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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PERCEIVED ECONOMIC BENEFITS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN NIGERIA; A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School
of The Ohio State University
By
Mabel Chibuzor Philip Oguamah-Okojie
*****
The Ohio State University
1998
Dissertation Committee;
Dr. Anthony A Olinzock Approved by
Dr. Ray Ryan Advise)
Dr. Darrell Lee Parks College of Education ÜMI Number: 9834041
Copyright 1998 by Oguamah-Okojie, Méüsel Chibuzor Philip
All rights reserved.
UMI Microform 9834041 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by
Mabel Chibuzor P h ilip Cguamah-Ckojie
1998 ABSTRACT
The study assessed students’ attitudes toward vocational training and evaluated
how the students perceived the economic benefits of vocational education following the
vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum in Nigeria. The relationship between
the students’ perceived relevance of vocational training programs to Nigerian economic
growth and the students’ geographical location, tribal affiliation, age, years of work
experience and types of work experience was also examined.
The educational institutions which participated in the study were selected in such a
way as to represent various tribes and languages in Nigeria. Therefore, the institutions
were selected from the eastern part of Nigeria, northern part of Nigeria, and western part
of Nigeria so that the study reflected all the Nigerian major tribes. The population of the
study was made up of the Master’s degree in education (/M.Ed.) students majoring in
vocational-technical education in two Nigerian universities, and the final year High
National Diploma (HND) students from a College of Technology (YCT) in Nigeria. The
instrument was developed by the researcher and validated by a panel of experts.
The findings showed that students generally perceived vocational education as
relevant to Nigerian economic growth and had favorable attitudes toward vocationalization. The students also agreed in the perceived employment and self-
employment prospects of curriculum vocationalization. Nigeria is a country divided by
II tribal differences but the findings showed that such differences had no impact on the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education as well as attitudes toward vocational education. The result of F test showed that no significant differences were found in students’ perception of vocational education among various groups of students based on age, tribe, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p = .05.
However, the result of the F test showed that significant differences did exist in students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on geographical location at p = .0096, and based on gender at p = .0054. The findings also indicated that there was a relationship between students’ perceived relevance of vocational education and attitudes toward vocational education (r = .570, p < .05). The results of the study equally showed that the perceived relevance of vocational education was related to the perceived prospect for self- employment following curriculum vocationalization (r = .582, p < .05).
Ill DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to the memory of my beloved father. Elder Philip
Oguamah, my devoted mother, Mrs. Roseline Oguamah, and to my three wonderful children, Chaminuka, Tinukwa and Dasuki, all of whom provided me with inspiration, motivation, as well as the encouragement and the strength that energized me and helped me to persevere to the end.
IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to my academic adviser,
Dr. Anthony Olinzock for his excellent guidance and patience throughout the course of my doctoral program, especially during the dissertation phase. I would also like to extend special thanks and appreciation to members of my committee. Dr. Ray Ryan and Dr.
Darrell Lee Parks for providing me with great insight in the process of conducting this study.
With deep appreciation, I extend special thanks to my sister, Roseline Chiagorom
Oguamah for her immeasurable moral and financial support; without such priceless support, the completion of the entire doctoral program would have been impossible. I would also offer special thanks and gratitude to my sister, Joy Adama Henderson, and to
Felix Obioma Oguamah for his willingness and tireless effort in helping me gather data for this research, inspite of the long distance travels involved. I thank the entire Oguamah family for their enthusiasm, excitement, encouragement and high dose of daily prayer.
I am deeply indebted to my friend, Sondra Spangler for moral support, encouragement and for proof reading the proposal materials. I am grateful to the students who participated in this study and thank them for their patience. Finally, the greatest thanks and gratitude go to God. VITA
1980 ...... B. A., The British Open University, Milton Keynes, England.
1981 ...... M. Ed., The Victoria University of Manchester, Manchester, England,
1982-1988...... Lecturer: Curriculum Studies, Introduction to Psychology and Instructional Methods - University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, West Africa.
1989-1992 ...... Qualified Mental Retarded Professional (QMRP): Kensington Heath Care Center, Evanston, Illinois
1992-1993 ...... Case Manager: Wilson Health Care Inc., Chicago, Illinois.
PUBLICATIONS
Okojie, M.C.C. (1988). Economics of vocational education. Perspectives in educatuiMO) pp. 167-72.
Okojie, M.C.C. (1986). Contradictions in educational reform. Journal of research in curriculum (joric)4( 1 ). Pp. 44-51 University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.
Okojie, M.C.C. (1985). Problems of intelligence and bias in intelligence test. Journal of educational studies 4(1) pp. 44-51.
BOOK REVIEW Diversified secondary education and development: evidence from Columbia and Tanzania: Authors: George Psacharopoulos and William Loxley. A World Bank Publication. The John Hopkins University Press 1985. Pp. 243 Review was published in Vocational aspect of education: teacher training of Bolton, England. Vol. XLI No. 108, April, 1989.
VI FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Field; Education: Vocational Education Curriculum Studies and Design Instructional Methods Program Planning for Adults. Human Resources Development.
VII TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract...... ii
Dedication...... iv
Acknowledgment...... v
Vita ...... vi
List of Tables...... xv
CHAPTERS
I. Introduction...... I
Education in Pre-colonial Nigeria...... 1 British Pattern of Colonization...... 2 Criticisms of British Colonial Education...... 3 Elitist Education...... 5 Devaluing Vocational Training...... 6 The Structure of Education in Nigeria prior to vocationalization...... 7 Attitudes Toward Vocational Subjects...... 10 The Nigerian 6-3-3-4 Education System...... II Vocational Education as a Panacea for Educational Ills 16 Claims Made for Vocational Education Programs...... 17 Description of Master’s Degree Program in Vocational-Technical Education...... 18 The Purpose of the Study...... 20 The Need for the Study...... 21 Statement of the Problem...... 22 Research Question I ...... 23 Research Question 2 ...... 23 Research Question 3 ...... 24 Research Question 4 ...... 24 Research Question 5 ...... 24 Research Question 6 ...... 24 Research Question 7 ...... 24
VIU Table o f Contents (continued)
Delimitations...... 24 Limitations...... 25 Definition of Term s...... 26
2. Literature Review ...... 30 Introduction...... 30 Various Interpretation of Education and w ork...... 31 Historical and Philosophical Evolution of Vocational Education...... 34 Various Perceptions of Vocational Education...... 36 Integration of Academic and Vocational Education 40 Models of Integration...... 41 Barriers to Curriculum Integration...... 43 Collaboration Between Vocational Education school and Workplace...... 44 Technology Preparation (Tech Prep)...... 45 School-to-work Transition Programs...... 47 Vocational Education in Africa...... 49 Vocationalization in Nigeria...... 54 Entrepreneurial Skills...... 56 Values of Vocational Education...... 57 Criticisms of Vocational Education...... 61 Vocationalization and Attitude...... 63
3. Research Methodology...... 66
Population...... 66 Selection of the Educational Institutions which Participated in the Study...... 67 Process of Developing the Instrument...... 71 Validity and Reliability of Instrument...... 71 Questionnaire Form at...... 72 Open-ended Section...... 73 Administering the Instrument...... 74 Methods of Data Analysis...... 74
4. Data Analysis...... 76
Introduction...... 76
IX Table of Contents (continued)
Educational Institutions Involved in the Study...... 77 Students’ Gender...... 78 Students’ Tribal Affiliation...... 79 Students’ Age Groupings...... 80 Students’ Years of Work Experience...... 81 Students’ Types of Work Experience...... 82 Negative Questionnaire Item s...... 84
Research Question 1 ; What is the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education?...... 85 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question! : What is the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education...... 86 Gender and Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education...... 89 Tribal Affiliation and Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education...... 89 Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education and Age Groupings...... 90 Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Years of Work Experience...... 91 Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Types of Work Experience...... 92 Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient 93 Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education And Other Variables...... 94 Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education...... 95
Research Question 2: What is the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education?...... 96 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 2; What is the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education?...... 97 Gender and Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education...... 102 Tribe and the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education...... 102 Age Groupings and the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education...... 103 Table o f Contents (continued)
Years of Work Experience and Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education...... 104 Types of Work Experience and Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education...... 105 Perceived Economic Value and Other Variables...... 106 Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education...... 107
Research Question 3 ; What are the Research Participants Attitudes Towzird Vocational Education Following curriculum Vocationalization?...... 108 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 3 ; What are the Research Participants Attitudes Toward Vocational Educational Following Curriculum Vocationalization?...... 109 Questionnaire Items for Research Question 3 (continued).... 113 Gender and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education...... 114 Tribal AfiSliation and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education...... 115 Age Grouping and Attitudes Toward Vocational. Education...... 115 Years of Work Experience and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education...... 116 Types of Work Experience and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education...... 117 Attitudes Toward Vocational Education and Other Variables...... 118 Analysis of Variance (AND VA) And Attitudes Toward Vocational Education...... 119
Research Question 4: What is the Relationship between the Vocationlization o f the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Prospect for Self-employment?...... 120 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 4;What is the Relationship Between Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Prospect for self-employment...... 122 Gender and the Perceived Prospect for self-employment 124 Tribe and Students’ Perceived Prospect for self-employment...... 124 Age Grouping and Perceived Prospect for Self-employment...... 125
xi Table o f Contents (continued)
Years of Work Experience and Perceived Prospect for Self-employment...... 126 Types of Work Experience and Perceived Prospect for Self-employment...... 127 Perceived Prospect for Self-employment and Other Variables...... 128 Analysis of Variance and Students’ Perceived Self-employment Prospect...... 129
Research Question 5; What is the Relationship Between the Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived decrease in Urban Migration?...... 130 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration...... 131 Gender and Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban M igration...... 134 Tribes and Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration ...... 134 Age and Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration...... 135 Students’ Years of Work Experience and the Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration...... 136 Types of Work Experience and Perceived Decrease in Urban migration...... 137 Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration and Other Variables...... 138 Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration...... 139
Research Question 6: What is the Relationship Between the Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education?...... 140 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Research Question 6: What is the Relationship Between Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education?...... 141 Gender and Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education...... 144
xn Table o f Contents (continued)
Tribe and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education...... 144 Age and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education...... 145 Years of Work Experience and Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education...... 146 Types of Work Experience and Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education...... 147 Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education and Other Variables...... 148 Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education...... 149
Research Question?: What is the Perceived quality of the Academic Courses offered in the Nigerian Vocationalized Secondary School Curriculum?...... ISO Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 7: What is the perceived Quality of the Academic Courses offered in the Nigerian Vocationalized Secondary School Education...... 151 Gender and the Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses ...... 154 Tribal Affiliation and the Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses...... 154 Perceived Quality of Academic Courses and Age Groupings...... 155 Years of Work Experience and the Perceived Quality of Academic Courses...... 156 Perceived Quality of Academic Courses and Types of Work Experience...... 157 Perceived Quality of Academic Courses and Other Variables...... 158 Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Quality of Academic Courses...... 159
Data Analysis for the Open-ended Section...... 160
Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations...... 164
Summary of the Study Procedures...... 164 Summary and Conclusion to Research Question...... 1 168 Summary and Conclusion to Research Question...... 2 170
xiii Table o f Contents (continued)
Summary and Conclusion to Research Question...... 3 173 Summary and Conclusion to Research Question...... 4 175 Summary and Conclusion to Research Question...... 5 177 Summary and Conclusion to Research Question...... 6 179 Summary and Conclusion to Research Question...... 7 182 Summary and Conclusion of the Open-ended Section...... 185 Recommendations...... 186
Recommendations for Further Study...... 188
APPENDICES
A Map of Nigeria Showing Geographical locations of of UNN, ABU and Y C T...... 190 B Copy Letter to the Deans of Education of the Educational Institutions which participated in the Study .... 192 C Copy Letter to the Students who participated in the Study...... 194 D Copy Letter to the Research Representative...... 196 E List of Panel of Experts...... 198 F Copy of the Questionnaire Instrument...... 200
REFERENCES...... 209
XIV LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Curriculum for Senior Secondary School Students...... 15
2. Course Description for M. Ed. Degree Program in Vocational-Technical Education...... 19
3. Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Students in each Educational Institution...... 78
4. Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Gender...... 79
5. Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Tribes...... 80
6. Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Students’ Grouped A ge...... 81
7. Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Students’ Grouped Years of Work Experience...... 82
8. Frequency Table Showing Students’ Types of Work Experience...... 83
9. Interpretation of Mean Score R ating...... 83
10. Interpretation of the Mean Scores for Negative Questionnaire Item s...... 85
11. Mean Rating and Standard Deviation of Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education by Educational Institution (Geographical Location)...... 86
12 Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used In Assessing Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education...... 88
13 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By G ender...... 89
XV List of Tables (continued)
14 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Tribal Affiliation...... 90
15 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Age Grouping...... 91
16 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Years of Work Experience...... 92
17 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of the Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Types of Work Experience...... 93
18 Interpretation of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient...... 94
19 Correlation Between the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education and Other Variables...... 95
20 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)...... 96
21 Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used In Assessing Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education...... 99
22 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Gender...... 102
23 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education by Tribal Affiliation...... 103
24 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Age Groupings...... 104
XVI List o f Tables (continued)
25 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Years of Work Experience...... 105
26 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Types o f Work Experience...... 106
27 Correlation Between Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education and Other Variables...... 107
28 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Attitudes Toward Vocational Education By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)...... 108
29 Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used in Assessing Students’ Attitude Toward Vocational Education...... 110
30 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitudes Toward Vocational Education By Gender...... 114
31 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Tribal Affiliation...... 115
32 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Age Groupings...... 116
33 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Years of Work Experience...... 117
34 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Types of Work Experience...... 118 35 Correlation Between Attitudes Toward Vocational Education and Other Variables...... 119 36 Analysis of Variance of Attitude Toward Vocational Education Based on Educational Institution...... 120 37 Analysis of Variance of Attitude Toward Vocational Education Based on Gender...... 120
XVII List o f Tables (continued)
38 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment by Educational Institution (Geographical Location)...... 121
39 Mean Rating and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment following Curriculum Vocationalization...... 123
40 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for self-employment...... 124
41 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment by Tribal Affiliation...... 125
42 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment By Age G roup 126
43 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Perceived Prospect for Self-employment By Years of Work experience...... 127
44 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment by Types of Work Experience...... 128
45 Correlation Between Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment and Other Variables...... 129
46 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Educational Institution (Geographical Location...... 130
47 Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used in Assessing Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration Following the Vocationalization of Secondary School Curriculum ...... 132
48 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration byGender ...... 134
•W ill List o f Tables (continued)
49 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Tribe...... 135
50 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Age Grouping 136
51 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Years of Work Experience...... 137
52 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Types of Work Experience...... 138
53 Correlation Between the Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration and Other Variables...... 139
54 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)...... 140
55 Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used in Assessing the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education...... 142
56 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education by Gender...... 144
57 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By T ribe...... 145
58 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Age Groupings...... 146
59 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Years of Work Experience...... 147
XIX List o f Tables (continued)
60 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Types of Work Experience...... 148
61 Correlation Between the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education and Other Variables...... 149
62 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of Academic Courses in the Vocationalized Curriculum By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)...... 150
63 Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used in Assessing Students’ Perceived Quality of Academic Curriculum in the Vocationalized Secondary School System 152
64 Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Quality of the Academic Curriculum in the Vocationalized Curriculum By Gender...... 154
65 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses By Tribe...... 155
66 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses By Age Groupings...... 156
67 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses in the Vocationalized Curriculum By Years of Work Experience 157
68 Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses By Types of Work Experience...... 158
69 Correlation Between the Perceived Quality of Academic Courses and Other Variables...... 159
70 Students’ Remarks on Curriculum Vocationalization Based on Theme Interpretations of the Open-ended Section...... 163
XX CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Education in Pre-colonial Nigeria
Many Afncan educational reformers and policy makers believed that the economic and social problems facing most African countries such as low economic productivity, social deprivation, and inappropriate educational structure were traceable to the system of education inherited from their colonial past. In pre colonial Africa, transmission of cultural heritage from the old to the young was informal; children learned to acquire information, knowledge, skills, and attitudes through observation, demonstration, and participation. They watched and learned from parents and significant others. Practical skills such as woodworking and blacksmithing were acquired through apprenticeship and on-the-job training.
During the colonial era, formal education was introduced in most African countries through the establishment of schools. To most Africans, this was viewed as separating work and educational knowledge. Fafunwa (1974) claimed that this implied divorcing learning from daily routine activities. Such education was based on the European model of knowledge absorption and assimilation (rote memorization) of information which might or might not be understood. Education was structured to meet the demands of the colonial population who sought individuals with low level skills such as clerks, drivers, and messengers.
British Pattern of Colonization
The British created administrative offices and commercial houses in a few scattered places throughout Nigeria and in other colonized African countries for proper coordination of colonial activities. These places, today, have developed into urban centers. As a result of the British pattern of development, certain rural parts of Nigeria were deprived of the basic necessities of life such as electricity. In
Africa, rural areas were the countryside where people lived and performed subsistence level agricultural farm work; these areas were starved of the basic social needs and amenities, resulting in rural/urban separation. Today, some parts of the same social system behave as a “capitalist system” while other parts perpetuate the “features of the previously existing system known as the traditional way of life” (Sjoberg, 1965).
Urbanization meant “modem development, it also entails the process of social and economic transformation” (Bath, 1966). Bath also maintained that urban areas represented “centers for the elite, commerce, craftsmen and traders.”
Therefore, “urban centers reduce rural areas to economic marginality”. As a result, “the rural population becomes a migratory population” (Learner, 1958).
According to Learner, “urbanization improves levels of education, and urban milieu combats illiteracy”. Educational scholars needed to structure the content of education to suit all aspects and levels o f the economy and labor market. They
2 were also required to address other related issues such as the problem of the
rural/urban divide, the kind of curriculum most suitable for both areas, and
bridging the gap between rural and urban areas.
