcity of skilled manpower.

The Aims of Vocational and Technical Education

The National Policy on Education (1981) stated the aims

of Vocational and

technical education as follows:

1. To provide trained manpower in applied science,

technology and commerce particularly at sub professional

grades.

2. To provide the technical knowledge and vocational skills

necessary for agricultural, industrial, commercial and

economic development.

3. To provide people who can apply scientific knowledge to

the improvement and solution of environmental/problems

for the use and convenience of man.

4. To give an introduction to professional studies in

engineering and other technologies.

5. To give training and impart the necessary skills leading

to the production of craftsmen, technicians and other

skilled personal who will be enterprising and self-

reliant and to make our young men and women to have an

intelligent understanding of the increasing complexity

of technology.

The Role of Vocational and Technical Education in National

Development

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Technical education is education designed for upper

secondary and lower tertiary levels to prepare middle-level

personnel (such as technicians, middle management) and at

university level, to prepare engineers and technologists, for

higher management positions. Technical education includes

general education, theoretical, scientific and technical

studies and related skill training. The component of

technical education may vary considerable depending on the

type of personnel to be prepared and the educational level.

Vocational Education is education designed to prepare skilled

personal at lower levels of qualification for one or a group

of occupations, trades or jobs. According to Osuala (1999),

the term, either technical or vocational education has no

single universally accepted definition but what is common

among the various definition is that basic goal and its

objectives still remain the same. Technical education has

been defined as that phase of education which seeks to help

the people, students, and the populace acquire specific

mechanical or manipulative skills required in industrial arts

or applied science (Akanbi, 1989). Thus a student at the

completion of his technical and vocational education

programme is expected to have acquired basic expertise in a

particular branch of industrial arts or applied science in

which he shows special aptitude and interest. Technical and

Vocational Education require manipulative skills and the

application of some technical knowledge, and the extent of

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skill and technical knowledge required, varies with specific

occupation. Specifically, those occupations that are

concerned with design, manufacture, sales installation and

servicing of wide variety of products require more

manipulative skills. Several of these occupation are found in

industry, business, agriculture, research and services and

occupations. These occupations are regarded by many as

technical occupation while the workers are loosely called

technicians.

The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN, 1998) defined

vocational and technical education as that aspect of

education which leads to the acquisition of practical and

applied skills as well as basic scientific knowledge.

Vocational and technical education therefore is that form of

education which equips an individual with appropriate skills,

abilities and competencies which act as facilities for one to

live and contribute to the development of the society. Most

studies reveal that education in most Africa countries has

not adequately, equipped youth to be knowledgeable about

their interests, capacities, values, aptitude and the world

around them. If education is adopted to help young people

understand their strengths and limitations and is adequately

planned to help individual assess themselves objectively; it

can possible help them exercise intelligently the right of

free choice to be made in the field of education, vocation

and leisure time activities. Each country has several

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responsibilities to formulate its educational policies and

practice so that such policies and practices relate to the

needs of each country and the vocational life of its young

citizen. It is important to understand that educational

choices are pre-vocational an as such there is a critical

need for education at all levels to be concerned not only

with intellectual but also with emotional, physical and or

career developmental need of each young person. 0/con (1979)

revealed that a great need exists in Nigerian schools in

providing each young person with assistance that enables him

or her develop goals and ôhoices related to his or her

education arid future work roles. According to Olayinka

(1974) many Nigerian school leavers make poor vocational

adjustment because of unrealistic vocational aspirations.

School leavers are said to select occupation mainly because

of the positions and prestige attached to the jobs and not as

a result of conscious assessment of the individuals interests

and abilities and the relationship of these to the preferred

occupations.Problems Militating Against the Development of Vocational and

Technical Education

Vocational and Technical education have not been able to

achieve most of the laudable contributions earlier mentioned

as a result of the following problems:

Lack of Political Will by the Government in Promoting

Vocational and Technical Education

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For a very long time, a lot has been said and written

through seminars, workshops, conferences on the need for

government to put in place policies and prägrammes that will

promote vocational and technical education. Such important

suggestions are never considered by the government and where

implemented such arc very quickly truncated.

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Inadequate Security and Maintenance of Equipment

In most cases, the few equipment supplied to various

educational institutions are not secured and maintained. They

are often stolen and vandalized by students, staff and

members of the public where such institutions are located.

