Parental and Learner Factors Affecting Teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Programmes in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Parental and Learner Factors Affecting Teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Programmes in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Omobola Amudalat Sanusi^1* and Latifat Yusuf²

¹Department of Office Technology and Management, Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State.

²Department of Marketing, Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State.

^*Corresponding Author

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.803295S

Received: 31 August 2024; Accepted: 03 September 2024; Published: 07 October 2024

ABSTRACT

This research work examined the Parental and Learner Factors Affecting Teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Programmes in Tertiary Institutions. TVET is an education that gives individuals the skills to live, learn and work as a productive citizen in a global society. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of the study is 589 which comprised all the TVET lecturers from the thirteen colleges of education in North-west, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the two technical colleges of education from the thirteen colleges of education. 161 TVET lecturers from the two colleges of education selected, participated in the study. A questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. The findings revealed that poor attitudes of parents and low Interest of the learner to learn TVET with mean score of 3.4 and 3.7 respectively are key factors affecting teaching of TVET programmes in Tertiary Institutions. It was concluded that students’ interest need to be sustained in vocational technical subjects. The study recommended that successful entrepreneurs in all areas of technical and vocational education should be invited to give career-talks and serve as role models to create awareness to students.

Keywords: Learners, Parental, Factors, Teaching, Tertiary Institution.

INTRODUCTION

According to Maigida (2014), TVET programmes was introduced into Nigeria educational systems as a quest to satisfy the long awaited desire to add, skills that could support an individual to gain employment upon graduation or to be self-employed/reliant. Ever since the inclusion of the programmes into the Nigeria educational systems many tertiary institutions (Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education) offer TVET programmes at degree, diploma and NCE levels FRN (2013). However, Colleges of Education are specifically the focus of this study.

The future of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is linked with new technologies and computing capacities for new intelligent machines. According to Agbo, Onaga and Omeje (2018), there is an increasing demand to adopt technology based education in Nigeria especially in TVET to catch-up with the trend of technology development in the world. TVET, as enshrined in the National Policy on Education (2013), is concerned with qualitative technological human resource development directed towards a national pool of skilled and self-reliant craftsmen, technicians and technologists in technical and vocational education fields. Attempt must therefore be made to adopt a technology based teaching method to transfer practical and theoretical knowledge to students.

One of the outstanding factors in teaching and learning of TVET to be considered in this study is learners’ factor, Tiamiyu and Babalola (2013) stated that learners’ factors responsible for ineffective teaching and learning of TVET programmes is that majority of the students admitted into vocational education programmes are not mentally prepared, and intellectually fit to successfully pursue the programme of studies. Ayomike, Okwelle and Okeke (2013) identified the following as learners’ factors that act as challenges against attaining quality TVET programmes in colleges of education in Nigeria: lack of interest to learn, poor entry qualification for TVET programmes, poor public perception, poor reading culture, lack of relevant instructional material such as textbooks, practical materials (consumable), peer group influence, and lack of self-confidence, the male students tend to show more interest to learn TVET programmes than their female counterpart.

Parental factors include parents and guardians dissuading their wards from furthering their career in technical and vocational education courses because of unhealthy perception and discrimination of technical and vocational education graduates in offices and the likes because they lack adequate industrial skills (Ayub, 2019). Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Nigeria have a very low image and there is need for a turn around on its perception for public acceptance. Observations have shown that many parents especially the elites, the rich and the political class do not encourage their wards to make TVET a career and those people who opt probably for TVET programmes either by chance are not encouraged because the society does not place any significant value on the programmes (Ayomike, Okwelle & Okeke, 2013).

Nigeria could emulate the TVET system in Germany where industry is an active participant in financing of the apprenticeship programme. These include the provision of apprenticeship allowances and practical training, while the government is responsible for the remuneration of TVET instructors, enlightening programmes and the physical infrastructure (Dokubo, 2013). Therefore, it is empirically necessary to determine the factors affecting teaching and learning of TVET programmes in colleges of education and devise strategies for improving the programmes.

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. What are the parental factors affecting teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes in colleges of education?
2. What are the learner factors affecting teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes in colleges of education?

LITERATURE REVIEW

Education is the key factor for sustainable development of modern societies, while Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is the enabler for seamless employment and significant contributions to the economy. In an emerging economy such as Nigeria, as one-time biggest economy in Africa, the role of TVET is the Centre-hub for propelling the overall economic emancipation of the society, through mass skill delivery. In fact TVET has no rival in skill delivery development, and while other aspects of education may lay claim to skill centeredness, TVET is full of skill delivery and sensitive than all other sectors (Ololade, 2015).