Criticisms of British Colonial Education
This researcher believed that British colonial administrators introduced
convenience education. Convenience education was described as education
designed primarily for a narrow and specific purpose. In the case of Nigeria and
other Afiican states, British colonizers provided education for African youth so
that they could obey instructions and follow directions in English to perform low
level jobs. Colonial education was abstract and theoretical (Nduka, 1964). The
curriculum was drawn fi"om foreign cultures, and had little relevance to local
industry and economy. Local crafts and technologies were not incorporated into the curriculum. Like any other African country which had experienced colonization, the Nigerian educational system was structured without close
examination of the economy. The British created an educational system for Africa
without assessing the needs and the demands of Afiican economies. Educational
scholars in Africa argued that the colonial education in Nigeria was designed to produce a cash crop industry which benefited the British government. The existing
Afiican infrastructures and the maintenance requirements were not taken into consideration. In most African states, Nigeria included, there were shortages of middle level technicians who were required to carry out repair work. Roads and bridges were built at great expense by foreign engineers and contractors, but there were limited maintenance crews to carry out repair work caused by general wear and tear. Due to lack of maintenance and repair, roads and bridges collapsed quickly, and replacement was costly. Many young Nigerians migrated to urban centers in search of work but lacked the skills industries demanded. This migration of workers had caused a shortage of young people to work on farms or in small local craft businesses. Colonial policy makers did not encourage self-employment, and did not provide educational offerings which would foster the development and modernization of local crafts and technologies.
Before the arrival of the Europeans, cloth weaving, basket weaving, agriculture, farm labor exchange services, blacksmithing, local technology manufacturing industries, wine and soap making industries, herbal healing clinics, maternity homes, psychic businesses, and counseling services flourished in most
Afiican countries including Nigeria. People earned their living with dignity and pride of accomplishment. Colonial education administrators did not make traditional vocational skills part of the curriculum. Had they done so, they would have provided cultural heritage, and at the same time sustained both the rural and the urban economies. For example, Nigeria had excellent soap industries. Yet, consumers preferred to buy foreign made soap because foreign soap had a better fragrance, Nigerian made soap could be improved to please modem taste and meet
4 demand. Critics of colonial education maintained that the type of education
introduced by the British colonizers was primarily intended to train loyal, humble,
and passive manpower. (Nduka, 1964). Education for many Nigerians was seen as
a rote memorization of disjointed information which had little or no bearing to the
Nigerian economy or culture (Okojie, 1986).
Elitist Education
Elitist education was biased toward an academic curriculum and grammar
schools. Grammar schools education provided “privileged status” in the
educational system, and derives its ethos and approaches from a British model.
Elitist education emphasized academic courses, and few if any vocational courses.
Skilbeck (1976) captured succinctly how elitist education was perceived.
...to confer leadership rights the nineteenth century Oxford Professor of Greek, Benjamin Jowett believes that the classics he taught are means of preparing leaders for the home and colonial civil services, also classics has been associated with firm discipline, high attainment in examination, continuity between past and present, the cohesiveness...predefined views about what is fitting to do, feel, think, and with standard of performance in all spheres. Education may be an assimilative process, values and standard, initiation into clearly articulated modes of thought and behavior (pp. 34 and 26).
Although Skilbeck (1976) described the situation at Oxford, it was not far removed from the education system in colonial and immediate post-colonial
Nigeria. Colonial education with its predefined goals, values and attitudes had left lasting damage in Nigeria. Education was viewed as instrumentalist since the objective was to enhance the work of colonial empire. As argued by Okojie
(1986, p. 100), “in the absence of mass education system, the British colonial administrators rewarded the few who obtained their education with glittering prizes.” Mass education was avoided by imposing school fees, strict selection procedures and few schools at all levels, the system was designed to guarantee economic, and social prosperity to those few who made it through the system.
A colonial education meant employment in the colonial administration or professional job, both of which meant prestige and status. A group of educated indigenous elite began to emerge, and expanded as new generations of children were educated in the same way. Children were expected to provide financial support for their parents; parents viewed their children’s education as a type o f insurance. The popular belief was that a good academic education was a guarantee for a good job and a good income.
Devaluing Vocational Training
Since colonial days, apprenticeship, and vocational training became the education for the children of the poor. The pupils in these apprenticeship training centers were to be “makers” and not “thinkers,” so they were taught skills such as brick-laying, carpentry, dress making, and auto mechanics. The job opportunities for these students were dependent on the country’s economic development. Most of the students completing apprenticeship made their way into the urban centers in
6 search of work. There was little opportunity for self-employment and for vocational education graduates (with the possible exception of auto mechanics).
Even where work was found, the economic reward was low. By contrast, academic knowledge continued to be highly rewarded both in terms of wages and status. This was exemplified by the Udoji Report (1972) on salary up-grading which favored civil servants with better academic achievement over skilled blue- collar workers with certificates from trade centers.
Elitist education became a self-fulfilling prophecy; more people preferred a high rewarding educational system and avoided that which carried low status with minimal economic value. This was inevitable in a country like Nigeria which pursued dual educational systems of elite education and vocational training. The failure to train pupils to think and to make things was a result of imitating colonial values. Foster (1977) had shown that:
access to most of the highly paid occupations was, therefore achieved through academic-type institutions as opposed to vocational education. The financial reward and the employment opportunities for technical trained individuals were never commensurate with the opportunities in clerical field (p.359).
The Structure of Education in Nigeria prior to Vocationalization
During the colonial era and immediate post-colonial period, primary education took eight years to complete. The curriculum was primarily made up of academic subjects such as mathematics, English language, geography, history, natural studies, hygiene, farming and hand work. In mathematics lessons, the
7 children were taught addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and elementary algebra. English language was the medium of instruction, and occupied a prominent position in the school curriculum. English textbooks reflected foreign ideals and lifestyles. Geography lessons focused on the identification of world countries, cities, capitals, mountains, seas, oceans, rivers, vegetation, climates, export and import products. Unfortunately, African geography including Nigerian geography received minimal attention in the curriculum. The history lessons emphasized British Empire conquest and British influence in the world. Nigerian and African history lessons were systematically absent in the curriculum.
Consequently, the school children were denied of the opportunity to leam about their history and identity.
In natural studies, the pupils were taught physical and life science, elementary body parts and their function, various plants, flowers, trees, animals, and insects. In hygiene lessons, the students learned all about cleanliness and its implications to health. Farming studies involved farm projects, (cultivation of crops like yam, melon, pepper, groundnut and vegetables). Farming took place in the rural schools where farm lands were available. Hand work included hand crafts such as sewing and knitting for girls, and wood carving and basket making for boys.
The pattern of secondary school education followed the same theoretical format as primary education with similar disregard for the culture of the children being educated. The curriculum consisted o f mathematics, English language,
8 physics, biology, chemistry, geography, history, agriculture, commerce, economics
and British constitution. After Nigerian independence, social studies was added to
primary school curriculum to teach pupils about their culture and good citizenship.
Studies in government replaced British constitution (at secondary school level) to teach students about the Nigerian political system. In spite o f these superficial
changes, the school curriculum continued to reflect foreign subject matter, and
ideals which had little or no relevance to the students’ culture or frame of reference. Instruction was by the lecture method, and instructional materials were basically textbooks written in Britain for British children.
For Nigerian students, education became mere memorization of foreign way of life. Vocational education was not included in the curriculum since it was not regarded as a valuable part of education. This researcher observed that youth unemployment was widespread in the 1970s as school dropouts roamed the urban cities in search of jobs,. Schools were blamed for not producing secondary school graduates with employability skills. It was also recognized that not all the students in the secondary school system would be willing or had the means to receive a
college education. For such students, there was nothing in the curriculum to
stimulate their interest. There was also no exit route for students to leave school in order to leam some trade before completing the full school cycle. Vocational training was seen as a means of closing the loopholes found in the educational system. Unfortunately, students and parents alike had developed a dislike for Nigerian vocational training because they did not perceive it as a productive education.
Attitudes Toward Vocational Subjects
Evans and Schimmei (1970) reported that little was found in the literature regarding attitudes toward vocational training. These researchers believed that if students had positive attitudes toward vocational education courses, such students would be well motivated to leam those courses. Attitude was defined as
“individual stable predisposition in the form of feelings or belief’ (Graham, 1994, p. 10). Graham also stated that attitudes were related to “expectations and motivation” and that attitudes could be altered to reflect the outcomes of expectations, and motivation (p.l 1).
As used in this context, “expectations are seen as the anticipated consequence of past experience based on one’s need or desire that includes energy and direction for goal oriented behavior” (Pettijohn, 1986, p. 183). Therefore, discovering the attitudes of Nigerian students toward vocational training provided data on how the students perceived vocational education following vocationalization. Castro (1988) emphasized the importance of value and attitude in teaching, and learning activities: “...unless schools convince students of the importance of what they teach, their chances o f success are very slim” (p. 197).
The implication of Castro’s statement was that schools should convince the students of the importance of learning materials as a way of encouraging them to develop positive attitudes toward the study o f such learning materials.
10 This researcher believed that Castro’s logic applied to the learning o f vocational courses. Castro argued that schools seemed to “mirror middle and higher class’ distaste for occupations in which the hand is busier than the head” (p.
199). Dislike for vocational training was strong in the former British colonies.
Even in the United States, vocational education had image problem “...vocational education was bom in America with a birth defect, prestige deficiency” (Hull and
Parnell, 1991, p. 4). The present study explored whether there was a relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum and students developing positive attitudes toward vocational training
The Nigerian 6-3-3-4 Education System
When Nigeria became independent in October, 1960, the educational system was changed by educators and policy makers. Access to education was expanded at the elementary school level, and fees were abolished at this level by the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1977 (Nigerian National
Policy on Education, 1977), but the curriculum still reflected abstract materials unrelated to Nigerian culture. By the early 1980s, Nigeria introduced a more extensive educational reform, the 6-3-3-4 system of education was bom (Nigerian
National Policy on Education, 1981). The 6-3-3-4 system referred to 6 years in elementary school, 3 years in a junior secondary school, 3 years in a senior secondary school, and 4 years in a university. One of the major changes was that
II secondary schools all over the country must include at least two of the three
Nigerian major languages; Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba in the curriculum.
The curriculum was expanded to incorporate vocational training programs.
At junior secondary school level, the curriculum now was made up of social
studies, integrated science, English language, mathematics, introductory technology, business studies, home economics, creative arts, physical and health education, religious instruction, and two Nigerian major languages (Nigerian
National Policy on Education, 1981).
In social studies, students learned about their culture and citizenship. In integrated science, the students were taught various introductory science courses.
In this case, teachers drew from science based subjects like chemistry, biology, and physics. The idea underlying integrated science was that it would enable the students to understand the scientific foundation and logic of their vocational career. If on the other hand, they (students) chose to proceed to senior secondary school, such integrated science would be seen as introductory course for the more advance science taught at the senior secondary school level. Mathematics and
English language dominated the school curriculum, and were regarded as an important part of the general academic education. In introductory technology, the students were exposed to various vocational training subjects such as auto mechanics, electronics, woodwork, agriculture, metal work, local crafts, brick laying, and plumbing. Business courses were designed to teach students about the business world. The home economics component was made up of food and
12 nutrition, cookery, fabric design and dress making. Creative arts included
carpentry and other practical general arts. Physical and health education included
games, sports, and fitness. Religious instruction included lessons in spiritual well
being and moral codes.
The rationale behind this junior secondary school program was to give
students who might not be prepared to attend senior secondary school the
opportunity to terminate their formal studies at a convenient point and receive a
diploma. It was recognized that this junior secondary school program might not
fully provide students with the skills required for immediate employment, since it
was too general, merely teaching the fundamentals and the introductory segments
of various vocations represented in the program. Also, it was acknowledged that junior secondary school graduates would need additional training in the form of
apprenticeship to enable them practice their chosen vocation.
Within the Nigerian vocationalized secondary school system, it was
assumed that upon the completion of secondary school education, school leavers
would have acquired enough general education to function in the society. The
present study examined how the participants perceived such assumption.
Vocationalization of secondary school curriculum was a two tier education system
which consisted of vocational training on the one hand, and general academic
courses on the other hand.
13 Obanya (1995) had provided a summary of the junior secondary school
curriculum as indicated below;
Core Subjects
Mathematics English language 2 Nigerian languages Integrated science Creative arts Practical agriculture Religious instruction Physical and health education
Pre-Vocational Subjects
Physical and health education Introductory technology Local crafts Home economics Business studies
Pre-Vocational Elective
Arabic French
The senior secondary school students were regarded as the college
(university) bound, those who chose to further their educational career, and who
had the financial resources to do so. Such students took academic courses which
included biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, English language, economics,
commerce, government, history, and geography. The curriculum also included technical and vocational subjects, Obanya (1995, p.330) identified them as follows:
14 Vocational Courses Technical Courses
Commercial Technology Typing Agriculture Accounting/Bookkeeping Woodwork Catering Metalwork Tailoring Technical Drawing Dressmaking Institutional Housing Laundry and dry-cleaning Hairdressing and beauty care Shoe-making and repair Fishing
Table 1: Curriculum for Senior Secondary School Students
Obanya indicated that the list of courses reflected the range of occupation engaged in by the Nigerian society. The aim of these courses was employment driven.
Nwana (1992) argued that vocationalizing secondary school curriculum was "... to make school leavers immediately employable.”
The introduction of 6-3-3-4 system was in response to the prior restrictive curriculum structure and lack of exit route for those students wanting to leave the educational system at any time. Also, the inclusion of vocational subjects into the mainstream secondary school curriculum was partly to upgrade the status of vocational subjects, and partly to give students options for career choice. It was equally thought that it would give secondary school students greater opportunities for employment both in rural and urban areas as well as provide them with the general academic knowledge needed for better decision making in adulthood.
15 The assumption here was that teaching academic courses side by side with vocational subjects represented a better mix, and tended to create a balanced education structure. It was thought that general knowledge courses enabled secondary school students acquire academic education with which to develop rational thinking and make informed decisions as well as acquire basic scientific concepts, while the vocational courses provided them with the necessary workplace skills. Encouraging secondary school students develop insight for self- employment was also part of the objectives of the vocationalized curriculum. In essence, it was expected that teaching students entrepreneurial skills enabled them acquire the knowledge and skills to work by themselves without supervision. The purpose of this study was to determine how M.Ed. degree students and High
National Diploma (HND) students perceived the relevance of vocationalized secondary school curriculum toward employment prospects in both urban and rural areas, and their attitudes toward vocational training. Upon the completion of the program, the M.Ed. students were expected to work in the secondary school system while the HND graduates most likely would seek employment in business and industries or choose to work on their own business.
Vocational Education as a Panacea for Educational Ills
Like Nigeria, Tanzania experienced the same pattern of education. Using the Arusha Declaration (January, 26 to January, 29 1967), Nyerere expressed his disenchantment with colonial education when he outlined the ideological base of
16 Tanzanian socialism. Education for self-reliance was the instrument to be used in transforming Tanzanian into a socialist community where individuals were seen and valued as equals, and the dignity of manual labor respected. Nyerere reiterated that all classes of Tanzanians were expected to participate in the farm projects in order to achieve self-sufi5ciency.
Vocational education was seen as a tool to be used in “dismantling the hierarchical pyramid of the colonial education system which emphasized individualism and the elitist concept of academic school” (Saunders and VuUiamy,
1983, p. 1). Crubb (1985) maintained that the purpose of vocational education in
Tanzania was to combat unemployment, to reduce urban migration, and to encourage positive attitude toward vocational education programs.
Claims Made for Vocational Education Programs
Many educational researchers claimed that vocational education programs did improve economic benefits. Squire (1981) argued that work-oriented
“curriculum programs have led to a better welding of school skills and requirement of the labor market” (p. 14). Also Wanashinghe (1982) acknowledged that the vocational curriculum was better suited for employment. However, studies such as
Foster (1977), Clerk (1983), Lillis and Hogan (1983), as well as Zachariah and
Hoffman (1984) had shown that vocational education programs had not produced the social and economic prosperity expected of the programs. These studies revealed that research findings on vocational education tended to be inconclusive.
17 The present researcher felt that the economic and social benefits of vocational education programs in Nigeria had not been well researched. Since the introduction of 6-3-3-4 education system, no opportunity had been given to master’s degree and High National Diploma (HND) students to assess the perceived economic benefits of the programs,. The present study represented such an opportunity. In Nigeria, master’s degree programs in vocational-technical education were designed to prepare graduate students to teach in the Nigerian secondary school system. They were being trained to perform administrative and planning functions, as well as to provide occupational counseling for the 3-3
(junior and senior secondary school) students. The HND program was designed to prepare students to work in businesses and industries. Therefore, the attitude and perception of the students participating in the study were important in assessing the perceived economic merits of vocational educational programs in Nigeria.
Description of Master’s Degree (M.Ed.) Program in Vocational-Technical Education
Typically, the M.Ed. degree program in vocational-technical education in
Nigerian universities took a minimum of twelve months to complete for full-time students. The courses for this program were listed on page 19. and were broken into two semesters for full-time students, and a minimum of three semesters for part-time students. The following courses, taken from the graduate bulletin of the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, comprised the M.Ed. program.
18 First Semester Course No. No of Credits
Theories in vocational-technical education. VTE 501 2
Seminar in Vocational education VTE 502 2
Historical techniques of investigation in vocational-technical education VTE 503 2
Policy issues in vocational-technical education VTE 504 2
Administration and supervision of vocational-technical education VTE 505 2
Vocametrics for vocational-technical decisions VTE 506 2
Occupational guidance VTE 508 2
Second Semester
Statistical methods for vocational- technical decisions VTE 507 2
Curriculum development in vocational- technical education. VTE 510 2
Educational faculties planning and wastage management. VTE 513 2
Evaluation in vocational-technical education. VTE 515 2
Research project in vocational-technical education. VTE 600 6
Table 2: Course Description for M. Ed. Degree program in Vocational-Technical Education
19 Wastage management referred to the strategies and techniques for minimizing waste during harvest, for instant, how spoilage was to be avoided from oranges, mangoes, cashews, and oil bean which when over ripe fall on the ground and rot.
The HND program at Yaba College of Technology (YCT) was designed in such a way as to provide students with the knowledge and skills to work in businesses and industries located in urban and rural areas. Yaba College of
Technology was one of the educational institutions selected to take part in the study. The focus of Yaba College of Technology (YCT) curriculum was to structure the HND learning materials to reflect the skills required in most vocational occupations in Nigeria as Obanya, (1995) explained above.
Since education in Nigeria was centrally controlled, course offerings for similar programs were comparable in most Nigerian universities. Two universities were selected for this study: University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and Ahmadu
Bello University (ABU), Zaria. These universities were financed by the federal government. The researcher discussed the choice for these universities and Yaba
College of Technology (YCT), Yaba, Lagos more fully in Chapter III of this paper.
The Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to assess students’ attitudes toward vocational training, and to determine how they perceived the relevance of vocational education, their perception of the economic benefits of vocational
2 0 training programs following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum in Nigeria. Nigerian vocational education programs referred to the junior and senior secondary school (3-3) curriculum model. In the context of this study, relevance meant assessing how “curriculum reflects the training needs of the job market” (International Workshop on Curriculum Development in Technical and Vocational Education Final Report, 1993,p. 19). The study provided findings regarding the master’s degree studems’ and HND students; attitudes toward vocational education programs in Nigeria, thereby expanding literature on
Nigerian vocational education. The study was equally important because it represented a way of assessing the students’ confidence in vocational training.
