Conceptual model for technical and employability skills of Nigerian mechanical engineering trades programme

Vocational and Technical education is designed to produce competent craftsmen, semi-skilled workers and sub-professionals for various sectors of the economy. Upon graduation, graduates are expected to be secure a job either in the labor market or self-employed. However industries and employers are constantly complaining about the quality of these graduates in terms of employability and technical skills. In addition, these graduates are lack of technical competencies to be self-employed. Therefore, this study evaluated the technical and employability skills of a Mechanical Engineering Trades (METs) program at technical colleges in the North Central States, Nigeria. Specifically, this study identified the teaching method which influence the acquisition of technical and employability skills METs students and determined the suitability of infrastructural facilities. A mixed method research design which utilized structured questionnaire, interview protocol, observation and document analysis was used. 444 respondents comprising of 267 METs students, 99 METs teachers, 46 administrators and 32 workshop instructors were participated in the study. Data were analyzes using SPSS software version 20 and Analysis of Moment of Structure (AMOS) version 18 to analyze quantitative data whereas qualitative data were analyzed using transcription, coding and categorization procedures. The findings of this study revealed that the teaching methods employed by METs teachers were mostly lectures and demonstration. The METS students‘ competency levels with regards to technical and employability skills are at moderate level. The findings of the study also listed some of the challenges faced by the teacher including lack of adequate provision of instructional materials, no standard workshops for teaching and learning of METs in most technical colleges, teachers are not encouraged to attend seminars and workshops to update their knowledge. The findings also indicated that the teaching methods which greatly influence the acquisition of technical and employability skills are work based learning, field trip, discussion based on tutorial learning project and seminar, demonstration and discussion. This study also found that that most of the facilities in the colleges are in a state of disrepair. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the government, industries and other non-governmental organizations should provide financial assistance for the technical college programs especially METs. Besides that, these colleges should have collaborations with industries. A significant contribution of this study is the development of a conceptual model for an effective implementation of METs program for technical colleges in Nigeria

Human Capital Development in Technical Vocational Education (TVE) for Sustainable National Development

The globalization process, knowledge economy and the emergence of new modes of production in the industries in the 21st century has brought about new challenges for the developing economies and their labor markets. However,  there is a clear indication now that human skills plays an important role in sustaining the current pace of growth and development through enhanced productivity of human capital. The paper discussed extensively on human capital development in TVE for sustainable national development in Nigeria. The paper also stressed on the concept of TVE and role of TVE human capital development for sustainable national development in Nigeria. The paper concludes that TVE institutions at all levels should be well equipped with good infrastructures, workshop facilities as well as employing qualified teachers to enable the graduates of the program to acquire the required skills for gainful employment in order for them to contribute to the development of their society and the nation at large. Keywords: Human Capital Development,   Technical    Vocational   Education,   Productivity,    Sustainable                   National Development

An Appraisal of Technical Skills Possessed by Technical College Auto-Mechanics Graduates in Nigeria

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. Keywords:Technical Skills,Technical College, Auto- Electrical System, Auto -Mechanics Graduates

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

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

ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MANAGERS OF TECHNICAL COLLEGE WORKSHOPS: A CASE OF NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

This study assesses the effectiveness of managers of technical college workshops from the perspective of stakeholders in North Central Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was employed. Three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A 35-item questionnaire developed by the researchers and validated by three experts was used to collect data from 101 administrators, 140 teachers, and 24 workshop personnel randomly sampled and stratified along trades in technical colleges. Mean was employed to answer the research questions while one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for data analysis. Result revealed that respondent shared similar opinions on the management of technical college workshops. It was therefore recommended that: The managers of the workshops should use alternative approaches in the management of workshop instead of waiting for government to provide everything; maintenance of tools should be a regular practice in the workshops; administrators should recommend teachers and workshop personnel to attend seminars regularly in order to update their knowledge on current practices in the management of technical college workshops among others

RETRAINING NEEDS OF MOTOR VEHICLE MECHANICS TEACHERS AT TECHNICAL COLLEGE LEVEL

The study is designed to identify the areas of retraining needed by Motor Vehicle Mechanics (MVM) teachers in technical colleges in Niger State and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria. Two research questions were used to guide in the conduct of the study. The teachers of MVM program in the technical colleges in Niger State and FCT Abuja Nigeria constitute the respondents of the study. A 35 item questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The data was analyzed using frequency counts,   mean and standard deviation. The analysis  of the data revealed that MVM teachers in the technical colleges needs retraining in terms of pedagogical skills as well as practical skills areas in MVM  Base on the finding the following recommendations were made; immediate retraining for the MVM teachers in the technical colleges with emphasis in the areas of pedagogical and technical skills. There should be collaboration between the technical colleges and the industries to enable the MVM teachers to acquire the needed skills to impart to the learners so that upon graduation the students can be employable to contribute to the development of their immediate society and the nation at large

SARS-COV-2 antibody responses to AZD1222 vaccination in West Africa.

Real-world data on vaccine-elicited neutralising antibody responses for two-dose AZD1222 in African populations are limited. We assessed baseline SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and levels of protective neutralizing antibodies prior to vaccination rollout using binding antibodies analysis coupled with pseudotyped virus neutralisation assays in two cohorts from West Africa: Nigerian healthcare workers (n = 140) and a Ghanaian community cohort (n = 527) pre and post vaccination. We found 44 and 28% of pre-vaccination participants showed IgG anti-N positivity, increasing to 59 and 39% respectively with anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG-specific antibodies. Previous IgG anti-N positivity significantly increased post two-dose neutralizing antibody titres in both populations. Serological evidence of breakthrough infection was observed in 8/49 (16%). Neutralising antibodies were observed to wane in both populations, especially in anti-N negative participants with an observed waning rate of 20% highlighting the need for a combination of additional markers to characterise previous infection. We conclude that AZD1222 is immunogenic in two independent West African cohorts with high background seroprevalence and incidence of breakthrough infection in 2021. Waning titres post second dose indicates the need for booster dosing after AZD1222 in the African setting despite hybrid immunity from previous infection