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, FRN (2013) defines TVET as those aspects of educational process involving, the study of technologies and related sciences, the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding, and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life in addition to general education. TVET is designed to train skilled and entrepreneurial workforces that are needed to create wealth that would help reduce the menace of poverty and unemployment (Maigida, 2014).

The Federal Government of Nigeria had since the introduction of NPE (2013) placed emphasis on vocational technical education. This emphasis has led to the establishment of Technical Colleges, Colleges of Education, several Polytechnics and Universities of technology in various parts of the country and the introduction of programmes of technical education. All these programmes require well trained instructors and lecturers with postgraduate qualifications (Egwu, 2019).

It has always been a challenge to change the mindset of parents, the community and industries about vocational education and training being second choice to academic education. Most parents want to see their children becoming engineers, doctors and lawyers. just because they believe that this will give their children better job opportunities. This challenge is vital to development of TVET sector and it is apparently one of the major obstacles to improve the social status of (Maigida, 2014).

Moreover, the economic condition of the family was also one of the main reasons for students joining technical and vocational trainings. A study by Ayub (2017) revealed that parents with low socio-economic status persuade children to pursue TVET. This raises a serious question regarding the orientation of the society towards TVET on the one hand and a rather more serious assertion that the notion of TVET has been designed for a specific group or social class of people, on the other hand. Similarly, both Alnaqbi (2015) and Ayub (2017) reached the same conclusion regarding the influence of parental choice on students’ decisions, that as long as the freedom to make decisions is absent, students will be far less likely to pursue TVET.

Parents also play an important role in encouraging the students to obtain better results with their guidance. According to Rodriguez, Blatz and Elbaum (2016), parents are less involved in their children’s education in higher institutions. This shows that parents are less involved with school activities and that many parents still lack sufficient information about parenting the children; the involvement of parents in school is decreasing in activities and programs that have impact on students’ achievement.

The influence of parents’ level of education tends to differ from place to place. In the words of Stanislav (2019), parents with limited educational background allow their children decide what and where to study because they perceive that they are unable to make the right choice. The parents also lack material and immaterial capital to assist in elaborating such choice. The freedom of choice made by the learner is influenced by the parent’s own educational background. Education and working experience factors had more to do with parental control on educational choice. Higher educated and more experienced parents seemed to have more control on the educational path of the children (Paseka & Schwab, 2020).

The educationist considers learning to be permanent change in behavior which results from activity, training or observation. Students do not like these aspects of work or activities.   Students want white collar jobs where they can sit under air conditioner after graduation. (Ololade, 2015). Many students do not apply for TVET programs in Joint Admission Matriculation Board Examinations. Some of the students found themselves into TVET programs as their last hope of admission. This low interest in TVET programs is always shown during instructional processes. Therefore, only students who show   interest and ability should be admitted to run Technical Vocational Education and Training programs in colleges of education. TVET instructions should be digitalized since the current crop of students are more digital friendly than analogue. These students tend to learn faster under the computer, social media and internet related environments (Egwu, 2019).

Students’ interest in their learning is being challenged from the various competitors competing for students’ attention that influence their focus on their studies. These opportunities which arise from many factors can lead to the decline of interest on their studies which may affect their academic achievement in TVET programme (Tiamiyu & Babalola, 2013). Among the many of factors, Croft (2014) proposed that personal interest, involvement of parents and teachers are the main factors that can affect a student’s achievement. Thus, its expected that students’ interest in contributing to their achievements is highly related to their academic achievement. This argument is supported by Dokubo (2013), which shows that the interest in studying a subject is positively associated with student achievement.

According to Ayub (2017), there is a difference in students’ academic achievement according to interest level.  This support the conclusion that a lack of interest would make a person gets low academic achievement. Oviawe and Anavberokha (2018) also argue that the existing interest in the students will catalyze and lead to a better job. It means that interest is an important matter for a student to be able to determine their tendency to any direction. To arouse the interest of their children, parents should know the interests of their schooling children or teenagers.

Research showed that some students selected the subjects which are the same as their close friends (Alnaqbi, 2015). Another research showed that friends’ influential power had a huge impact, which contributed to 50% of young people’s decision-making in choosing a career. Stanislav (2019) established that students choose the direction of the future career path most suited to enter the courses after their secondary school. Students must have motivated approach and positive thinking to pursue their careers. Student related challenges such as cultism, examination malpractice; social and academic vices are affecting their academic achievements in TVET programme (Egwu, 2019).