Therefore, the participants’ views about the junior and senior secondary school vocationalized education programs would serve as informative guide to educational policy makers. The study also generated findings to show whether tribal affiliation and languages in Nigeria, and actual geographical locations of the students were related to their perceived economic values of vocational training.
This study equally provided findings to show whether gender and age were related to the students’ perceptions of the economic benefits of vocational education programs offered in the Nigerian secondary school system.
The Need for the Study
Balogh (1960) maintained that for the prosperity of the rural economy, education must be “technical, vocational and democratic skill application; (p. 262).
21 Vocational education was regarded as an antidote to the educational problems
facing developing countries (Mingat and Tan, 1988). These authors maintained
that for secondary schools to provide high school graduates with the various skills
required in a given economy, a diversified school curriculum was necessary.
According to Tan (1988) “vocational education is equally upheld as the equalizer
and a solution to urban biased elite education” (p.245). Varghese (1983) argued that vocational education training benefited developing nations because it was
seen as “skill-culture,” and it was more suited to meet local needs than academic curriculum. Varghese claimed that many developing countries had already
diversified their secondary school system.
The present study gave the research participants (M.Ed. and HND
students) an opportunity to assess the perceived economic values of vocational education programs they were expected to be involved with upon the completion of their programs. Also, since the introduction of the 3-3 education programs, there had not been a follow-up study to determine the attitudes of those who were involved in the programs, and to evaluate their perception of programs’ economic values.
Statement of the Problem
The problem of this study was to assess students’ attitudes toward vocational training, and to determine how they perceived the relevance of vocational education, their perception of the economic benefits of vocational training programs following the vocationalization of the secondary school
2 2 curriculum in Nigeria. A secondary problem was to determine the perceived
relevance of the programs as a means of achieving economic returns. Such
evaluation was based on the M.Ed. and HND students’ perceptions of the
programs. The study determine whether there was a significant relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum and economic benefits as perceived by the research participants (the M.Ed. and HND students).
As a part of the secondary problem of this study, the research subjects evaluated the quality of the academic courses offered to the Junior and senior
secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum. Such evaluation was based on the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses in the vocationalized curriculum. The study also examined whether students’ geographical locations, tribal affiliation and language, gender, age, and experience were related to students perception of the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum. The rationale for this problem was to determine if the image of vocational training programs had improved following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum from the point of view of the research subjects who in most case implemented the programs in Nigeria. It would advance the course of vocational education programs in Nigeria to discover that those involved in the programs perceived the programs favorably and build on such perception for further improvement. The following research questions guided the study.
1. What is the perceived relevance of vocational education?
2. What is the perceived economic value of vocational education?
23 3. What are the research participants attitudes toward vocational
education following curriculum vocationalization?
4 What is the relationship between vocationalization of the secondary
school curriculum and the perceived prospects for self-employment?
5. What is the relationship between the vocationalization of the
secondary school curriculum and the perceived decrease in urban
migration?
6. What is the relationship between the vocationlization of the secondary
school curriculum and the perceived decrease in the desire for
university education?
7. What is the perceived quality of the academic courses offered in the
Nigerian vocationalized secondary school education?
Delimitations
The population of the study consisted of the current full-time M.Ed. students majoring in vocational-technical education in two Nigerian universities, namely. University of Nsukka (UNN), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and final year, full-time HND students of Yaba College of Technology (YCT),
Yaba, Lagos.
1. The data generated were limited to the statements in the questionnaire.
2. The data were collected during the months of May and June, 1997.
3. A representative fi"om Nigeria collected data from the two universities
24 and from Yaba College of Technology as directed by the researcher.
4. The students and the universities as well as Yaba College of Technology
(YCT) who participated in the study, did so voluntarily.
Limitations
The findings of the study were limited by the following factors;
1. The findings of the study can only be generalized to this unique population.
2. The findings were limited in terms of the honesty and thoroughness of the
respondents in completing the questionnaire.
3. The participants in the study were from different educational institutions,
located in different parts of Nigeria. Therefore, the participants completed
the questionnaire at different times, on different days, in different weeks, and in
different months.
4. The researcher’s representative administered the questionnaire, acting on oral
and written instructions of the researcher.
5. The findings were limited to the validity of the questionnaire.
25 Definition of Terms
Academic Education - “Relating to studies that are liberal or classic rather than vocational or technical” (The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language).
Academic General Education - “Proficient in applying writing skills, proficiency in arithmetic, basic algebra, geometry, and basic economic principles...and understanding of scientific concepts and processes” (Wichowski and Walker
(1992).
Attitude - “State of mind or feeling, disposition” (The American Heritage
Dictionary of The English Language)
Colonial education - An education system introduced in Nigeria during the colonial period by the British colonial administration (as defined by the researcher).
Convenience Education - Humble and subservient education received by the
Afncans during colonization primarily to aid the work of colonial empire by providing the colonial over-lords with passive low level workers (as defined by the present researcher).
Curriculum - “All the courses of study offered by an educational institution” (The
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).
Diversification - “Inclusion into the curriculum those practical subjects which are likely to generate among students some basic knowledge, skills and dispositions that might prepare them to think o f becoming skilled workers or to enter manual occupation; (Bacchus, 1988, p.31).
2 6 Edo tribe is the name and language of the inhabitants of the Bini people in the middle section of the western part of Nigeria.
Elitist Education - “Based on Platonic ineffectual tradition... inclined toward the more abstract discipline” (Hull and Parnell, 1991, p.9). biased toward academic curriculum and grammar school.
Entrepreneurial Skill - “An understanding of the risk taking and its consequences, ability to work without supervision and ability to efGciently manage time and materials” (Wichowski and Walker, 1992).
Expectation - “Eager anticipation” fThe American Heritage Dictionary of The
English Language).
Formal Education - Knowledge, information and skills acquired from educational institutions (defined by the present writer).
Hausa tribe is the name and language of the inhabitants of the northern part of
Nigeria.
HND - (High National Diploma), a certificate awarded to students majoring in vocational-technical subjects in Colleges of Technology and Polytechnics in
Nigeria at the completion of a four year program.
Ibo tribe is the name and language of the inhabitants of the eastern part of Nigeria.
Informal Education - Knowledge, information or skill acquired through daily routine activities (as defined by the present researcher).
Motivation - “A need or desire that includes energy and direction for goal-oriented behavior” (Pettijohn, 1986, p. 183).
27 OND - (Ordinary National Diploma), a certificate awarded to students majoring in vocational-technical subjects in Colleges of Technology and Polytechnics in
Nigeria at the completion of a two year program.
On-The-Job-Training - The act of learning to acquire skill while working at the same time (as defined by the present researcher).
Perceived economic benefits of vocationaiizatinn - the belief that vocationalization of secondary school curriculum is related to employment prospects in urban and rural areas (as defined by the present writer).
Relevance - assessing how “curriculum reflects the training needs of the job market” (International Workshop on Curriculum Development in Technical and
Vocational Education Final Report, 1991, p. 19).
Rural Areas - In most African countries, rural areas are usually countryside and the inhabitants are usually agrarian farmers. These areas are starved of social and economic development (as defined by the present researcher).
Ruralizing Vocational Education - The process of developing vocational education programs to meet rural and local demands (as defined by this writer).
Significant Others - Refers to teachers, uncles, aunts, and people with authority and wisdom to have influence on others (defined by the present writer).
Skill culture - Skill which is relevant and appropriate for cultural needs and for the needs of the recipients (as defined by the present researcher).
2 8 Urban Areas - More developed parts of Sub-Sahara Africa with modem development that entails economic and social development (as defined by the present writer).
Vocametrics - applying statistical and mathematical analysis to the study of vocational education (as defined by the researcher).
Vocationalized curriculum - A course of study that is made up of both academic and vocational subjects.
Vocational Education - Orientation of curriculum materials to practical, skill subjects (Crubb, 1985).
Vocational-Technical Education - Orientation of curriculum materials toward the acquisition of practical skill subjects and technological application (as defined by the present researcher).
Vocationalization - “Orientation of education around the preparation for labor market (Crubb, 1985, 1985, p. 526).
Yoruba tribe is the name and language of the inhabitants of the western part of
Nigeria.
29 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
This literature review provided various views and opinions about education and work, and the historical and philosophical justifications for vocationalization.
Various perceptions of vocational education were discussed. Research findings related to vocational education, and African vocational education, and especially
Nigerian vocational-technical educational were considered. Various models of vocational programs were presented . Attitude toward vocational education with a focus as to how it provided motivation for learning was also discussed.
In a research publication reported by Dennis (1950), vocational education was “only those forms of education or training absolutely essential for the performance of specialized occupational skills” (p.3). According to Dennis
(1950), this interpretation had been criticized as narrow. The present researcher shared Dennis’ view because such interpretation failed to capture the comprehensiveness of what vocational educators were trying to achieve. The focus was to teach vocational education students the theoretical knowledge that would enable them to examine and understand the logic and techniques of their
30 occupational skills. In a technically oriented subject, the students were taught the scientific foundation that helped them understand the principles and rationale for technological applications
Dennis commented that originally vocational education was “an inescapable part of education for total life-pattem.. (p. 3). His paper maintained that work experience bonded with cultural education. Such bonds were broken by the monastic and scholarly ideals of the European Middle Ages which sought separation between general education and physical activities (Dennis, 1950).
Therefore, it was argued that before the European Middle Ages, education and work experiences were interwoven in a complimentary manner. Education and work were considered processes of preparing a child for intellectual maturity, emotional stability, physical, and economic activities (Dennis, 1950).
Various Interpretations of Education and Work
Vocational education was not a new concept. Every society had some form of vocational education, regardless of levels of social, economic, or technological development. Diflferent societies viewed vocational education from différent perspectives, possibly due to differences in cultural orientations.
Marklund (1988) observed that the term vocational education seemed ambiguous, explaining that vocational education and vocational training had often been considered incompatible. He explained, “education was an escape route away from physical work, i.e. the very thing which vocation or trade stands for”
31 (p. 173). The Greek and the Latin words for school denote “freedom from
physical labor, and cultivation of intellectual pursuits.” The present researcher
observed, this definition best reflected the way most Afncan states nurtured the
notion of education, which in part made it difficult for vocational education to be
recognized and accepted as a proper form of education.
The British viewed the occupation of an architect or a history professor as
a profession and not as a vocation, perhaps because such occupations were
attained following some academic achievement. However, in France, there was
little distinction between profession and vocation, regardless o f level of the
education required for a particular occupation. A shoe repairer might describe
his/her vocation as a profession just like a lawyer (Marklund, 1988).
For the most part, vocational education was equated with acquiring skills
for the job market. Miller (1995) pointed out that vocational education was one of
the ways adopted by society to train individuals to become productive members of
society. Evans and Herr (1978) argued that the common perception o f vocational
education was to see it as a tool for meeting manpower needs, and that when such
needs were met, vocational education “lies dormant” (p. 173). The authors further
explained that school tended to ignore the needs of people who needed vocational
education to realize their full potentials. Also, the authors emphasized that the
importance of vocational education was only seen when business and industry complained of the incompetence of high school graduates in meeting workplace
32 demands, otherwise, schools continued their emphasis on academic education, especially mathematics and English language.
Many high school students in the United States were required to pass proficiency tests before they could graduate firom high school. The success of the school was being measured by the number of students who graduated, those who passed the proficiency tests. The mathematics and English language components of these tests received greater emphasis. In the United States, enrollment in vocational courses was optional. In Britain, secondary school success was measured by the number of students who graduated from high school with grades good enough to enable them pursue college or university education.
In Nigeria, secondary schools’ success was determined by the number of students who passed the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in grades A-
C. WAEC glamorized academic subjects. For a student to be able to attend a four-year college or university, he or she must pass with at least a “C” grade in
English language. For science related careers, mathematics was compulsory.
Optional enrollment for vocational training courses did not compete successfully with the mandatory registration requirements of the academic courses.
Vocational education did not compete successfully with academic education in developed and developing countries.
33 Historical and Philosophical Evolution of Vocational Education
The conception of higher education during the American colonial period
was tied to religious education (Feinhart, 1979). The assumptions were that the
training of the clergy required a separate institution to teach them the classics,
while the transmission of cultural education and occupational training should be the responsibility of parents and apprentice workshops. According to Reinhart, there was less desire to train youth for careers because children typically chose to engage in the same occupation as their parents. The implication was that their parents had given them the training they needed in order to be productive and live as adults. Reinhart argued that colonial education was designed along European
“Greco-Roman curriculum and the philosophy of elitism - that is that high education is for the upper class or the gentlemen, and not for the working class”
(p. 76).
With the growth of industrialization, the pattern of apprenticeship and the training of craftsmen were significantly altered. Schools began to assume the role of parents as the latter left farm work for factory jobs. Schools established in those days taught only academic subjects. Vocational skill subjects received less attention and were taught in separate schools. The establishment of Morrill Act of
1862, known as Land Grant Act, represented an attack on elitist forms of education during the colonial period. The Act provided grants to support colleges for agriculture and mechanical arts education as well as liberal education for the offsprings of the industrial workers and farmers (Reinhart, 1979). Vocational
34 education continued to struggle for recognition, and had to compete with an academic curriculum. But for vocational training, such a struggle was doomed to fail (Gerth and Mills, 1946). The point of conflict was time, general education and vocational education competed for the available time in the secondary school curriculum. Schools had realized that they could not realistically do all that were expected of them (Clerk, 1962).
Infusion of vocational subjects into the general education curriculum was adopted as a strategy to resolve the problem of time. The goal was to create an education system that had both relevant academic and vocational contents
(Reinhart, 1979). Larson (1972) argued that one of the responsibilities of school
“is to give young people still in school the best preparation for work and life”
(p.4). However, even today, educators continued to struggle to develop an educational system that would prepare students for productive life in a highly technological society. This search had led to various vocational education programs aimed at providing students with both academic and practical skills they needed and at the same time addressed varying abilities and interests. Such programs included integration of academic and vocational curriculum
(vocationalization), collaboration between schools and industries, technology preparation (tech prep), and school-to-work transition These vocational innovations represented an ongoing effort designed to provide youth with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to face the economic and social as well as
35 technological challenges of society. More about these innovations later but first, how was vocational education perceived?
Various Perceptions of Vocational Education
Evidence fi’om the literature showed that people had recognized that vocational skills contributed immensely toward the process of economic development. This had been exemplified through various forms of vocational education programs being developed. Research findings on vocational education showed that schools had realized that for students to receive a balance education, they should be exposed to both academic education and vocational-technical training. The work of Jones and Walls (1994) supported this view. According to these authors, the principals who participated in their research study believed that academic and vocational courses should be taught as an integrated curriculum irrespective of race, gender, as well as economic and social background.
Ngalamu (1986) had documented how the government of Sudan lunched integrated development project for the purpose of ruralizing and vocationalizing primary school system. This project was known as the Integrated Rural Education
Centers (IRECs). Ngalamu claimed that this represented an effort to introduce vocational subjects into primary schools. But as Ngalamu observed, IREC project was a failure because parents’ perception of the project was negative. Parents perceived IREC project as a way of preparing students for jobs in the rural areas instead of an education that they (parents) hoped would prepare their children and
36 equip them with the skills to work in modem industries. According to Ngalamu, parents’ resistance resulted in the withdrawal of students from the project, and irregular attendance by the students. The implication of Ngalamu’s study of
Sudanese IREC demonstrated that attitude and perception were important attributes in achieving educational goals. At the beginning of IREC project, parents supported it because their perception then was that the project would prepare students for jobs in modem economic sector. But their perception changed when they realized that IREC was designed to prepare youth for rural job skills. Consequently, IREC became a failure (Ngalamu, 1986).
Examining Ngalamu’s analysis of IREC project, it would seem logical to assume that successful implementation of vocational programs was related to how such programs were perceived. By the same token, the present writer argued that assessing the perception and attitudes of those who were involved in the implementation of curriculum vocationalization in Nigeria would go a long way toward discovering how much support curriculum diversification had as well as finding out areas that needed improvement from the point of view of the research participants. The study conducted by Arrington and Price (1983) further strengthened the belief that favorable perception of a given educational program on the part of those involved in such program could be associated with how much they were satisfied with the program. The point being made by the present writer was that favorable perception could be indicative of some sort of satisfaction in the program.
37 Studies on perception of educational oflferings were important because such research works offered opportunity for the school leadership (school superintendents, school inspectors, and principals) and parents to be aware of the opinions and attitudes of those involved in the implementation of various school programs in different school districts. (Parks, 1968). Such viewpoints might be helpful in reshaping the programs to reflect closely the concerns of those who implemem vocational training as administrative personnel, and as teachers, as well as mirror the needs of the recipients This point has been further explained by
Parks (1968).
Until those who function in responsible leadership positions in vocational education are accurately informed of the wishes, attitudes, and opinions of individuals who ultimately affect the implementation and success of local vocational education programs, they are handicapped in developing and promoting effective programs (p.35)
In Tennessee, businesses and industries as well as local communities supported vocational training and maintained that new secondary vocational education graduates had better entry-level skill compared with secondary school graduates without vocational training skills (Petty et al, 1989). The authors noted that employers were pleased with the job performance of recent vocational education graduates The importance of Petty ‘ s study was that vocational education was perceived favorably and was rated higher than general education in terms of entry-level skill and job performance.
38 The review of Latino participation in vocational-technical education
programs in Massachusetts revealed setbacks in recruiting Latino students into the
programs; very few Latinos registered in the post-secondary and post-graduate vocational education programs (Jennings, (1992). Such programs were perceived
as a means of tracking color students into lower skill career. Jennings reported that community perception of vocational training was that it represented a
“dumping ground.” However, Jennings explained that various steps were being taken to improve people’s perception of vocational education, such as increasing parental and community involvement in vocational training programs as well as using vocational education to promote multicultural appreciation and harmony in multicultural educational setting (Jennings, 1992).
A study of secondary school perception of Technical and Further
Education (TAPE) suggested some negative view points. Many students who participated in TAFE saw it among other things as a means of achieving
independence and also as a place for school dropouts. (Chapman and Smallwood,
1992). Teachers’ opinion about TAFE was even more negative, they believed that
TAFE was “a second best alternative to university” (Chapman and Smallwood,
1992). The lesson to be learned from the literature discussed so far concerning
perception of vocational education, seemed to lead to the conclusion that in
situations where vocational education programs were perceived favorably, the
programs succeeded. On the other hand, in situations where such programs were
not favorably perceived, failure became inevitable.
