Challenges Faced by Vocational Teachers in Public Skills Training Institutions: A Reality in Malaysia

Teachers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) play a pivotal role in ensuring skilled graduates with excellent personality. However, some TVET teachers in developing world face challenges in fulfilling this role. Thus, this study explored the challenges that are faced by vocational teachers (who are assigned to teach skills courses) from public skills training institutions in Malaysia. Using qualitative research design, this study conducted semi-structured interviews on 13 purposively selected participants from the Department of Skills Development and personnel under the Ministry of Human Resources and Ministry of Youth and Sports, which included six management staff and seven vocational teachers. Following the analysis using nVIVO, this study identified six core challenges faced by  vocational teachers: (1) disinterest and lack of motivation in teaching the assigned skills subjects; (2) lack of skills qualifications and industrial experiences (which are necessary as vocational teachers; (3) meeting the needs of students with low academic grades which require  extra teaching effort with high emotional intelligence; (4) difficulty in attending professional courses due to limited budget allocation, rotation system, and heavy workload; (5) difficulty in article writing task; and (6) difficulty in using English as the medium of instruction. These findings demonstrate the strong need to address the challenges faced by these vocational teachers, particularly for the teaching of programmes based on the National Occupational Skills Standard (NOSS), in the public skills training institutions  to enhance the teaching and learning process in TVET

Technical Competency Among Vocational Teachers in Malaysian Public Skills Training Institutions: Measurement Model Validation Using Pls-Sem

It is important for vocational teachers in Malaysian Public Skills Training Institutions (MPSTI) based on the National Occupational Skills Standard (NOSS) modules to be technically competence. This study aimed to validate the measurement model for technical competency (knowledge and skills) consisting of eight constructs: material and application; work planning; handling, maintenance, and inventory of machines and hand tools; handling students at the workshop; practical instructional strategies; practical assessment; theoretical instructional strategies; specific knowledge; and general knowledge. This study is a quantitative research collected data through simple random sampling of vocational teachers from several technical programmes. A total of 1,186 respondents from 31 public skills training institutions were involved in this study. Measurement assessments were used to conduct a Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis with SmartPLS 3.0 software to assess and validate the eight constructs of technical competency using a reflective model. The results revealed that 36 items on the eight constructs of technical competency had fulfilled the criteria for the validity assessment of the reflective measurement model through convergent validity and discriminant validity. For convergent validity, the value of loadings exceeded 0.708, the AVE values exceeded 0.5, and the CR values were between 0.7 to 0.9 (satisfactory). The discriminant validity of the model was assessed, and fulfilled the criteria of Fornell and Larcker (square root of AVE is larger than the correlations for all reflective constructs) by comparing the cross-loadings between the constructs, and using the HTMT0.9 technique. The finding of this study contributes to the knowledge on technical competency for vocational teachers in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme. A proposed model, and newly developed technical competency items were employed in this study. &nbsp

Emotional Intelligence and Work Performance among Vocational Teachers

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a crucial component of an educator for the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. Vocational teachers in the Technical Vocational and Education And Training (TVET) programme have to handle various students during the teaching and learning process. The experience has equipped the vocational teachers at the Malaysian Public Skills Training Institution (MPSTI) with EI competencies. This study was conducted on the vocational teachers in MPSTI under the Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) and the Ministry of Youth and Sport (MOYS) who taught the TVET programme based on the National Occupational Skills Standard (NOSS) module. This study aims to identify the relationship of EI towards work performance. This study used the quantitative approach and collected the data using simple random sampling with a total of 1,186 vocational teachers from 31 MPSTI in Peninsular Malaysia. The measurement model and structural model were analysed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) with SmartPLS 3.0 software to assess and validate the reflective model. The results reveal that the path coefficient value is (β = 0.753, t = 43.395, p = 0) which indicates that the EI factor has a significant relationship with work performance. The model prediction accuracy (R²) is at a moderate level with 0.567. The finding of this study reveals the features of vocational teachers with EI factor namely self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. This study can guide the management in the MOHR and MOYS to establish guidelines for the vocational teachers by incorporating elements of EI