Inadequate Supply of Equipment and Instructional Methods

Vocational and technical education as skills oriented

demand great number of instructional materials for proper

skill acquisition. Ekpenyong (1985) opined that for proper

skill acquisition in home economics, for instance, there has

to be sewing machines, cooking appliances, and other house

keeping appliances. These materials are often not supplied to

schools where home economics is offered and where they are

supplied, the supply is always inadequate.

Inadequate Funding

It is a fact that vocational and technical education is

more expensive than liberal education, so unless a deliberate

effort is made to declare it a special area in the government

allocation of fund, all efforts will amount to more deceit in

actually policies for vocational technical education. It is

clear that no meaningful technological breakthrough can be

achieved in Nigeria without vocational and technical

education, government should correctly reposition vocational

education.

Shortage of Vocational and Technical Education Teaching

Materials vis-à-vis Textbooks and Journals

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Textbooks and journals are very vital for meaningful

instruction and learning; but are not available in libraries

either because specialists in vocational and technical

education are not writing or the stakeholders have refused to

make them available. Sometimes, the few available have

foreign background or are outdated. Such materials may be

difficult to adapt to the local environment.

Poor Societal Perception

In Nigeria, many people are yet to understand the

meaning, scope and content of vocational and technical

education. Some view it as education for the handicapped or

education for those who cannot cope with the sciences. In

most educational institutions offering vocational and

technical education, workshops and machines needed for proper

skill acquisitions are lacking. Where the machines are made

available, electricity to operate them may be lacking or in

some cases no adequate manpower.

The Need for Vocational Guidance and Information Service

The rapid changes in the economy of Nigeria have brought

the importance of human resource development into focus. As

the economy continues to expand as a result of technological

advancements, the nature of many jobs is bound to change.

Knowledge of the different occupation available in Nigeria is

of key importance for students of vocational education to

explore and analyze.

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The definition and the classification of occupations

are, therefore, fundamental to an understanding of supply and

labour requirement problems, employment, labour turnover and

employment conditions. Such information is significant

especially for adolescent vocational education students.

Counselling in the form of occupational information will

help solve some of the problems and frustrations that may

arises as a result of wrong choice of occupation. Students

should make their own final decision as to the type of

occupations they want.

Under a good vocational guidance programme, students can

be made to understand how beneficial it is to set ones

aspiration in accordance with individual abilities and

interests that is, a good vocational guidance counselor can

assist students assess their abilities and interests, clarity

values and help set realistic goals and or aspirations, thus

minimizing the chances of failure and frustration of needs.

In this way, the students are able to understand where they

are going in life and what things are necessary to keep going

in the right direction.

The role of vocational guidance cannot be over

emphasized as this help students to understand themselves,

their interest, and ability. The technical educator is both a

teacher and a counselor (Imhanla,nini, 2005). It is

therefore, important that the counselor should help students

to develop interest in vocational education and making a

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career out of it. The counselor should be available at all

times to help the students at their different stages of

development. The stage-by-stage nature of individual’s

educational development calls for a well planned and

sequential educational guidance as he/she progresses from

childhood through adolescence to adulthood. The problem of

career decision making is difficult and complex for the young

adolescence and the consequence of a poor decision are far

reaching (Lawde, Jones, and Bright, 1993) in fin hanlahimi

and Uddin (2005).

A good school programme of vocational guidance is of value to

the teachers who can be equipped with the necessary skills on

how to collect, analyze interpret and present relevant

information about occupations to students. Through a school’s

programme of vocational guidance teachers can be assisted to

understand their students and iii turn help the latter

develop better understanding about themselves, the entire

school education programmes and the world of work as well as

the relationship between these. In this way, the students can

be helped to make the necessary transition from school to

work. After all, teachers who are helped to understand their

students are more likely to have positive clues for making a

better teaching learning situation.

No doubt, parents stand to gain from a school programme

of vocational guidance. A good vocational counselor can help

parents collect, analyze and interpret relevant data about

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their children. With clearer perceptions of their children’s

abilities, interests and potentialities afforded through a

school’s programme of vocational guidance and counseling,

parents can come to a good understanding of their children,

accept their limitations and no longer have to remain in

illusions about their children’s capability. Under a good

vocation and technical guidance programme, parents can be

made aware of certain areas in their children’s education

which hitherto they had not thought about and in this way

helped to remove the danger of grouping in the dark.