39 Integration of Academic and Vocational Education
Integration of academic and vocational education referred to the infusion of theoretical knowledge and vocational skills in the teaching-leaming process. This was achieved when academic courses were used as a base to teach vocational
subjects or vocational subjects were used as a base to teach academic courses. In the process, the students were able to understand the theoretical foundations upon which their vocational skills were based. Schmidt (1992) perceived integration as both instructional and curricular. Such approaches were based on the collaborative efforts of academic and vocational instructors as they worked together to make teaching more meaningful to students. Integration also required the cooperation of the administrative personnel. Gardner (1961) explained in
Hull and Parnell (1991) that competency-based skills developed best through the process of integration and application of knowledge.
Evidence did exist in the literature which showed that curriculum which integrated academic, and vocational courses was much more effective than the one which advocated separation between general education and vocational training
(Beryman and Daily, 1992, Copa and Pease, 1992, Hull, 1993, and Gray, 1991).
Armistead and Vogler (1987) conducted a study which confirmed that students attached importance to general education which had relevance to occupational skills. Other studies had reported positive effects for curriculum integration
(Philip, Johnson, Bentley and Liang, 1992) Liang (1992) acknowledged that integration improved students’ respect and appreciation for the teacher. Copa and
40 Pease (1991) explained that integration helped students discover connections between concepts found in both academic and vocational subjects. Crubb and
Kraskouskas (1992) noted that curriculum integration enhanced collaboration and cooperation between colleagues, and tore down isolation usually observed between general and vocational education instructors. Equally, Staz et al (1994) agreed that integration improved the self-image of vocational training instructors.
Arguing for curriculum integration, Larson (1992) called for a balance between general education and vocational-technical education. Larson believed that
“vocational and technical education cannot result in paycheck jobs, unless proper balance is maintained among general education, education in the specialty subjects, and education in the related subjects” (p. 20). Larson claimed that the skill and knowledge needed to earn paycheck were embedded in the specialty subject areas, and he remarked that “without essential competencies acquired through the specialty subjects, the students would have nothing to sell that most prospective employers desire in a new employee” (p.21). This was a recognition that vocational education which provided specialty skills was as important as academic general education.
Models of Integration
Crubb et al (1991) identified some models of integration. The authors pointed out that one of the models called for the incorporation of more academic content in vocational courses. The authors maintained that this was the simplest form of integration. Another kind of integration required vocational and academic
41 teachers to work together to enhance academic competencies in vocational programs. In this collaborative model, academic teachers taught lessons that applied to a particular vocational program and assisted vocational teachers in developing their own academic lessons. Teachers also identified each vocational student who was weak academically and worked individually to help him/her.
Applied academic model required a teacher to make academic courses more relevant. This might require institutional changes, and cooperation from the curriculum specialists was required to modify academic courses. In this instance, vocational courses did not need to be modified. The model known as
“occupational clusters” “career path or “occupational majors” required the development of clusters within a school. A cluster was defined as a logical and coherent sequence of courses that prepared students for future careers. In this model, academic and vocational courses were broken down and clusters were used to replace them. Cooperation and collaboration were required on the part of the teachers to make this a success (Schmidt and Finch et al, 1995). Hoachlander
( 1991 ) believed that integration made the learning of “vocational courses stronger academically, and academic courses more applied and relevant to students’ needs”
(p. 2).
Eweka (1986), captured the intellectual and the creative nature of vocational-technical education as the he argued against the dichotomy between academic and vocational courses. Eweka dissected the mental structure of a
42 vocational-technical expert as he/she unraveled the intricate nature of his/her career:
for techniques to be bom, the human mind must be fully charged in the direction of imagination. The changing of courses depends on the wealth of information available as well as the transformational ability of the individual to re-arrange existing information into new structures. To be able to see hidden connections is part o f the artistic talent, and, to that extent the artist - the creative artist, whether he is a musician or an architect or a painter is a “technician. The education which enables him to employ his talent in the creation of new forms is vocational-technical education per excellence (p. 4).
Eweka believed that the dichotomy between vocational-technical training and academic education was misguided. Eweka explained that “the dichotomy was as result of false desire to assign dual structures to human existence, the mind being associated with intellectual academic pursuit while the body was equated with physical vocational activities” (p. 4). But as Eweka pointed out, the human body was comprised of integral parts that worked cohesively as a unified system to achieve a wholesome result in a coordinated manner. Society needed both academic and vocational education.
Barriers to Curriculum Integration
Lack of sufficient training and support for teachers posed serious problems
to curriculum integration (Johnson, 1991); lack of effective collaboration along
with poor staff development equally constituted another hindrance (Staz, 1994).
Another barrier mentioned in the literature was that inadequate resources rendered
curriculum integration implementation difficult (Grubb and Kraskouskas, 1992).
43 Other researchers had shown that administrative support could strengthen academic and vocational integration, lack of such support might hinder integration
(Schmidt, Finch and Faulker, 1992).
Writing on Tech prep curriculum model, Hull and Parnell (1991) explained that curriculum integration “depended to a large extent upon the willingness of everyone involved to understand the concept and cooperate with the necessary changes” (p. 116). The implication of Hull and Parnell observation was that lack of such cooperation in the face o f change was likely to be detrimental to curriculum integration. The present writer noted that changes in educational practice could be resisted if teachers felt that their job was threatened; curriculum integration was no exception. The current researcher also observed that opponents of curriculum integration believed that integrating academic and vocational courses could dilute the standard of academic general education.
Students who felt that vocational education was not as good as academic education might show reluctance toward curriculum integration, and this could present problem for integration effort.
Collaboration Between Vocational Education School and Workplace
The importance of collaboration between businesses and industries, and vocational education had received extensive publicity, especially in more advance economies. In the developing countries of Africa, such collaboration had not been adequately explored. Rogers (1996) explained the steps US businesses and
44 industries were taking to help prepare students for productive employment upon graduation. Such steps included “workplace mentoring, workers teaming up with student trainees to be their guides, and introduce them to workplace expectation.
Through job shadowing, vocational education students observed, asked questions, and learned about career opportunities from real workers at actual worksites” (p.
46). Rogers’ study involved the Florida Department of Insurance. The purpose of
Roger’s study was to expose students to various insurance activities in order to create awareness of the responsibilities of insurance companies and how they
(insurance companies) provided services required of them.
Technology Preparation (Tech Prep)
Technology preparation (tech prep) was “an educational initiative which aims at preparing students for technologically oriented careers. Tech prep is an innovative educational approach providing students with the academic and technical foundations for working and living in an increasingly technological world, involving the infusion of academic courses with technical foundation courses in order to equip students with the necessary workplace skills” (Create, 1993, p. 5).
Tech prep was also considered a “technologically-rich and academically challenging curriculum required to build America’ workplace” (Bragg, 1992, p. 2-
I). The Tech prep educational model had been perceived in three ways:
as a new process in American educational system as well as a new curriculum content designed to prepare youth to live productive lives in the face of changing technologies, and as a shift away from the traditional skill- orientation of vocational education. The broader purpose of tech prep uses 45 vocational education as vehicle for learning academics and other kinds of thinking skills, and for linking thought with action. Through the process of tech prep articulation, teamwork ideal would be promoted, students’ negotiating skill would equally be developed, along with their ability to use the computer to process information for practical purposes (Writ, (1991, p. 424)
The present writer believed that tech prep encouraged the infusion of thought and action, thinking and doing, as well as head and hand working together, complementing each other in an endless quest for knowledge and application.
Tech prep functioned primarily through the process of articulation.
According to Hull and Parnell (1991), articulation involved the “coordination of policies and practices among sectors of educational system to produce the smooth flew of students fi'om one sector to another.” Articulation could be perceived as
“an attitude which portrays the readiness and willingness of educators in all the sectors of education involved to work together and overcome both individual and institutional barriers as well as self-interest that may affect total development of students. As a goal, articulation is an invention of the educational system which removes artificial division that may hinder a student’s smooth learning process from one level to another. It eliminates the possibility of loss of credit, delay, and duplication of courses.” (Hull and Parnell, 1991,p. 43).
Tech prep was recognized as a flexible curriculum model and different educational institutions used different versions of the model. The 2+2 tech prep model referred to a situation where students enrolled in individual classes or a sequence of courses during the last two years of high school, and completed the
46 training after two years of post-secondary school course work (Parnell, 1985).
This version had now been expanded to be regarded as 4+2 programs (Hull and
Parnell, 1991), whereby the students enrolled in courses beginning in the ninth grade and completed their training after two years of post-secondary courses work. The other version was 2+2+2; in this version, students enrolled in classes during the last two years of high school, carried on with their training in a two- year community college, and then completed the program in the last two years of a four year college (Hull and Parnell, 1991).
Although there were many advantages of Tech prep, there were also some disadvantages. The processes of articulation and coordination was time consuming and involved moving back and forth. Curriculum decisions tended to involve lengthy negotiations because so many professionals were involved. Such decisions needed a full-time professional to shuttle back and forth to the institutions involved to coordinate and integrate activities as well as to maintain horizontal information linkages across secondary schools and post-secondary institutions (Create, 1993).
School-to-Work Transition Programs
School-to-work transition programs had been defined as “a systematic, comprehensive, community-wide effort to help all young people ( 1 ) prepare for high-skill and high wage careers, (2) receive top quality academic instruction, and
(3) gain the foundation skill to pursue post-secondary education and lifelong
47 learning” (Halperin, 1994, p. 4, in Ryan and Imel, 1996). In 1994, President
Clinton provided a legal base for implementing school-to-work programs by signing the School-to-work Act which made the following provisions:
provides states and local communities with seed money to build school-to-work systems that prepares young people for high-skill, high-wage jobs for fürther education. Requires that every school-to-work system have three essential elements: work-based learning, school-based learning, and connecting activities. Work-based learning includes structured work experience, mentoring, and instruction in industry-specific skills; school-based learning encompasses high academic achievement and career counseling; and connecting activities match students with employers and bring classrooms and workplaces together. Specifies that school-to-work systems integrate school-based and work-based, academic and vocational education, and secondary and post-secondary education ... (Ryan and Imel, 1996, pp. 3-4).
School-to-work programs could be interpreted as an attempt to address the fact that schools had failed to meet the needs of the local communities and labor market demands. The majority of the various school-to-work programs were community initiatives, and were actually ideas borrowed from other vocational education programs, combined, or modified to reflect schemes that were effective in meeting the “education and job training needs of their students” (Pauly et al,
1995). Some American communities tended to make changes in the existing vocational training programs in a way and manner that best served the local job requirements. This practice had resulted in the “proliferation of hybrid school-to- work programs” (p. 36). The leadership in school-to-work was in most cases teachers, school administrators, school district officials, community colleges,
48 business executives, and business organizations. The development of the school- to-work programs called for team effort and cooperation. The driving force for
“mix-and match approach to program design” (p.36) was fueled by the desire to provide students with workplace skills.
The purpose of discussing various models of vocational training programs was to show the effort being made in search of vocational training programs that would best provide the economy with the needed skills. Much of the literature reviewed suggested dissatisfaction with the existing vocational education programs. The present writer believed that vocational education was changing in many ways but the perception remained constant, that vocational programs were for non-college bound students. Nevertheless, the challenge to make vocational education more relevant to the world’s changing and flexible economies has been an on-going practice, and will continue to be so in the future.
Vocational Education in Africa
By the end of the colonial era, the indigenous educational policy makers in
Africa came to realize that to continue with colonial education model was harmful to their economic growth. The present writer acknowledged that no country could survive without the production of goods and services or the ability to maintain adequate food supplies for its citizens. Many of the skills needed for survival are acquired through vocational training. The present writer observed that in an effort to generate skilled manpower for the economy, and to do away with colonial
49 education structures, most Afncan nations embarked on the vocationalization of their secondary school education system. By vocationalization, the current researcher meant that practical skill subjects were being included in the Nigerian formal secondary school system in contrast to past policies of teaching these skills through informal procedures such as road-side apprentice workshops. This move was seen as an infusion of vocational and academic subjects into the secondary school curriculum.
Several African countries had opted for curriculum diversification;
Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania and
Uganda, These countries believed that the introduction of vocational education into the school system represented an opportunity to revitalize their dwindling economies by providing needed skills at both private and public sectors (Urevbu,
1988). The Council of Afiican Education Ministers’ Conference at Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, in 1961 focused on educational innovation in Africa. At that conference, vocational education was seen as a way to provide the expertise needed to set the
African nations on the road to industrialization.
Twenty-one years later at the conference held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in
1982, African education chiefs reiterated the need and urgency to implement vocationalization in African secondary schools (Urevbu, 1988) The present writer recalled that in the 1970s and 1980s many secondary “school leavers” roamed urban areas in search of jobs. The present writer maintained that the assumption
50 was that these “school leavers” lacked adequate vocational and technical skills
demanded by businesses and industries in urban cities at the time.
Various vocational education programs had been developed in Africa. The
Luasly Youth Self-Help Program was one example. In this program, jobless
school graduates were provided with some assistance in job creation or in forming
of cooperatives for the purpose of engaging in economic activities (Urevbu, 1988).
Zambian vocational education projects helped students acquire skills in
occupations such as “farming nutrition, and agriculture” (p. 266).
In Botswana, numerous brigades had been formed to provide training in
agriculture, carpentry, plumbing, vehicle maintenance repair, and textile related
occupation. The objective of the brigades was to help individual participants learn
various skills of the occupations represented in the brigade projects. To help these
brigades succeed, the government of Botswana set-up the Botswana Enterprise
Development, designed to assist individuals in developing vocational skills
(Urevbu, 1988).
The Republic of Benin Vocational Training Program, an employment
driven program, exemplified the proliferation of institutionalized vocational
education programs in Afiica. The Beninese Government created Centre
Populaire d’Education de Perfectionnement et d’ Initiation a la Production which
provided vocational training for individuals who were not part of the formal school
system. Hoveto and Hoveto (1978) stated: “the most important finding of their
survey seemed to be positive financial gains made by students” (p. 265).
51 Tanzanian vocationalization was more fundamental than programs in other countries in Sub-Sahara Africa. Education for Self-Reliance was not only an educational philosophy, but a political and ideological framework upon which
Tanzania, as a socialist state, defined and rationalized its agenda. Apart from the desire to restructure Tanzania’s education system to reflect Tanzanian ideals, and to wipe out colonial education. Education for Self-Reliance represented a communal project where people worked collectively to achieve central goals. One such goal was to create a society where practical activities were recognized with dignity and respect as much as academic general education. It was expected that this process would break the artificial dichotomy between education and work created by the colonial education system.
In accordance with the claims made by the Tanzanian Ministry of
Education (1980), the aim of education was that of “equipping pupils with skills...which involves emphasizing manual work” (Pscharopoulos and Loxely,
(pp. 3-5). These authors explained that to be able to achieve this aim, secondary schools had to be “vocationalized into commercial, technical, agricultural, and home economics” (p. 20). The goals of each occupational segments were explained below:
The goal of the commercial bias is to provide skills that will enable class IV school leavers to attain the Accountant Assistant Grade II ... The goal of agricultural bias is to provide knowledge and skills equivalent to the level of agricultural assistant... The goal of the technical bias is to provide knowledge and skill equivalent to Trade Test HI (Tanzanian Ministry of National Education, 1979b, pp. 63-68 in Pscharopoulos and Loxley, 1985). 52 Distancing himself from western vocationalization in Africa, Foster (1966) maintained that a mere introduction of skill subjects into the African secondary school system along side academic courses might not prove to be a viable proposition. The author stated:
Since between 80 and 95 per cent of Africans are dependent upon agriculture, the essential need in African education is the development of large-scale technological and agricultural programs within the school at all levels. The school must provide the nucleus of modem agriculture within the villages, and play a central role in the general raising of standards of living within the subsistence sector. Present educational facilities constitute an obstacle to rural progress because people are not trained for agriculture, and academic systems of formal education are the chief determinant of attitudes hostile to the practice of rural agriculture ( p. 142).
This present writer supported the views expressed by Foster. Such views were particularly relevant to the Nigerian situation because greater parts of the rural populations were agrarian subsistence-level farmers. However, emphasizing the training of rural youth along the line of modem agricultural techniques with its technological application, while de-emphasizing academic education had its own weaknesses. It would further exacerbate the educational inequality between urban and rural areas, as well as between the rich and poor students. The former would always opt for academic courses which conferred instant prestige to the recipients.
53 Vocationalization in Nigeria.
The Nigerian federal government imported equipment from Europe in the
1970s to implement the 6-3-3-4 education formula. The planning of this education model failed to take into account the prevailing conditions in Nigeria, i.e. lack of electricity in most rural areas, constant electrical disruption in the urban areas, the capacity of the available electrical installations, technical faculty expertise, technical consultants, administrative support systems, workshops, laboratories, occupational counselors, and teachers’ preparedness.
Against this background, Nigeria vocationalized the secondary education system in the early 1980s. Since the implementation of vocational education programs in Nigeria, no follow up studies have been conducted to determine the perceived impact of such programs. This study was being undertaken to explore the perceived relevance of the programs, the relationship between vocational education and economic returns, and attitude toward occupational subjects following vocationalization, the desire to enter the workforce instead of aspiring to obtain a university degree, and the perceived prospect for self-employment.
Enterprising skills were considered important for vocational education recipients
(junior and senior secondary school students) who might be interested in self- employment endeavor. Enterprising skill had been defined as.
54 ...a set of personal attributes, qualities, abilities, and even values which encompass creativity, power of taking and exercising responsibility, the ability to solve problems, to learn to take initiative, be flexible, adaptable, active, self-confident, (International Workshop on Curriculum Development in Technical and Vocational Education, Final Report, 1993, p. 273).
Vocational educators had called for “ways to ensure that vocational courses and programs are providing education and course preparation experiences for urban students” (Womble et al., 1995,p. 5). The present study gave vocational education students an opportunity to assess the perceived relevance of Nigerian secondary school vocationalization to the requirements of the labor market.
Omstein and Vairo (1969) noted that “relevance is the key to educational achievement” (p. 12). These authors further documented how better the slum children learned because they found the contents of their learning relevant to their interest, mode of learning, and career aspirations. Their observation was recorded as follows;
Disadvantaged children tend to like and do well in physical education, industrial arts, and music; and teachers of these subjects have less difiBculty with their pedagogy than others and find their efforts frequently rewarded. This is because the learning styles of slum children are best utilized in these areas: teaching in visual, concrete, and practical; it is physically oriented; it involves movement, excitement, and freedom of expression (pp. 158-59).