METHODOLOGY

This study adopted a descriptive survey research design to provide answers to the research questions in this study. The choice of this design was influenced by the opinion of Adi (2020), who claimed that a descriptive survey research enables research to be conducted in the respondents’ natural context, had an impact on the decision to use this design. It also enabled the researcher seek the opinion of a representative sample of respondents using questionnaire and the findings were generalized on the entire population. The research study areas are the colleges of education in North-West, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised 589 TVET lecturers from the 13 colleges of education in North-West, Nigeria. Using a purposive sampling technique, two technical colleges of education in the North-West of Nigeria were selected to take part in the study. The sample size comprises of 161 TVET lecturers from the two technical colleges of education. The researchers used the four point Likert-type of Rating Scale of 4, 3, 2 and 1 to calculate the mean. With the appropriate nominal value obtained under each item with the number of response to an item, if the mean falls below 2.5 it will be rejected and from 2.5 above it will be accepted. A total of 161 copies of questionnaire were distributed and 150 copies were completed and retrieved representing 93.2% return rate, and a mortality rate of 6.8%.

RESULTS

The analysis was carried out under the following headings: Analysis of data to answer the research questions and discussion.

Analysis of data to answer the research questions

Research Question One: What are the parental factors affecting teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes in colleges of education?

Table 1: Mean of responses on the parental factors affecting teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes in colleges of education.

Source: Field Survey, 2024                             N = 150                                     Cut off Point 2.5

From table 1, the first item is accepted with a mean score of 3.4 of the statement that poor attitudes of parents and guidance in encouraging wards to study technical and vocational courses. The second item is also accepted showing the mean score of 3.7 on the statement that lack of enlightenment to wards on the benefits of participating in TVET programme. On the third item, the statement that irregular consultation of counsellors and teachers of TVET programmes on the student’s performance in school with the mean score of 3.5 is also accepted. Also on item four, inadequate financial support for students for buying TVET materials is also accepted with the mean score of 3.6. Parents influencing their children’s academic decision, with the mean score of 3.7 is also accepted. All other items are also accepted considering that they all have a mean score greater than the cut off which is 2.5

Research Question Two: What are the learner factors affecting teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes in colleges of education?

Table 2: Mean of responses on the learner factors affecting teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes in colleges of education.

Source: Field Survey, 2024                              N = 150                                    Cut off Point 2.5

From table 2, the first item is accepted with a mean score of 3.7 of the statement that low Interest of the learner to learn TVET affects the teaching of the programme. The second item is also accepted showing the mean score of 3.5 on the statement that youth mindset of vocational education programme is meant for drop-outs. On the third item, the statement that peer group pressure influence learners to choose TVET as a career with the mean score of 3.5 is also accepted.

Also on item four, poor societal perception of TVET is also accepted with the mean score of 3.9. Cultism as a distraction affect teaching of TVET programme on item five, with the mean score of 3.9 is also accepted. Only item 8 which states that poor entry qualification for TVET programmes shows rejection with a mean score of 2.4, indicating that the entry qualification for TVET programme is adequate compared to other programmes is tertiary institutions.

DISCUSSION

The findings of the study on research question one sought to determine the parental factors affecting teaching of TVET programmes in colleges of education. The findings revealed that poor attitudes of parents and guidance in encouraging wards to study TVET courses, lack of enlightenment to wards on the benefits of participating in TVET programme, inadequate financial support for students for buying TVET materials, parents influencing their children’s academic decision, parents with higher socio-economic status discourage their children to enroll for TVET programme. Parent with high level of education discourage their children to enroll for TVET programme. This finding is in agreement with Stanislav (2019) who lamented that most parents do not encourage their children to take a course in Vocational Education programme in Nigerian Universities. This is because the society does not place any significant value or dignity on the programme. This is also consistence with the findings of Oviawe and Anavberokha (2018) who posited that among the parental ways of improving enrolment includes: allowing their children and wards to take decisions on their own based on their interest and aptitude what course or programme to study.

The findings of the study in research question two which aimed to determine the learner factors affecting teaching of Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes in colleges of education revealed that: Low interest of the learner to learn TVET, youth mindset that vocational education programme is meant for drop-outs and peer group pressure influenced a learner to choose TVET as a career. Poor societal perception of TVET and lack of self-confidence in some learners affects the teaching and learning of TVET programmes in colleges of education. This is in agreement with Dokubo (2013) who reported that Vocational and Technical Education programmes are being regarded by some people in negative perspectives: as educational programmes for the never do well or drop-outs.  This is also supported by other scholars such as, Paseka and Schwab (2020) who found that students who have a high interest will be more successful academically, while students who are less interested tend to be low-performers academically.