For the students to make proper career decision, the

counselor has to educate the students. To make any meaningful

career choice will depend on the students understanding of

themselves. The individual can be helped in the process of

moving toward a satisfying educational choice in two ways.

Either by helping develop abilities and interest or by

helping him to acquire an understanding of himself and his

strengths and weaknesses so that satisfying choice of course

in vocational education could be made meaningful (Chinedu,

1986) in Linhalahimi (2005).

The right occupational choice and the resultant

satisfaction in individuals job rest much on the right

information of the world of work and the needs which

different jobs can satisfy. The right occupational choice by

students should come from adequate counseling to which

students were exposed. Vocational guidance in school should

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serve to enable the students discover occupations that may

satisfy their interest.

Occupational Information

The objectives of information service, through

counseling is to stimulate individual student to evaluate

himself/herself and his/her opportunities, make a feasible

choice in the light of the unique characteristics and

opportunities, accept responsibility for his/her choice and

initiate a course of action consonant with his choice.

The assistance given to each student through

informational service may take forms it maybe educational,

vocational, social, recreational emotional and or moral

(Olayinka, 1979. Occupational information is important as it

can help to increase the child’s occupational horizon so that

he may begin to think in terms of a wider range of possible

future occupation. The school counselor serve as a good link

between the school and the home. He/she disseminates

educational and vocational information to parents and assists

students not only in selecting appropriate subject

combination for parental approval but also in identifying

suitable institution in which students could acquire pre-

vocational qualification.

Career Information Factors

Career development theorist have long issued the

importance of providing students with realistic exploratory

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opportunities that lead to an increasingly comprehensive

under-standing of self and the world of work (Holland, 1973,

Happork 1976, Ginzberg 195], Super 1963). Most of the career

education models should therefore, emphasize exploration as a

central theme in their references to the secondary school.

Career information addresses the current and future

conditions of work, education, training and job

opportunities, and requirements. Discussing information

factor in youth unemployment, Drier (1980,) argued that the

lack of the following information related factors could very

well be associated with youth underachievement dropout from

formal education and associated categories of underemployment

and unemployment transition from school to work. There should

include:

- appropriate and accurate information about employee and

employer coping and adjustment;

- realistic information about the varied work environment

of each occupational category;

- realistic comparison data on income potential versus

cost of living in different geographical areas;

- information about the levels of training needed for both

entry and advancement in specific occupations; and

- data on the personal aptitudes, abilities, advantages

and disadvantages associated with fields of occupations

and interests.

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Recommendations on how to Re-construct Vocational and

Technical Education in Nigeria

The following recommendations are proffered on ways of

tacking problems

associated with vocational and technical education.

The government should make vocational technical

education a priority area in the allocation of funds

and in the implementation of policies since Nigeria

cannot run away from the fact that no nation can

think of effective performance without thinking of

effective vocational and technical education.

The government should provide adequate security for

the equipment/facilities provided. Also, the

students, staff and the society should see the need

to secure whatever equipment’ facilities that have

been provided in their institutions.

Undertaking grassroot awareness programme of

educating Nigerians on the meaning, scope and content

of vocational technical education. This could be done

through the television, newspaper and other mass

media so as to enhance their understanding of this

field of study.

Considering the expensive nature of vocational

technical education, funding should not be left to

the government alone. Therefore, parents, industries

and local communities should be encouraged to provide

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finance towards the development of vocational

technical education in Nigeria.

To train more guidance counselors in schools, the

government should put in place incentives in form of

special allowances that will make counseling

attractive and challenging. Nwaokolo (2001) supported

the above recommendations when he recommended for a

vocational teaching allowance.

Vocational courses, requires strong emphasis and

exposure to practical work fro acquisition of skills

therefore more periods / time should be allocated to

practical than theory.

Conclusion

Vocational technical education according to Nwaokolo

(2001) is a sine-qua- non for the technological and

industrial development of the nation. If this opinion is

upheld, then the problems associated with vocational and

technical education would be adequately addressed. Based on

the foregone, it has become clear that investing in

vocational and technical education is paramount to investing

in the productive area towards National development. The

various tiers of government should make sure vocational

technical education is adequately catered for by making sure,

sufficient finance is made available for vocational technical

education programme, and making sure that the vocational

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educators are given adequate encouragement through

incentives.

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