55 Entrepreneurial Skills
Many writers have noted that the introduction of 6-3-3-4 education with its comprehensive curriculum structure might not fully stimulate students’ interests toward job creation efforts. Emphasis was being directed toward educating students about entrepreneurial skills. Encouraging self-employment was a recognition that the Nigerian economy was unable to absorb all the unemployed school leavers. Local and regional enterprises represented an important step for national economic development. The position taken by Kourilky (1995) reflected the belief that acquiring entrepreneurial education was vital to “economic growth through job creation” (p. 11). The following attributes have been acknowledged as vital in cultivating entrepreneurial skills.
The identification or recognition of market opportunity and the generation of a business ideas (service or products) to address the opportunity.
The marshaling and commitment of resources in the face of risks to pursue the opportunity.
The creation of operating business organization to implement the opportunity motivated business idea (Kourilky, 1995, p. 13).
One of the objectives of vocationalization initiatives was to develop in secondary school students interest in self-employment by providing them with entrepreneurial skill necessary for developing insights about job creation. The findings of this research study showed how the participants viewed vocationalization in relation to self-employment skills.
56 Values of Vocational Education
In spite of the controversy concerning the values of vocational education, advocates of the programs were quick to point out that the rewards associated with the program citing “economical, social, intellectual, and personal values to be gained from vocational education” (Ella, 1950, p. 2). Economic values referred to income earned from labor productivity, and thus they were related to social values.
Employability, identified as personal image, interpersonal skills, good habits, and attitude summed up the social values. It could stimulate intellectual thinking, and could give students a sense of personal worth and accomplishment (Ella, 1950).
Vocationalization of school curriculum encouraged the admission of students from less affluent families, thereby expanding access to school
(Pscharopoulos and Loxley, 1985)
It creates desire and opportunity for further training, it fosters in students the aspiration for skills which ultimately help national economic growth, and it diminishes the private demand for post-secondary education especially at the university level, and increases the motivation to seek work at the end of secondary schooling. Vocationalization leads to employment in the field of vocational specialization. Vocational education provides students with the lifelong competencies they need along with flexibility for the future, while providing employers with the kind of workers they want to remain competitive. Vocational education graduates find jobs quicker than their counterparts who majored in academic curricula (p.5).
The aim of the present research was to determine if the perceptions o f the students who were being trained to implement vocationalization in Nigeria support the claims made for vocational training programs. The present researcher noted that school-to-work programs enhanced job opportunity for those who might not
57 receive college education. Carson (1994) found that technological development in the less advanced countries was seven years behind the more industrialized nations.
Developing countries should “begin their educational system with vocational training” (p.30). Marshall (1994) citing Germany’s robust economy credited vocational education for supplying German industries with skilled manpower.
Camoy (1994) indicated that vocational education was more suited for more equitable distribution of earnings in regard to gender or social class than academic education.
The argument that teaching practical skills in a school setting served as a good foundation for advance vocational training was used to justify vocationalization of Nigeria’s secondary education system. (BierhofF, 1993). The aim of Nigeria’s junior secondary school programs was to equip Nigerian youth with basic introductory skills. The programs were based on the assumption that students would acquire enough understanding about vocational careers to allow them to make an informed decision about their own future work. In Nigeria, students participated in the Nigerian Open Apprenticeship Scheme at the completion of junior secondary school for more specialized training in the specific vocational area. The Youth Employment and Vocational Skill Development program was designed to assists young Nigerians secure paid employment or to become self-employed (Umo, 1991). The present study was designed to assess how the students perceived the relevance of Nigerian vocational training in
58 providing opportunities for secondary school leavers to engage in paid employment or self-employment if they desired.
Mariott (1993) found that a vocational training program which introduced students to basic techniques on how to start and manage small scale business did in fact inspire them to consider entrepreneurship as a career. Mariott described the
Jane Adams Vocational High School which exposed students to basic concepts of starting and running small companies, along with fundamentals of market economy. Mariott claimed that students of this vocational school earned more than $100,000 from the sales of their products within two years. Students participants in this program were found to have made improvement in their general attitude behavior, as well as increased curiosity for further study. Students lacking in math found they needed better understanding of it when they were faced with its application in running or managing business. Mariott felt that this program model was successful as an incentive for students to want to start their own business.
Taylor (994) cited the Kiwanis Enterprise Center in Dawson Creek, British
Columbia, where a teacher used his own experience as a businessman to teach students about the profit and loss. Ritchie (1992) attributed the economic growth in Canada to the quality of human skills. Ritchie argued that placing Canadian students in careers which matched their aptitudes and aspirations should be the educational objectives for those students who might not do college work. Mathes
(1991) warned that old fashioned apprenticeships had not proved to be adequate in preparing non college-bound youth for jobs. In Nigeria, it was assumed that
59 vocationalization enabled secondary school graduates to understand both the theoretical and scientific foundations of their trade for better economic productivity, replacing the apprenticeship system which provided little understanding of the theoretical base of their trades.
Rosenfield (1988) felt that vocational education programs in rural areas were more likely to reflect and meet rural occupational needs. The author found that rural vocational students were “likely to enroll in agriculture, business, and trade courses” (p. 5). The assumption was that local students preferred to take course work that pertained to the local economy and offered training to improve their local job prospects. Rosenfield called for the integration of rural vocational training with academic course.
Geber (1987) discussed how vocational schools were moving away from teaching vocational courses in a traditional way which focused on general skills.
Instead, the vocational schools were teaching specific skills which business and industry required. To be competitive, applicants must possess the skills that industries wanted. Geber mentioned that some vocational schools had begun to design and teach courses to meet the exact needs of their client companies; the purpose of this was to make vocational education graduates more attractive to employers. Holland (1995) maintained that the Department of Education and
Employment in Britain was using integrated academic and vocational courses as a vehicle to “rebuild the British skill base” (p.21).
6 0 Criticisms of Vocational Education
The critics of vocationalization programs argued that the programs cost more money compared to the price of general academic education. They pointed out that vocational education required the provision of extra materials and costly technology, hiring of instructors with specialized vocational and technological skills, and concluded that it was not “cost-effective” (Psacharopoulos, 1988, and
Psacharopoulos and Loxely, 1985). Some claimed that vocational education was a means of keeping the children from less affluent homes from going to the university to acquire the knowledge and skill to enable them seek better and higher paying jobs. Psacharopoulos and Loxley warned that unless both academic and vocational education were given equal recognition and support, the strategy of vocationalization was unlikely to be productive.
Heyes (1994) complained that available literature on vocational education had failed to provide sufficient theoretical analysis upon which vocational outcomes could be assessed. Heyes further added that there was a need for vocational education proponents to develop a frame work which would link macro and micro vocational endeavors in order to allow for outcomes to be understood and analyzed in broader perspectives. Heyes believed that a connection between local vocational programs to macro economic objectives was needed to determine the contributions of the programs to regional or national economic growth.
Marshall (1992) criticized vocational education for producing workers with low skills. According to Marshall, such workers were not able to compete well with
6 1 Japanese and European vocational training graduates. Therefore, Marshall called for a better vocational education system to prepare US high school students for more demanding technological work.
Sultana (1995) reported three ideological criticisms levied against trade education;
The failure of these separate schools to prepare young people for a narrow range of jobs so that early on in their lives vocational students find themselves locked in occupational paths which are usually not highly rewarding. This has in fact led British trade unions to oppose vocational schooling at the secondary school level, since working class students tend to find themselves entrapped and channeled to working class Jobs... In addition to this, the early specialization prevents students in vocational schools from acquiring a sound general education. Finally, trade schools at the secondary education level have been found to lower student aspirations and encourage the acceptance of a tiered and segmented labor market with differential rewards in the different occupational destinies (p. 212).
Sultana explained that European left-wing governments had delayed the introduction of practical subjects into secondary schools for another year to allow students gain an extra year of academics. Sultana referred to France specifically, explaining that from 1981 to 1984, the centrally controlled lycess delayed students from deciding on a career choice for an additional year. French trade schools were also required to modify and establish channels for vocational students to transfer to academic courses if or when they became interested in “more prestigious baccalaureate courses” (p. 213).
6 2 Vocationalization and Attitude
Data on attitudes toward vocational education in developing countries was sketchy. The present work added information to the scanty existing literature.
Attitudinal studies in Ghana and Cameroon revealed that students preferred jobs offering them better status (Foster, 1965). A similar finding was reported in Kenya
(Olson, 1979). In a study of students choice between academic and vocational education with reference to social class background, Gouveia (1972) found that both middle and working class pupils showed marked preference for industrial related subjects.
Vocational education researchers had provided evidence to show that differences in achievement was related to student interest. Hidi and Baird (1986) reminded readers that an effective variable like “interest” had become a target for explaining differences in levels of achievement. Hidi (1990) perceived interest as a cognitive resource for learning, while Schiefele (1991) maintained that interest was significant for understanding the learning contents and proper application of learning.
Krapp and Schiefele ( 1986) were convinced that “interests in adults are powerful part of their identity as well as their intellectual capacity” (p. 19). Dewey
(1913) noted that interest “connects a person’s consciousness and his action”
(p.25). Therefore, it was safe to assume that likes and dislikes influenced the extent to which students learned. Esteem and Vaugham (1973) and Morton and
Saljo (1994) pointed out that interest was related to cognitive achievement. The
63 importance of these studies was that attitude or interest did motivate student learning. Emphasizing the importance of interest in learning, Larson (1992) stated;
“interest or motivation for many is more significant than intellectual superiority.
Individuals with strong desire often excel in spite of limited intellectual endowment” (p. 10). Thus, it seemed reasonable to assume that students’ positive attitudes toward vocational education might well inspire them to become dedicated toward vocational training. The question was: how much interest vocational education students did have for vocational subjects to motivate them to learn the subjects with purpose and zeal?
Misska (1994) felt that vocationalizing secondary schools might not be effective in solving the economic problems of the students because “the students themselves do not accept and appreciate the idea behind such endeavors” (p. 140).
Lillis and Hogan (1983) commented that vocational training was perceived during the colonial era as an inferior form of education. After independence, most
African countries diversified their school curriculum as a “means of alleviating unemployment, reorienting student attitudes toward rural life, and consequently halting urban migration” (p. 89). Diversification, according to another critic “refer to effort by the schools to include in their curriculum those practical subjects which are likely to generate among the students some basic knowledge, skills, and dispositions that might prepare them to think o f becoming skilled workers or to enter manual occupations” (Irveak, 1992, p.6). The present study provided insight into the students’ attitudes and perceptions of vocationalizaiton’s economic merits.
6 4 In the context of this paper, diversification and vocationalization were used interchangeably.
The present study contributed to scholarship in vocational education research. In addition to describing attitudes concerning vocationalization, the study investigated whether or not students’ perceptions of vocationalization were related to geographical location, gender, age, tribe (language), and job experience.
This selective review of relevant literature revealed that no such study had been conducted. The findings of this survey study, therefore, enhanced the understanding of curriculum vocationalization in relation to various demographic characteristics which were studied in this investigation.
65 CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this study was to assess students’ attitudes toward
vocational training, and to determine how they perceived the relevance of
vocational education, their perception of the economic benefits of vocational training programs following the vocationalization of the secondary school
curriculum in Nigeria. The primary aim of descriptive research was to describe the
existing features of an event or situation in order to determine the true nature of things (Van Dalen, 1979). This view was also supported by Gale (1982), who believed that descriptive research was a process of gathering information in order
to reveal how things were.
Population
The population of this study was made up of the 44 current, full-time
students enrolled in Master’s in Education Degree (M.Ed.), majoring in vocational-technical education in two Nigerian universities and 30 current, full time, final year. High National Diploma (HND) students in Yaba College of
Technology (YCT), Yaba, Lagos. The universities involved were: University of
Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. At the
66 UNN, there were 19 current, full-time M.Ed. students, and ABU had 25 full-time,
M.Ed. students. Therefore, the total number of student population for this study was 74. However, at the UNN, 16 students out of the 19 currently registered students were attending classes, 3 students were not located and were not included in the study. At the UNN, there was 84 per cent student response. The number of students who actually completed the questionnaire at ABU was 22 out of a total enrollment of 25, therefore, the student participation rate was 88 per cent. At
YCT, 30 students registered for HND program but 27 completed the questionnaire, this figure provided 90 per cent return rate. Students who registered for the M.Ed and HND programs but did not participate in the study were not located after three attempts. The rate of return for the student population from the three educational institutions which participated in this study stood at 87.8 per cent.
Selection of the Educational Institutions which Participated in the Study
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) was founded in 1960. The university is located in the eastern part of Nigeria, and is one of the most recognized universities in the former eastern Nigeria. The UNN is located in the rural Ibo tribe of Nigeria. The UNN serves both Nsukka and its rural surroundings as well as Enugu, the capital of the former eastern Nigeria, including semi-urban towns and villages within Enugu municipalities. Enugu is now a state in the eastern part of Nigeria. The UNN is at the heart of the Ibo land. Ibo is one of the major languages in Nigeria. The UNN emphasized rural development and the
67 establishment of cooperative partnerships as well as research on energy and development in its various programs.
Tribal affiliation and languages were the characteristics to be investigated in this study to determine if they were related to the students’ attitudes toward diversification and their perceived economic values of vocational training programs. The choice of UNN allowed the researcher to examine how the students from the eastern part of Nigeria perceived the economic values of vocationalization.
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), the largest and the most recognized university in the northern part of Nigeria is located in Zaria, a large industrial town. ABU was founded in 1962. The northern part of Nigeria is inhabited predominantly by the Hausa tribe, who speak the Hause language. ABU served
Zaria and the surrounding urban centers and the encroaching rural enclaves.
Selecting ABU to take part in the study made it possible to assess how the Hausa and the Ibo students perceived curriculum vocationalization in the Nigerian secondary school system.
Yaba College of Technology (YCT) was established in 1948 and is located in Yaba, Lagos. Yaba is one of the most recognized and influential district townships in Lagos metropolitan. In part, Yaba derived its popularity from housing the most famous college of technology in Nigeria. Yaba is part of Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria. The main language spoken in Yaba, Lagos is
Yoruba. The Yoruba language is spoken by the native inhabitants of the western
68 part of Nigeria, the Yoruba tribe. Edo was one of the tribes selected to participate in this study. As stated above, Lagos was formerly the capital of Nigeria, but
Abuja is now the new capital o f Nigeria. Abuja is located in the middle section of
Nigeria. Lagos and its townships including Yaba have retained their charm and glamour, and they are still regarded as the nerve centers of Nigerian business and industrial activities. Although Lagos and its dominions as well as environs were seen as Nigerian modem cities, nevertheless, they suffered from urban slump and social degradation as a result of Nigerian economic stagnation. Lagos which encompasses Yaba is an island, and a cosmopolitan city and in 1970 became a state. Lagos State overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and it provides the Lagocians with natural beauty which emanates from the strong wave currents from the sea which surrounds Lagos.
Yaba College of Technology (YCT) is the oldest educational institution of its kind in Nigeria. It was built during the colonial administration, in 1948. YCT was respected for its comprehensive vocational-technical education programs.
Most of the students attending YCT had participated in the 3-3 education programs during their secondary school career. YCT prepared students specifically for business and industrial workplace. YCT prepared vocational- technical students for Ordinary National Diploma (OND), and High National
Diploma (HND), a 4 year vocational-technical education program. The YCT programs were designed in such a way that allowed students to opt out if they chose to after 2 years, and receive OND if successful after the required
69 examination. The HND issued to successful students at the end of a 4 year vocational-technical program was highly recognized by the Nigerian Government and by businesses and industries.
Although Nigerians could receive education in any institution of their choice, students often chose educational institutions near their home for easy commuting, for accommodation purposes, for financial reasons, and for convenience. Nigeria is made up of so many tribes, identified by their languages.
For example, Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba, and Edo to list a few. Selection of UNN, ABU, and YCT for this study ensured that major tribes were represented in the research, and that students fi'om different geographical locations and backgrounds were also represented. Selecting UNN, ABU and YCT enabled the researcher to assess the perceived economic advantages and attitude toward vocationalization of the
Nigerian secondary school system based on geographical locations and tribes
(language). Appendix showedA the map of Nigeria indicating the geographical locations of the UNN, ABU and YCT.
A letter was sent to each Dean of Education of the educational institutions participating in the study, requesting permission for their students to be included in the study. The letter to the Deans was markedAppendix B,and letter to the students.A p p en d C
70 Process of Developing the Instrument
The primary method of data collection for this study was questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed in such a way as to elicit responses to the seven research questions that were developed to guide this study. In an effort to construct a valid questionnaire, the researcher reviewed related literature.
Questionnaires dealing with perception, attitudes and opinions were examined to gain better insight on designing instrument. The attitude scale developed by the
University of Nebraska Examination Center (1962), and attitudinal scale used by
Wichowsky and Walker (1992) in their investigation of opinions toward selected educational outcomes were reviewed.
Validity and Reliability of Instrument
A panel of experts reviewed the instrument developed by the present researcher to establish its content validity. Miller (1994) explained that content validity referred to “the extent to which the instrument represents the content of interest, i.e. established by a panel of experts” (p. 78). In order to establish the content validity of this instrument, a panel of experts was formed as shown in
Appendix E. The panel offered valuable input in the drafting of the questionnaire for the study.
The instrument was not tested for reliability. Testing reliability of an instrument for a descriptive study, seeking to determine respondents’ perceptions was not so important. “Attitude scales are direct, self-report measures which means it is not possible to determine if subject’s responses reflect his/her true
71 attitudes” (Mouly, 1970, p. 57). Establishing the validity of this instrument was considered more important due to the descriptive nature of the study. Because the focus of this research was on the students’ perception of the secondary school diversification, it fell within the category of research work where reliability measurement was not so important.
Questionnaire Format
The questionnaire used in the study was shownAppendix as F. The instrument was divided into nine sections. Page one of the questionnaire contained instructions for completing the instrument.
Section I sought information concerning the demographic data of the students such as age, gender, including tribal affiliation (language), geographical location of the students, years of work experience, as well as types of work experience.
Section II contained three statements dealing with the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education.
Section III dealt with the students’ attitudes toward vocational education following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum. This section of the questionnaire contained fifteen statements.
Section IV consisted of eight statements which dealt with the perceived relationship between employment prospects in the urban and the rural areas and the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum.