CONCLUSION

The study concluded that parents also play an important role in encouraging the students to enroll for TVET programmes and obtain better results with their guidance. The educational level of their parent influences their perceptions and attractiveness towards technical and vocational education.

Students’ interest need to be sustained in vocational technical subjects and the need to improving their enrolment into the programmes cannot be over emphasized because the technological advancement of Nigeria depends on technical, vocational education and training.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of this study and conclusions drawn from the study, the following recommendations were made:

1. Occupational awareness should be created to students through orientations, career talk/week, seminars, role playing and media at the basic education and senior secondary school levels.
2. Parents and all stakeholders should permit their children and wards to take decisions on their own based on their interest and aptitude on what course or programme to study.

REFERENCES

1. Adi, B. (2020). Descriptive research: Definition, characteristics, methods, examples and advantages. www.questionprosurvey/globalvp.
2. Agbo, C. D., Onaga, P. O. & Omeje, H. O. (2018). Teachers’ opinion on availability of e-learning opportunities for effective technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programme in tertiary institutions in south-east Nigeria. International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education 10 (1), 1-6.
3. Alnaqbi, K. S. A. (2015). Attitudes towards vocational education and training in the context of united arab emirates: A proposed framework. International Journal of Business and Management, 11(1), 31-35. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v11n1p31.
4. Ayomike, C. S., Okwelle, P. C. & Okeke, B. C.  (2013). Towards quality technical vocational education and training (TVET) programmes in Nigeria: Challenges and improvement strategies. www.iveta.org/Resources/Documents/about/….
5. Ayub, H. (2017). Parental influence and attitude of students towards technical education and vocational training. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 7(7), 534-538. https://doi.org/10.18178/ijiet.2017.7.7.925
6. Croft, A. (2014). The second shift reflected in the second generation: Do parents’ gender roles at home predict children’s aspirations? Psychological Science, 25(7): 1418–1428. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24890499
7. Dokubo, C. & Dokubo, I. (2013). Identifiable problems inhibiting the effective management of vocational education  programme in Nigeria  universities. European Scientific   Journal, 9(22), 1857-7431.
8. Egwu, S. (2019). Universities and the national education roadmap. A Key-note Address by the Honourable Minister of Education on the Occasion of the 24^th Conference of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, at the University of Ilorin.
9. Federal Government of Nigeria (2013). National policy on education, (6^th edition). Four-year Strategic Plan        for the Development of the Education Sector. Government Press.
10. Federal Ministry of Education – FME (2012). Four-year strategic plan for the development of the education sector. Abuja: Government Press.
11. Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2013). National Policy on Education, (6^th Ed.) NERDC Press. http://www.senatorchukwumerije.net/id116.html Accessed 4/3/2014.
12. Maigida, J. F. (2014). Building and sustaining  partnerships through public private  partnership for  effective technical  vocational education and training  programme in Nigeria. Paper presented at the 2014 Annual  International Conference of  International Vocational Education Association (IVETA), Tenesse, U.S.A. 18-19.
13. Ololade, O. (2015). Reality bites. The nation newspaper, vol.10 3111. www.thenationonline.ng.net.
14. Oviawe, J. I. & Anavberokhai, M. O. (2018). The role of entrepreneurship education in the realization of the national economic empowerment and development strategy (NEEDS). Technical and Vocational  Education Journal, 1 (1), 57 – 65.
15. Paseka, A., & Schwab, S. (2020). Parents’ attitudes towards inclusive education and their perceptions of inclusive teaching practices and resources. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 35(2), 254–272. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2019.1665232.
16. Rodríguez Menéndez, M. del C., Peña Calvo, J.V. & Inda Caro, M. de las M. (2016). Esto es lo que me gusta y lo que voy a estudiar: Un estudio cualitativo sobre la toma de decisiones académicas en bachillerato. Revista Complutense de Educacion, 27(3), pp.1351–1368.  
17. Stanislav, I. (2019). Conceptual framework of the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel, tourism, and hospitality companies. In robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation in travel, tourism and hospitality. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-687-320191001
18. Tiamiyu, R. and Babalola, Y. A. (2013). Vocational education and security challenges in Nigeria: The way forward. Developing country studies 3(5), 97-100. www.iiste.org