72 Section V contained two statements dealing with the perceived relationship between self-employment prospects in the urban and the rural areas and the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum.
Section VT consisted of four statements dealing with the perceived relationship between urban migration and the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum.
Section VII was made up of four statements related to the perceived decline in the desire for university education following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum.
Section VIII contained four statements dealing with the perceived quality of academic general education offered to the secondary school students in the
Nigerian vocationalized secondary education system.
Open-ended Section
Section IX was open-ended and employed a qualitative method of data collection.
It required the student subjects to use the space provided in the questionnaire to comment freely on their general perceptions of vocational education programs in
Nigeria, touching on issues such as the success of the programs, problems, concerns about the programs, and observations of the secondary school students’ reactions toward vocationalization.
According to George (1959) the answers embedded in the highly structured wording of the quantitative method did not capture the true thought of the respondents. Therefore, a qualitative method of data collection tended to
73 augment for the limitations of the quantitative procedure. Pontius (1993) believed that “combining research techniques from two paradigms allowed greater depth and breath than using either separately” (p. 43). Primarily, this study was a survey with a quantitative focus. Nevertheless, the respondents were given opportunity to express their views about vocational training programs in Nigeria without the restrictions imposed by numerical coding.
Administering the Instrument
The present researcher selected a representative who resided in Nigeria to travel to the three educational institutions participating in the study to collect the data. A p p en d Dcontained the letter to the representative, and it included instructions on how to complete the questionnaire. The instrument was sent to the representative by United Parcel Services (UPS). The representative was in close telephone contact with the researcher during the process o f administering the instrument. The questionnaire was completed in the months May and June, 1997.
The present research work was completed in April, 1998.
Methods of Data Analysis
Data collected from sections I through VIII was analyzed using various descriptive statistics of the Statistical Analysis System (S AS) at The Ohio State
University. Frequency distributions, percentages, means and standard deviation were used to analyze the data. Also an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if various groups of students were significantly different from each other in their perception and attitudes toward vocational education based on
74 geographical locations of the students, tribe, gender, age, years o f work experience and types of work experience. Correlation coefficient r was employed to determine if relationship existed between various characteristics (variables) of interest in this study. The alpha level for all the statistical analyses applied in this study was set at p = < .05.
Students’ responses from Section IX were analyzed using a qualitative model of analysis. The researcher began the data analysis with the synthesis of the students’ responses to search for meanings and to discover what was important to the students (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992). The researcher searched for commonality in the ideas expressed by students as well as patterns and trends (Denzin and
Lincoln, 1994). The present writer attempted to discover how the students’ perceptions as stated in the open-ended section (IX) of the questionnaire compared with the views they expressed in the more structured sections (I-VIII). Miles and
Huberman (1994), Denzin and Lincoln (1994) maintained that qualitative analysis involved “discovering meanings from a displayed data (p. 429). According to these authors, this might imply “wide use of comparative/contrasting, noting patterns and themes, clusters and metaphors ...” (p. 429).
75 CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to assess how vocational-technical education master’s degree (M.Ed.) students, and High National Diploma (HND) students perceived the relevance of Nigerian vocationalization, their attitudes toward vocational training, and their perceived economic values of vocational training. The study sought to determine whether there was a perceived significant relationship between the vocationalization o f the secondary curriculum and economic benefits. The population of the study consisted of
M. Ed. and High National Diploma (HND) students’ in Nigeria.
The researcher used the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) at The Ohio State
University to analyze the data for this study. Statistical procedures such as frequency distributions, percentages, means and standard deviation, Pearson Moment Correlation
Coefficient, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used in analyzing the data. In this chapter, the researcher presented each research question followed by the data which supported the findings.
76 A five-point Likert Scale was used to collect students responses to the questionnaire instrument (Appendix F). The Likert Scale was interpreted as follows.
a) Strongly Agree = 5 b) Agree = 4 c) Undecided = 3 d) Disagree = 2 e) Strongly Disagree = 1
Educational Institutions Involved in the Study
In order to investigate the seven research questions for this study, the researcher surveyed three educational institutions. These institutions were identified as educational institutions A (UNN), B (ABU), and C, Yaba College of Technology (YCT). These institutions were located in different parts of Nigeria. Educational Institution A is located in the eastern part of Nigeria, and it is a four-year college (university).
Educational institution B is located in the northern part of Nigeria, and it is also a four- year college (university), and educational institution C is located in the western part of
Nigeria; a college of technology with a four-year program aimed at preparing students for jobs in businesses and industries and/or for self-employment. Educational institutions A and B prepared students to teach in the secondary school system in Nigeria , and/or to perform administrative functions within educational settings. In educational institutions A, and B, current, full-time master’s degree students majoring in vocational-technical education were surveyed as part of the population for this study. In educational institution
C, final year, full-time. High National Diploma (HND) students were surveyed.
Educational institution A had nineteen full-time registered students, and sixteen completed
77 the questionnaire. Three students were not taking classes and could not be located.
Educational institution B had twenty-five, full-time students, twenty-two participated in the study, three could not be found. Educational institution C had thirty students, twenty- seven took part in the study, three students dropped out of the program and could not complete the questionnaire. Table 3 showed the frequency distribution of students in each educational institution which participated in this study.
Educational Institution Frequency Percent
A(UNN) 16 24.615%
B(ABU) 22 33.846%
C (YCT) 27 41.538%
Total 65 100%
Table 3: Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Students In Each Educational Institution
Students' Gender
Out of 65 respondents, 33 were male and 31 were female. Table 4 showed gender frequency distribution.
78 Gender Freauencv Percent
Male 33 51.562%
Female 31 48.437%
Total 64 100%
Frequency missing = 1
Table 4; Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Gender
Students’ Tribal Affiliation
Five different tribe categories were represented in this study. Most participants were from the Ibo tribe (30), and only two students were from the Hausa tribe. Nigeria have many tribes. For the purpose of statistical analysis, any tribe represented in this study by less than two students was categorized as “others”. As shown in Table 5, there were nine such tribes.
79 Code Tribe Frequencies Per cent
A Hausa 2 3.125%
B Ibo 30 45.875%
C Yoruba 16 25.000%
D Edo 7 10.937%
E Others 9 14.062
Total 64 100%
Frequency missing = 1
Table 5: Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Tribes
Student Age Groupings
The ages of the students who participated in the study were between 21 and 54 years. Only twelve ( 18.7%) of the participants were forty or older
(Table 6).
80 Code Age (Years) Frequencies Per cent
A 21-26 19 29.687%
B 27-30 17 26-562%
C 34-39 16 25.000%
D 40-54 12 18.750%
Total 64 100%
Frequency missing = 1 No student was between the ages of 31-33
Table 6: Frequency Table Showing Distribution of Students Grouped Age
Students’ Years of Work Experience
The students who participated in the study had worked from one to thirty-four years. Years of work experience were grouped into five categories as shown in Table 7.
81 Code Grouped Years of Frequencies Per cent Work Experience
A 0-1 13 20.967%
B 2-4 12 19.359%
C 5-6 13 20.967%
D 7-12 11 17.741%
E 13-34 13 20.876%
Total 62 100%
Frequency missing = 3
Table 7: Frequency Table Showing Distributions of Students' Grouped Years of Work Experience
Students’ Types of Work Experience
Of the students participating in this study, 33 (51.562%) were teachers. One
student was a vocational education evaluator. Group E (Others) represented students without previous job experience. Table 8 showed the data for students’ types of work experience.
82 Code Students Type of Frequencies Per cent Work Experience
A Teaching 33 51.562%
B Administrative Job 11 17.187%
C Educational Planning 2 3.125%
D Vocational Ed. Evaluation 1 1.562%
E Others 17 26.562%
Total 64 100%
Frequency missing = 1
Table 8: Frequency Table Showing Students’ Types of Work Experience
The mean scores used in analyzing the data collected for this study were interpreted as shown in the Table 9.
Rating Interpretation 4.51 Strongly Agree 3.51-4.50 Agree 2.51-3.50 Undecided 1.51-2.50 Disagree 1.00-1.50 Strongly Disagree
Table 9: Interpretation of Mean Score Ratings
83 Negative Questionnaire Items
The mean scores used in analyzing the data derived from the following negative questionnaire items were interpreted as shown in Table 10. The negative questionnaire items were reproduced below;
Questionnaire Item 6 Vocational education cannot provide me with an opportunity for respectable career.
Questionnaire Item 7 I do not feel comfortable discussing my vocational interest with friends.
Questionnaire Item 8 Vocational skill are not important as academic knowledge.
Questionnaire Item 9 I think of changing my major in areas other than vocational-technical education.
Questionnaire Item 10 Time spent learning vocational subjects is not well spent.
Questionnaire Item 12 I do not enjoy learning vocational education courses.
Questionnaire Item 15 I cannot achieve my career goal by majoring in vocational-technical education.
Questionnaire Item 16 Students are not excited when they earn good grades in their vocational education courses.
84 Rating of the Negative Interpretation Questionnaire Items
4.51 Strongly disagree 3.51-4.50 Disagree 2.51-3.50 Undecided 1.51-2.50 Agree 1.00-1.50 Strongly agree
Table 10: Interpretation of the Mean Scores for Negative Question Items
Research Question 1 What is the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education?
The statistical procedures used to analyze the data for research question one included Means and Standard Deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation
Coefficient, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Table 11 showed the mean scores for research question one for the three educational institutions which participated in this study. Students from educational institution A (UNN), had the highest mean score of 4.56 which indicated that they (students) strongly agreed that vocational education was perceived as relevant. There were no significant differences observed in the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on the educational institutions
(geographical location).
85 Educational Institution Mean Rating of Students S/D (Geographical Location) Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education
Ed. Inst. A (UNN) N = 16 4.56 0.43
Ed. Inst. B (ABU) N = 22 4.45 0.60
Ed. Inst. C (YCT) N = 27 4.49 0.41
Table 11: Mean Rating and Standard Deviation of Students Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education by Educational Institution (Geographical Location)
Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question I: What is the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education?
Questionnaire items I, 2, and 3 were used to collect data for research question one. Table 12 showed the mean scores for the questiormaire items used in the assessment of the perceived relevance of vocational education. The mean scores for questionnaire item 1, ‘T like the vocational education program because it is relevant to Nigerian economic growth” ranged from 4.61 (educational institution C, YCT) to 4.81
(educational institution B, ABU). The students from all the institutions strongly agreed with the statement.
86 The mean scores for questionnaire item 2, “studying vocational subjects improves my appreciation for work” for the three educational institutions ranged from 4.18 to 4.43, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 3, “vocational training programs help students transfer knowledge and skills to workplace” ranged from 4.18 to 4.50, indicating that the students agreed with this statement. There were no significance differences observed in the students rating of the questionnaire items 1-3, used in assessing students’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on educational institution (geographical location).
87 Questionnaire Items Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst B Ed. Inst. C Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 1 ; 1 like the vocational education program because it is relevant to Nigerian economic growth. 4.75 0.44 4.81 0.39 4.61 0.39
Item 2; Studying vocational subjects improves my appreciation for work. 4.43 0 51 4.36 0.72 4.18 0.83
Item 3; Vocational training programs help students transfer knowledge and skills to workplace. 4.50 0.81 4.18 1.18 4.40 0.57
CO CO
Table 12: Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used In Assessing Students' Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education Gender and Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education
Female respondents had a higher mean score of 4.56 compared with the male
respondents with a mean score o f 4.43. Female students strongly agreed on the perceived
relevance of vocational education as shown in Table 13.
Gender Mean Scores Standard Deviation
Female (N = 31 ) 4.56 0.39
Male (N = 33) 4.43 0.54
Table 13: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Gender
Tribal Affiliation and Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education
Tribes C (Yoruba) and E (others) had the highest mean scores (4.60 for tribe C), and (4.55 for tribe E), The scores indicated that they strongly agreed that vocational education was perceived as relevant. Tribes B (Ibo), and D (Edo) had the same mean score (4.43) which indicated that they agreed that vocational education was perceived as relevant. There were no significant differences observed in the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on tribal affiliation. Table 14 showed the mean scores for the five tribes represented in this study.
89 Tribe Rank Means S/D
C(N= 16) 1 4.60 0.38
*E (N = 9) 2 4.55 0.44
A (N = 2) 3 4.50 0.23
D (N = 7) 4 4.42 0.53
B (N= 30) 4 4.42 0.56
*Nine Students from nine different tribes were grouped together to form the E (others) category for statistical reason.
Table 14: Mean Ranking and standard Deviation Scores of the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Tribal Affiliation
Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education and Age Groupings
There were four age groupings for the respondents who participated in this study as shown in Table 15. Age group A (21-26 years) had the highest mean score which was
4.57, indicating that this group strongly agreed on the perceived relevance of vocational education. There were no significant differences in the students’ perception of vocational education based on age.
90 Age Groupings Rank Mean S/D (in years) Scores Scores
A (21-26) N = 19 1 4.57 0.29
D (40-54) n = 12 2 4.55 0.74
C (34-39) N = 16 3 4.47 0.40
B (27-30) N = 17 4 4.39 0.50
Table IS: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Students Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Age Grouping
Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Years of Work Experience
When comparing the respondents’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on years of work experience, group B (respondents with 2-4 years of work experience) had the highest mean score (4.63), indicating that this group strongly agreed on the perceived relevance of vocational education. Group A (students with 1 year of work experience) had the lowest mean score (4.38), indicating that this group agreed on the perceived relevance of vocational education as shown in Table 16. The researcher found no significance differences in the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on years of work experience.
91 Years of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D Scores Scores
Group B (2-4 years) N = 12 1 4.63 0.30
Group E (13-34 years) N = 13 2 4.51 0.76
Group C (5-6 years) N = 13 3 4.46 0.50
Group D (7-12) N = 11 4 4.42 0.33
Group A (0-1 year) N = 13 5 4.38 0.44
Table 16:Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Students’ Perceived RclevHticc of Vocational Education by Years of Work Experience
Students Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Types of Work Experience
Table 17 showed that group B (students with administrative work experience) had the highest mean score (4.63), indicating that the group strongly agreed on the perceived relevance of vocational education. Group C (students with educational planning experience) had the lowest mean score (4.00), indicating that the group agreed on the perceived relevance of vocational education. There were no significant differences oi-set veti in the students perceived relevance of vocational education based on the students’ types of work experience.
92 Types of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D Scores Scores
Group B (Admin. Job) N = 11 I 4.63 0.34
* Group E (Others) N = 17 2 4.52 0.42
Group A (Teachers) N = 33 3 4.44 0.55
Group D (Ed. Evaluation) N = 1 4 4.33
Group C.(Ed. Planning) N = 2 5 4.00 0.47
* Students without any type of work experience
Table 17: Mean and standard Deviation Scores of the Students' Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education By Types of Work Experience
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient
The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient used in analyzing the data collected for this study was interpreted as shown in Table 18.
93 Correlation Description
.70 or higher Very strong correlation .50 to .60 Substantial correlation .30 to .40 Moderate correlation . 10 to .29 Low correlation ,01 to .09 Negligible correlation
Source; Davis Elementary Survey Analysis 1971: 49
Table 18: Interpretation of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient
Students’ Perceived Relevance of Vocational And Other Variables
The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to determine if significant, meaningful relationships existed among the variables studies. Table 19 showed the correlation between students’ perceived relevance of vocational education and other variables studied. There was a substantial correlation between students’ perceived relevance of vocational education and attitudes toward vocational training (r = .570, p <
.05). There was a substantial correlation between the perceived relevance of vocational education and the perceived prospect for self-employment (r = .582, p < .05).
94 Other Variables Correlation Significance Level Prob> IRl
Attitudes toward vocational education .570 .0001
Perceived economic value of vocational education .303 .0001
Perceived self-employment prospect of vocational education .582 .0001
Perceived decrease in the desire for university education following vocationalization .272 .0279
Table 19: Correlation Between the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education and Other Variables
Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to determine if significant differences existed among various groups of students based on the demographic data collected. The results of the F tests showed that no significant differences were found in the students perceived relevance of vocational education based on geographical location of the three educational institutions. A, B, and C, gender, tribe, age, years of work experience and types of work experience at p = .05.
95 Research Question 2: What is the perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education?
The statistical procedures used to analyze the data for research question two were means and standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation CoeflBcient and
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Table 20 showed the mean scores for research question two for the three educational institutions which took part in this study. The mean scores ranged from 4.08 to 4.17, indicating that the students agreed on the perceived economic value of vocational education. The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perception of the economic value of vocational education based on the educational institution (geographical location).
Educational Institution Mean Rating of Students Standard (Geographical Location) Perceived Economic Value Deviation of Vocational Education
Ed. Inst. A (UNN) N = 16 4.17 0.51
Ed. Inst. B (ABU) N = 22) 4.16 0.42
Ed. Inst. C (YCT) N = 27) 4.08 0.59
Table 20 ; Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)
96 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 2 What is the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education?
Questionnaire items 19-26 were used to collect students’ responses for the assessment of the perceived economic value of vocational education. Table 21 showed the mean scores of the questionnaire items used for the assessment of the perceived economic value of vocational education. The mean scores for questionnaire item 19, “as a result of the vocationalization of the school curriculum, school graduates will acquire the skill they need to work in businesses and industries in the urban areas” ranged from 4.12 to 4.48, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. The mean scores for the questionnaire item 20, “vocationalization of the school curriculum improves job opportunities for secondary school graduates in the urban areas” for the three educational institutions ranged from 4.00 to 4.31, indicating that students from the three educational institutions agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 21, “the vocational program helps students get job quicker than academic program” ranged from
3.77 to 4.09, indicating that the students agreed with this statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 22, “the vocationalization of the school curriculum improves the ability of the secondary school graduates to use available resources in the urban areas to develop and own business” were between 4.18 and 4.22, indicating that the students agreed with the statement.
The mean scores for questionnaire item 23, “the vocationalization of the school curriculum will provide school graduates with the skills required to work in small/basic businesses and industries in the rural areas” were between 4.07 and 4.31, indicating that
97 the students agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 24, “the vocationalization of the school curriculum will improve job opportunities for secondary school graduates in the rural areas” were between 3.96 and 4.37, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. The questionnaire item 25, “the vocationalization of the school curriculum will improve the ability of the secondary school graduates to transfer skills to workplace in the rural areas were between 3.95 and 4.18, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 26, “the vocationalization of the school curriculum will provide school graduates with the skills to use materials and equipment available in the rural areas to develop their own business” were between 4.00 and 4.31, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ rating of the questionnaire items 19-26 used in assessing students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on educational institution (geographical location).
98 Questionnaire Ed. Inst A Ed. Inst. B Ed Inst. C Items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 19: As a result of the vocationalization of the school curriculum, school graduates will acquire the skill they need to work in businesses and industries in the urban areas 2.12 1.20 4.31 071 4.48 0.64
Item 20: Vocationalization of the school curriculum improves job
VO opportunities for secondary school VO graduates in the urban areas. 4.31 0.79 2.27 0 63 4.00 1.20
Item 21 : The vocational program helps students get Job quicker than academic program. 3.87 1.14 4.09 0 86 3.77 1.15
Table 21: Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used In Assessing Students* Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education Table 21 (Continued)
Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed, Inst. C Items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 22: The vocationalization of the school curriculum improves the ability of the secondary school graduates to use available resources in the urban areas to develop and own business. 4.18 0.83 4.18 0.58 4.22 0.89
Item 23: The vocationalization of the school curriculum will provide school graduates with O O the vocational-technical skills required to work in small/ basic businesses and industries in the rural areas. 4 31 0.87 4.13 0.63 4.07 0.99
Item 24: The vocationalization of the school curriculum will improve job opportunities for secondary school graduates in the rural areas. 4.37 0.50 4.04 0.78 3.96 1.01 Table 21 (Continued)
Questionnaire Ed. Inst A Ed Inst. B Ed. Inst. C Item Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 25; The vocationalization of the school curriculum will improve the ability of the secondary school graduates to transfer skills to the workplace in the rural areas. 4.18 0.75 3.95 0.72 4.00 0.96
Item 26: The vocationalization of the school curriculum will provide school graduates with the skills to use materials and equipment available in the rural areas to develop their own business. 4,00 0.73 4 31 0.47 4.14 0.98 Gender And Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education
Table 22 showed that the female students had a mean score of 4.17 and the male students had a mean score of 4.10, indicating that both female and male students agreed on the perceived economic value of vocational education. No significant differences existed in the students perceived economic value of vocational education based on gender.
Gender Mean Scores Standard Deviation
Female (N = 31) 4.17 0.58
Male (N = 33) 4.10 0.45
Table 22:Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Perceived Economic Value of Vocational EducationBy Gender
Tribe and the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education
The mean scores of the five tribes represented in this study ranged from 3.67 to
4.23, indicating that all the tribes agreed on the perceived economic value of vocational education (Table 23). The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on tribal affiliation.
102 Tribes Rank Mean Scores S/D Scores
Tribe D (N = 7) 1 4.23 0.42
Tribe C (N = 16) 2 4.14 0.67
Tribe B (N = 30) 3 4.13 0.49
Tribe E (N = 9) 4 4.11 0.48
Tribe A (N = 2) 5 3.87 0
Table 23: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Tribal Affiliation
Age Grouping and the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education
Table 24 showed that age group D (40-54 years) had the highest mean score
(4.31), and age group B (27-30 years) had the lowest mean score (4.03), indicating the all the age groups agreed on the perceived economic value of vocational education. The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on age.
103 Age Groupings Rank Mean Score Standard (in years) Deviation
D (40-54) N = 12 1 4.31 0.50
C (34-39) N = 16 2 4.15 0.49
A(21-26)N = 19 3 4.09 0.59
B (27-30) N = 17 4 4.03 0.47
Table 24:Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Age Groupings
Years of Work Experience and Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education
The mean scores based on students’ years of work experience ranged from 3.98 to
4.35, indicating that they (students) agreed on the perceived economic value of vocational education as shown in Table 25. No significant differences were found in the students’ perception of the economic value of vocational education based on years of work experience.
104 Years of Work Experience Rank Mean Standard Scores Deviation
Group E (13-35 years) N = 13 1 4.35 0.41
Group B (2-4 years) N = 12 2 4.31 0.48
Group D (7-12 years) N = 11 3 4.05 0.57
Group C (5-6 years) N = 13 4 4.00 0.67
Group A (0-1 year) N = 13 5 3.98 0.44
Table 25: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education By Years of Work Experience
Types of Work Experience and Perceived Economic Value Vocational Education
The mean scores of students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on the types of work experience ranged from 3.75 to 4.30, indicating that students agreed on the perceived economic value of vocational education (Table 26). There were no significant differences found in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational educational based on the students’ types of work experience.
105 Types of Work Experience Rank Mean Standard Scores Deviation
Group B (Adm. Job) N = 11 1 4.30 0.57
* Group E (Others) N = 17 2 4.14 0.61
Group A (teachers) N = 33 3 4.10 0.46
Group C (Ed. Planning) N = 2 4 3.75 0.17
Group D (Ed. Evaluation) N = 1 4 3.75
Students without any type of work experience
Table 26: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education by Types of Work Experience
Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education and Other Variables
Table 27 showed the correlation between the perceived economic value of vocational education and other variables. There was a substantial correlation between the perceived economic value of vocational education, and the perceived decrease in the
rate of urban migration (r = .510, p < .05).
106 Other Variables Correlation Significance Prob > IRl
Perceived decrease in the rate of urban migration .510 .0001
Perceived relevance of vocational education .303 .0139
Perceived decrease in the desire for university education .261 .0356
Perceived quality of academic subjects. .287 .0203
Table 27: Correlation between Students’ Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education and Other Variables
Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to determine if significance differences existed among various groups of student based on the demographic data collected. The result of the F test showed that no significant differences were found in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on the educational institutions (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p = .05.
107 Research Question 3: What are the Research Participants Attitudes Toward Vocational Education Following Curriculum Vocationalization?
The statistical procedures used to analyze the data for research question three included means and standard deviation, Pearson Moment Correlation CoeflBcient, and
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Table 28 showed the mean scores for research question three for the three educational institutions which participated in this study. The mean scores ranged from 3.99 to 4.18, indicating that the students agreed that they have favorable attitude toward vocational education.
The researcher found that educational institutions A (UNN), and B (ABU) had higher mean scores than educational institution C (YCT) as contained in Table 28. The researcher found that significant differences existed among the students based on the educational institutions (geographical location) as shown in Table 36.
Educational Institution Mean Scores of Attitudes Standard (Geographical Location Toward Vocational Ed. Deviation
Ed. Inst. B (ABU) N = 22 4.18 0.43
Ed. Inst. A (UNN) N= 16 4.17 0.39
Ed. Inst. C. (YCT) N= 27 3.99 0.38
Table 28: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Attitudes Toward Vocational Education By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)
108 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 3: What are the Research Participants Attitudes Toward Vocational Education Following Curriculum Vocationalization?
Questionnaire items 4-18 were used to collected students’ responses to research question three (Table 29). The mean scores for questionnaire item 4, “vocational training is an important aspect of education” ranged from 4.50 to 4.72, indicating that students from educational B (ABU), and C (YCT) strongly agreed with the statement (Table 29).
The mean scores for questionnaire item 5, “vocational education is mentally challenging” ranged from 4.00 to 4.50, indicating that the students agreed with the statement.
The mean scores for questionnaire item 6: “vocational education cannot provide me with an opportunity for respectable career” ranged from 4.31 to 4.37, indicating that the students disagreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 7, “I do not feel comfortable discussing my vocational interest with friends” ranged from 3.55 to 4.25, indicating that the students disagreed with the statement (Table 29). The mean scores for questionnaire item 8: “vocational skills are not important as academic knowledge” ranged from 3.88 to 4.50, indicating that the students disagreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 9, “I think of changing my major in area other than vocational-technical education” ranged from 3.07 to 3 .87, indicating that students from educational institutions A (UNN), and B (ABU) disagreed with the statement while students from educational institution C (YCT) were undecided.
109 Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst C Items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 4; Vocational training is an important aspect of education. 4.50 0.51 4.72 0.45 4.66 0.48
Item 5; Vocational education is mentally challenging. 4.50 051 4.00 0.87 4.26 0.72
*ltern 6; Vocational education cannot provide me with an opportunity for respectable career. 4.37 0.88 4 31 1.28 4.33 0.78
*ltem 7:1 do not feel comfortable discussing my vocational interest with friends. 4.25 0.77 4.13 1.16 3.55 1.42
"'Item 8: Vocational skills are not important as academic knowledge 4.18 1.22 4 50 091 3.88 1.18
*Negative questionnaire items
Table 29: Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used in Assessing Students' Attitude Toward Vocational Education Table 29 (Continued)
Questionnaire Ed. Ins. A Ed Inst B Ed Inst C Item Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
*liem 9:1 think of changing my major in area other than vocational -technical education. 3.87 1.25 3.40 0.90 3.07 1.32
*ltem lO Time spent learning vocational subjects is not well spent. 3.93 1.52 4.09 1,15 4 51 0.84
Item 11 ; Academic knowledge makes more sense when it is used in teaching vocational subjects. 3.62 1.20 3.86 1.16 3.74 1.16
*ltem 12; 1 do not enjoy learning vocational education courses. 4.31 101 4.68 0.47 4.18 III
Item 13: Vocationalization is a good and beneficial idea. 4.62 0.50 4.49 0,73 4.48 0.57
Item 14. Vocational training programs are not inferior to academic education. 4.50 0.81 4.45 0.50 4.07 0.91
* Negative questionnaire items Table 29 (continued)
Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst. C Item # Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
*ltem 15:1 cannot achieve my career goal by majoring in vocational- technical education. 4.12 1.02 4.04 1.09 3.77 1.25
*ltem 16: Students are not excited when they earn good grades in their ro vocational education courses. 3.93 1.38 4.36 1.04 4.11 1.15
Item 17: Students like working with their hands as they learn. 4.12 0.61 4.04 0.72 3.88 0.93
Item 18: Students take pride in vocational training due to the vocationalization of the school curriculum. 3.81 0.54 3.72 0.88 3.34 1.19
* Negative questionnaire items Questionnaire Items for Research Question 3 (Continued)
The mean scores for questionnaire item 10, “time spent learning vocational subjects is not well spent” ranged from 3.93 to 4.51, indicating that the students from educational institutions A (UNN), and B (ABU) disagreed with the statement while students from educational institution C (YCT) strongly disagreed. The mean scores for questionnaire item 11, “academic knowledge makes more sense when it is used in teaching vocational subjects” ranged from 3.62 to 3.86, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 12, “I do not enjoy learning vocational education courses” ranged from 4.18 to 4.68, indicating that students from educational institutions A (UNN), and C (YCT) disagreed with the statement while students from educational institution B strongly disagreed (Table 29).
The mean scores for questionnaire item 13, “vocationalization is a good and beneficial idea” ranged from 4.48 to 4.62, indicating that the students from educational institution A (UNN) strongly agreed with the statement while students from educational institutions B (ABU) and C (YCT) agreed. The mean scores for questionnaire item 14, “vocational training programs are not inferior to academic education” ranged from 4.07 to 4.50, indicating that the students agreed with the statement (Table 29).
The mean scores for questionnaire item 15, “I cannot achieve my career goal by majoring in vocational-technical education” ranged from 3.77 to 4.12, indicating that the students disagreed with the statement (Table 29). The mean scores for questionnaire item 16, “students are not excited when they earn good grades in their
113 vocational education courses” ranged from 3.93 to 4.36, indicating that the students disagreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 17, “students like working with their hands as they learn” ranged from 3.88 to 4.12, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 18,
“students take pride in vocational training due to the vocationalization of the school curriculum” ranged from 3.34 to 3.81, indicating that students from the educational institutions A (UNN), and B (ABU) agreed with the statement while the students from educational institution C (YCT) were undecided. The researcher found no significant differences in the students rating of questionnaire items 4-18. However, based on educational institutions, the result of the F test showed that significant differences did exist (Table 36) and based on gender (Table 37).
Gender and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education
Table 30 showed that female students had a higher mean score of 4.17 than the male students with a mean score of 4.04. However both male and female students agreed that they had favorable attitude toward vocational education.
Gender Mean Scores Standard Deviation
Female (N = 31) 4.17 0.36
Male (N = 331 4.04 0.45
Table 30: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitudes Toward Vocational Education By Gender
114 Tribal Affiliation and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education
Table 31 showed that the mean scores for the five tribes represented in this study ranged from 3.87 to 4.23, indicating that all the tribes agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education. There were no significant differences in students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on tribal affiliation.
Tribes Rank Mean Scores S/D Scores
C (N = 16) 1 4.22 0.34
D (N = 7) 2 4.21 0.31
A (N = 2) 3 4.16 0.47
B (N = 30) 4 4.04 0.39
E (N = 9) 5 3.97 0.63
Table 31: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Tribal Affiliations
Age Grouping and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education
Table 32 showed that the mean scores for the four age groups ranged fi'om 4.03 to 4.32, indicating that the students agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education. There were no significant differences in students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on age.
115 Age Groupings Rank Mean Scores S/D Scores
D (40-54) N = 12 1 4.27 0.46
C (34-39) N = 16 2 4.11 0.50
B (27-30) N = 17 3 4.07 0.38
A (21-26) N = 19 4 4.02 0.39
Table 32: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Age Groupings
Years of Work Experience and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education
The mean scores of students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on years of work experience ranged from 3.95 to 4.24 (Table 33), indicating that the students agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education. The researcher found no significance differences in the students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on students’ years of work experience.
U 6 Years of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D Scores Scores
Group E (13-34 years) N = 13 1 4.26 0.46
Group D (7-12 years) N = 11 2 4.16 0.37
Group A (0-1 year) N = 13 3 4.07 0.38
Group C (5-6 years) N = 13 4 4.05 0.38
Group B (2-4 years) N = 12 5 3.95 0.47
Table 33: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Years of Work Experience
Types of Work Experience And Attitudes Toward Vocational Education
Table 34 showed that the mean scores of students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on types of work experience ranged from 3.93 to 4.15, indicating that students agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education. There were no significant differences in the students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on their types of work experience.
117 Types of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D Scores Scores
Group A (Teachers) N = 33 1 4.15 0.40
Group B (Admin. Job) N = 11 2 4.14 0.46
Group D (Ed. Evaluation) N = I 3 4.00
* Group E (“Others”) N = 17 3 4.00 0.39
Group C (Ed. Planning) N =2 4 3.93 0.75
* Student without any type of work experience
Table 34: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Attitude Toward Vocational Education By Types or Work Experience
Attitudes Toward Vocational Education And Other Variables
Table 35 showed the correlation between attitudes toward vocational education
and other variables. There was a substantial correlation between attitudes toward
vocational education and the perceived relevance of vocational education (r = .570, p <
.05).
118 Other Variables Correlation Significance Level Prob > IRl
Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education .570 .0001
Perceived self-employment prospect of curriculum vocationalization .444 .0002
Perceived decrease in urban migration .308 .0123
Table 35: Correlation Between Attitudes Toward Vocational Education And Other Variables
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) And Attitudes Toward Vocational Education
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to determine if students’ attitudes toward vocational education following curriculum vocationalization were significantly different based on the geographical location of the educational institution they were attending, tribe, gender, age, years of work experience and type of work experience. The results of the F test showed that students’ attitudes toward vocational education were not significantly different based on age, tribe, years of work experience, and types of work experience. But the result of the F test as shown in Table
36 revealed that there were significant differences in students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on based on educational institution (geographical location) at p = .0096.
119 The result of the F test also showed that there were significant differences in students’ attitude toward vocational education based on gender at p = .0054 (Table 37).
Source df Sum of Mean F Prob > F Squares Square
Ed. Inst. 2 1.4955 0.7477 5.03 0.0096
Table 36: Analysis of Variance of Attitude Toward Vocational Education Educational Institution
Source df Sum of Mean F Prob > F Squares Square
Gender 1 1.2405 1.2405 8.34 0.0054
Table 37: Analysis of Variance of Attitude Toward Vocational Education Based on Gender
Research Question 4: What is the relationship between the Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Prospect for Self-employment?
The statistical tools used to analyze research question four included means, standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, and Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA). Table 38 showed that the mean scores for research question four for the three educational institutions which took part in this study ranged from 4.36 to 4.78,
120 indicating that the students from educational institutions A (UNN) and C (YCT) strongly agreed on the perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization in Nigeria. There were no significant differences in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment based on geographical location. Although, students from educational institution A (UNN) had higher mean score than students from educational institutions B and C.
Ed. Institution Mean Rating of Standard (Geographical Location) Students’ Perceived Deviation Prospect for Self-employment
Ed. Inst. A (N = 16) 4.76 0.40
Ed. Inst. C (N = 27) 4.59 0.62
Ed. Inst. B IN = 221 4.36 0.77
Table 38: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment by Educational Institution (Geographical Location)
121 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 4: What is the Relationship Between the Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Prospect for self-employment
Questionnaire items 27, and 28 were used to collect students’ responses to research question 4 (Table 39). The mean scores for questionnaire item 27, “vocational education provides students with the opportunity for self-employment” ranged from 4.36 to 4.75, indicating that students from educational institutions A (UNN) and C (YCT) strongly agreed on the perceived self-employment prospect of secondary school vocationalization. The mean scores for questionnaire item 28, “vocational education helps students to be creative, using their skills to produce new things’’ ranged from 4.36 to
4.81, indicating that students from educational institutions A (UNN), and C (YCT) strongly agreed on the perceived self-employment prospect of secondary school vocationalization. The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ rating of the questionnaire items 27-28 based on educational institution (geographical location).
122 Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst C Items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 27: Vocational education provides students with the opportunity for self-employment 4.75 0.44 4.36 0.90 4.66 0.62
Item 28: Vocational education helps students to be creative, using their skills to produce ro w new things. 4.81 0.40 4.36 0.78 4.51 0.75
Table 39: Mean Rating and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Prospect for Self-employment following Curriculum Vocationalization Gender and the Perceived Prospect for Self-employment
Table 40 showed that female students had a mean score of 4.70, indicating that
they strongly agreed on the perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum
vocationalization. There were no significant differences in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization based on gender.
The female students had higher mean score (4.70) than their male counterparts (4.42).
Gender Mean Scores Standard Deviation
Female (N = 31 4.70 0.51
Male (N = 33) 4.42 0.7
Table 40: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self employment by Gender
Tribe and Students’ Perceived Prospect for S elf employment
Table 41 showed that the mean scores of students perceived prospect for self- employment based on tribal affiliation ranged from 4.26 to 4.71, indicating that students from tribes C (Yoruba), and D (Edo) strongly agreed on the perceived self employment prospect of curriculum vocationalization. There were no significant differences in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment based on tribal aflBliation. Tribes C
(Yoruba) and D (Edo) had higher mean scores than tribes A (Hausa), B (Ibo), and E.
(Others) (Table 41).
124 Tribes Rank Mean Scores S/D Scores
C )N = 16) 1 4.71 0.40
D(N = 7) 2 4.64 0.47
B (N = 30) 3 4.50 0.75
E(N = 9) 4 4.44 0.35
A(N = 2) 5 4.25 0.35
Table 41: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Prospect for Self-employment By Tribal Affiliation
Age Grouping And Perceived Prospect for Self-employment
The mean scores for the age groups represented in this study ranged from 4.39 to 4.57, indicating that age groups A (21-26years of age) and D (40-54 years of age) strongly agreed on the perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization (Table 42). The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment based on age.
125 Age Groups Rank Mean S/D (in years) Scores Scores
A (21-26) N = 19 1 4.57 0.29
D (40-54) N = 12 2 4.55 0.74
C (34-39) N= 16 3 4.47 0.40
B (27-30) N = 17 4 4.39 0.50
Table 42: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Prospect for Self-employment By Age Group
Years of Work Experience and Perceived Prospect for Self-employment
The mean scores of students’ perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization based on years of work experience ranged from 4.31 to 4.70, indicating that students in groups A (0-1 year of work experience), B (2-3 years of work experience) C (5-6 years of work experience) and E (13-34 years of work experience) strongly agreed on the perceived prospect for self-employment (Table 43). There were no significant differences in the students perceived prospect for self-employment based on years of work experience.
126 Years of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D Scores Scores
Group B (2-3 years) N = 12 1 4.70 0.33
Group C (5-6years) N = 16 2 4.61 0.46
Group E (13-34 years) N 13 3 4.57 0.81
Group A (0-1 year) N = 11 3 4.57 0.84
Group D (7-12 years) N = 11 4 4.31 0.92
Table 43: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Perceived Prospect for Self-employment By Years of Work Experience
Types of Work Experience and Perceived Prospect for Self-employment
The mean scores for the perceived prospect for self-employment for the students’ types of work experience ranged from 4.00 to 4.73, indicating that groups A (Teachers), and E (Others) strongly agreed on the perceived prospect for self-employment (Table 44).
The researcher observed no significant differences in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization based on the students’ types of work experience.
127 Type of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D Scores Scores
♦Group E (“Others”) N = 17 1 4.73 0.39
Group A (Teachers) N = 33 2 4.51 0.74
Group B (Admin. Job) N = 11 3 4.50 0.70
Group D (Ed. Evaluation) N = 1 3 4.50
Group C (Ed. Planning) N - 2 4 4.00 0
* Group E (Others) Students without any type of work experience
Table 44: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Prospect for Self-employment By Types of Work experience
Perceived Prospect for Self-employment and Other Variables
Table 45 showed that there was a substantial correlation between students’ perceived prospect for self-employment and the perceived relevance of vocational education (r = .582, p < .05). There was a moderate correlation between students’ perceived prospect for self-employment and attitude toward vocational education (r
= 444, p < .05)
128 Other Variables Correlation Significance Level Prob > IRl
Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education .582 .0001
Attitude Toward Vocational Education .444 .0002
Table 45: Correlation Between Students’ Perceived Prospect for Self-employment and Other Variables
Analysis of Variance And Students’ Perceived Self-employment Prospect
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to determine if significance differences existed among various groups of student based on the demographic data collected. The result of the F test showed that no significant differences were found in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment based on geographical location of the educational institutions, gender, tribe, age, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p = .05.
129 Research Question 5: What is the Relationship Between the Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration
The statistical procedures used to analyze the data for research question five included means and standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Table 46 showed that the mean scores of students’ perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization ranged from
3.43 to 3.57, indicating that students from educational institution B (ABU), and C (YCT) agreed on the perceived decrease in urban migration No significant differences were observed in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration based on educational institution (geographical location).
Educational Institution Mean Rating of Students’ Standard Perceived Decrease in Deviation Urban Migration
Ed. Inst. B (N = 22) 3.57 0.80
Ed. Inst. C (N = 27) 3.55 0.62
Ed. Inst. A (N = 16) 3.43 0.86
Table 46; Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)
130 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration
Questionnaire items 29-32 were used to collect students’ responses for research
question five (Table 47). The mean scores for questionnaire item 29, “the vocationalization of the school curriculum is a means of equalizing educational opportunities between the urban and the rural areas” ranged fi-om 3.12 to 3.50, indicating that the students were undecided in rating this questionnaire item. The mean scores for questionnaire item 30, “following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, fewer students fi'om the rural areas will migrate to urban cities in search of better education” ranged fi’om 3.37 to 3.59, indicating that students from educational institution B (ABU) and C (YCT) agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item 31,
“following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, more students will choose to remain in the rural areas to use the skill they acquire to work” ranged from 3.18 to 3.29, indicating that the students were undecided in their rating of this questionnaire item. The mean scores for questionnaire item 32, “following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, opportunities for developing local industries and businesses in the rural areas will increase” ranged from 4.06 to 4.18, indicating that the students agreed with this statement. No significant differences were found in the students’ rating of questionnaire items 29-32 based on educational institution (geographical location).
131 Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst. C Items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 29: The vocationalization of the school curriculum is a means of equalizing educational opportunities between the urban and the rural areas. 3.12 1.20 3.50 1.14 3 22 1.21
Item 30: Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, fewer students from the rural areas will migrate to urban cities in search of better education. 3.37 1.02 3.59 1.09 3.51 1.25
U) ro
Table 47: Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item used in Assessing Students' Perceived Decrease In Urban Migration Following the Vocationalization of Secondary School Curriculum Table 47 (Continued)
Questionnaire Items Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst. C Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 31 : Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, more students will choose to remain in the rural areas to use the skills they acquire to work. 3.18 0.91 3.09 1.19 3.29 1.26
CO Item 32: Following the vocationalization CO of the school curriculum, opportunities for developing local industries and businesses in the rural areas will increase. 4.06 0.99 4.13 0.88 4.18 0.73 Gender and Students Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration
Table 48 showed that female students had a mean score (3.59), indicating that they agreed on the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization. No significant differences were found in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration based on gender.
Gender Mean Score Standard Deviation
Female (N = 31 ) 3.59 0.68
Male (N = 33) 3.50 0.79
Table 48: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Gender
Tribes and Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration
Table 49 showed that students firom tribes A (Hausa) (3.62), and C (Yoruba)
(3.93) agreed on the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization. There were no significant differences observed in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration based on tribal affiliation.
134 Tribes Rank Mean Scores S/D Scores
C(N= 16) 1 3.93 0.58
A(N= 2) 2 3.62 0.53
B (N = 30) 3 3.47 0.76
D(N= 7) 4 3.28 0.83
E(N= 9) 5 3.22 0.74
Table 49: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Tribe
Age and Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration
Table 50 showed that the mean scores for the four age groups represented in this study ranged from 3.47 to 3.62, indicating that the students in age groups A (21-26 years of age), and D (40-54 years of age) agreed on the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization. The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration based on age.
135 Age Grouping Rank Mean Scores S/D Scores
D (40-54) N= 12 1 3.62 0.86
A (21-26) N= 19 2 3.60 0.70
C (34-39) N = 16 3 3.50 0.76
B (27-30) N= 17 4 3.47 0.70
Table SO: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Age Grouping
Students’ Years of Work Experience and the Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration
Table 51 showed that students’ mean scores based on years of work experience ranged from 3.41 to 3.75, indicating that groups D (7-12 years of work experience) and E
(13-34 years of work experience) agreed on the perceived decrease in urban migration.
There were no significant differences in the students perceived decrease in urban migration based on students years of work experience.
136 Years of Work Experience Rank Mean Standard Scores Scores
Group D (7-12 years) N = 11 I 3.75 0.75
Group E (13-34 years) N = 13 2 3.63 0.76
Group C (5-6 years) N = 13 3 3.48 0.73
Group A (0-1 year) N = 13 4 3.46 0.72
Group B (2-4 years) N = 12 5 3.41 0.78
Table 51: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Years of Work Experience
Types of Work Experience and Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration
Table 52 showed that the mean scores for the students types of work experience ranged from 2.62 to 4.02, indicating that students in groups D (educational evaluation) and B (administrative job experience) agreed on the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization. There were no significant differences found in the students perceived decrease in urban migration based on students’ types of work experience.
137 Types of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D Score Score
Group B (Admin. Job) N = 11 1 4.02 0.45
Group D (Ed. Evaluation) N = 1 2 4.00
Group A (Teachers) N = 33 3 3.46 0.79
* Group E (“Others”) N = 17 4 3.45 0.70
Group C (Ed. Planning) N = 2 5 2.62 0.17
* Students without any type of work experience
Table 52: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration By Types of Experience Work
Students’ Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration and Other Variables
Table 53 showed that there was a substantial correlation between the perceived decrease in urban migration and the perceived economic value of vocational education (r =
.510, p < .05). There was a moderate correlation between students’ perceived decrease in urban migration and perceived decrease in the desire for university education ( r = .429, p
< .05).
138 Other Variables Correlation Significance Level Prob > IRl
Perceived Relevance of Vocational Education .336 .0062
Perceived Economic Value of Vocational Education .510 .0091
Attitude Toward Vocational Education .308 .0123
Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education .429 .0004
Perceived Quality of Academic Subjects .322 .0089
Table 53: Correlation Between the Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration and Other Variables
Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Decrease in Urban migration
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to determine if significance differences existed among various groups based on the demographic data collected. The result of the F test showed that no significant differences were found in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration based on the educational institutions (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience and types of work experience at p =
.05.
139 Research Question 6: What is the Relationship Between the Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education?
The statistical procedures used to analyze the data collected for research question six included means and standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation
CoeflBcient, and Analysis of Variance. Table 54 showed that the means scores for the three educational institutions which participated in the study ranged from 3.18 to 3.50; indicating that the students were undecided in their perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization. The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization based on the educational institution.
Educational Institution Mean Rating of Students Standard (Geographical Location) Perceived Decrease Deviation in the Desire for University Education
Ed. Inst. A (UNN) N = 16) 3.50 0.50
Ed. Inst. B (ABU) N = 22) 3.50 0.73
Ed. Inst. C (YCT) N = 27) 3.18 0.77
Table 54: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Geographical Location
140 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 6: What is the Relationship Between Vocationalization of the Secondary School Curriculum and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education?
Questionnaire items 33-36 were used to collect data for research question six
(Table 55). The mean scores for questionnaire item 33, “following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, large number of secondary school graduates will choose to work instead o f attending university” ranged from 2.37 to 2.77, indicating that students from educational institutions A (UNN), and B (ABU) were undecided on this questionnaire item. The mean scores for questionnaire item 34, “following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum, students will no longer use vocational training as a stepping stone to prepare for academic education” ranged from 2.61 to 2.93, indicating that the students were undecided on this statement.
The mean scores for questionnaire item 35, “following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, students will be more interested in jobs that involve vocational training” ranged from 3.33 to 4.00, indicating that students from educational institutions A
(UNN), and B (ABU) agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questionnaire item
36, “following the vocationdization of the school curriculum, university education will not be perceived as the only way to make economic progress” ranged from 4.00 to 4.37, indicating that the students agreed with the statement.
141 Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst. C items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 33; Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, large number of secondary school graduates will choose to work instead of attending university. 2.68 1,13 2.77 1,26 2.37 1.33
Item 34; Following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum, students will no longer use vocational training as a stepping stone to r\) prepare for academic education. 2.93 1.06 2.90 1.01 2.61 1.26
Table 55: Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used in Assessing Students’ Perceived Decrease In the Desire for University Education Table 55 (Continued)
Questionnaire Items Ed. Inst. Ed. Inst. Ed. Inst. Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 35: Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, students will be more interested in jobs that involve vocational training. 4.00 0.73 3.54 0.91 3.33 1.17
Item 36: Following the vocationalization CO of the secondary school curriculum, university education will not be perceived as the only way to make economic progress. 4.37 0.80 4.00 1.06 4.37 0.74 Gender and Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education
The mean scores for female and male students were between 3 .21 to 3 .42, indicating that the students were undecided in the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationlization (Table 56). No significant differences were observed in the students’ perceived decrease in the desire for university education following the vocationalization of the school curriculum based on gender.
Gender Mean Standard Deviation Score
Male (N = 33) 3.42 0.63
Female (N = 31) 3.21 0.73
Table 56: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Gender
Tribe and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education
The mean scores for the five tribes represented in this study ranged from 2.92 to
3.61, (Table 57), indicating that tribe C (Yoruba) agreed on the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization. The researcher observed no significant differences in the students perceived decrease in the desire for university education based on tribal affiliation.
144 Tribes Rank Mean Scores S/D Score
Tribe C (N = 16) 1 3.61 0.74
Tribe A (N = 2) 2 3.50 0.70
Tribe B (N = 30) 3 3.26 0.67
Tribe E (N = 9) 4 3.08 0.66
Tribe D (N = 7) 5 2.92 0.62
Table 57: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of the Students Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Tribe
Age and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education
Table 58 showed that students in age group D (40-54 years of age) had the highest mean score (3.62), indicating that they agreed on the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization. The students in age group A
(21-26 years of age) had the lowest mean score (3.10), indicating they were undecided on the perceived decrease in the desire for university education. There were no significant differences in students perceived decrease in the desire for university based on age.
145 Age Groupings Rank Mean Score Standard (in years) Deviation
Group D (40-54) N = 12 1 3.62 0.77
Group C (34-39) N = 16 2 3.40 0.53
Group B (27-30) N = 17 3 3.28 0.71
Group A (21-26) N = 19 4 3.10 0.69
Table 58: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Age Groupings
Years of Work Experience and Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education
Table 59 showed that the mean scores for students’ years of work experience ranged from 2.95 to 3.53, indicating that students in groups E, (13-34 years of work experience), and D (7-12 years of work experience) agreed on the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following the vocationalization of secondary school curriculum. There were no significant differences in students perceived decrease in the desire for university based on the students’ years of work experience.
146 Years of Work Experience Rank Mean Standard (in groups) Score Deviation
Group E (13-34 years) N = 13 1 3.53 0.84
Group D ( 7-12 years) N = 11 2 3.52 0.52
Group A (0- 1 year) N= 13 3 3.32 0.72
Group C (5- 6 years) N = 13 4 3.17 0.69
Group B (2- 4 years) N = 12 5 2.95 0.55
Table 59: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Years of Work Experience
Types of Work Experience and Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education
Table 60 showed that the students mean scores for types of work experience ranged from 2.75 to 3.68, indicating that group B (students with administrative job experience) agreed on the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization. The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived decrease in the desire for university based on the types of work of experience.
147 Types of Work Experience Rank Mean Standard Scores Deviation
Group B (Admin. Job) N = 11 1 3.68 0.64
Group A (Teachers) N = 33 2 3.33 0.68
Group C (Ed. Planning) N = 2 3 3.12 0.53
* Group E (“Others”) N = 17 4 3.07 0.77
Group D (Ed. Evaluation) N = 1 5 2.75
* Students without any type of work experience
Table 60: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education By Types of Work Experience
Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education And Other Variables
Table 61 showed the correlation between the perceived decrease in the desire for university education and other variables. There was a moderate correlation between the perceived decrease in urban migration and the perceived decrease in the desire for university education (r = .429, p < .05). There was also a moderate correlation between the perceived decrease in the desire for university education and the perceived quality of academic subjects (r = .463, p < .05).
148 Other Variables Correlation Significance Level Prob > IR!
Perceived Economic Value of Curriculum Vocationalization .261 .0356
Attitudes Toward Vocational Education .244 .0496
Perceived Decrease in Urban Migration .429 .0004
Perceived Quality of Academic subjects .463 .0001
Table 61: Correlation Between the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education and Other Variables
Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Decrease in the Desire for University Education
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to determine if significant differences existed among various groups based on the demographic data collected. The result of the F test showed that there were no significant differences in the students perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization based on educational institution (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience and types of work experience at p = .05.
149 Research Question 7: What is the Perceived quality of the academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationaiized secondary school education?
The statistical procedures used to analyze the data collected for research question seven included means and standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation
CoeflBcient, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Table 62 showed that the mean scores for research question seven for the three educational institutions which took part in this study ranged from 3.71 to 4.00, indicating that the students agreed on the perceived quality of the academic courses. There were no significant differences in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationaiized secondary school curriculum based on educational institution (geographical location).
Educational Institution Rank Mean Rating Standard (Geographical Location) Deviation
Ed. Inst. A (UNN) N = 16 1 4.00 0.54
Ed. Inst. B (ABU) N = 22 2 3.84 0.63
Ed. Inst. C (YCT) N = 27 3 3.71 0.71
Table 62: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of Academic Courses in the Vocationaiized Curriculum By Educational Institution (Geographical Location)
150 Questionnaire Items Used in Assessing Research Question 7: What is the perceived Quality of the Academic courses offered in the Nigerian Vocationaiized Secondary School Education?
Questionnaire items 37-40 were used to collect data for research question seven
(Table 63). The mean score for questionnaire item 37, “academic courses offered to secondary school students in the vocationaiized curriculum will enable them develop proficiency in reading” ranged from 3.86 to 4.00, indicating that students agreed with the statement. The mean scores for questiormaire item 38, “academic courses offered to secondary school students in the vocationaiized curriculum will enable them develop proficiency in writing” ranged from 3.77 to 3.85, indicating that the students agreed with the statement.
The mean scores for the questionnaire item 39, “academic courses offered to the secondary school students in the vocationaiized curriculum will enable them develop mathematical skills” ranged from 3.33 to 3 .87, indicating that the students from the educational institutions A (UNN), and B (ABU) agreed with the statement. The mean scores for the questionnaire item 40, ’’academic courses offered to the secondary school students in the vocationaiized curriculum will enable them develop an understanding of the basic scientific concepts and process of scientific inquiry” ranged from 3.66 to 4.43, indicating that the students agreed with the statement. No significant differences were found in the students’ rating of the questiormaire items 37-40 based on the educational institution (geographical location).
151 Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst. C Items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 37: Academic courses offered to the secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum will enable them develop proficiency in reading 3.87 .080 3.86 0.83 4.00 1.00
Item 38: Academic courses offered to the secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum will enable them develop proficiency in writing 3 81 0.83 tn 3.77 0.86 3.85 0.98 ro
Table 63: Mean Rating for Each Questionnaire Item Used in Assessing Students’ Perceived Quality of Academic Curriculum in the Vocationalized Secondary School System Tables 63 (Continued)
Questionnaire Ed. Inst. A Ed. Inst. B Ed. Inst. C Items Mean S/D Mean S/D Mean S/D
Item 39; Academic courses offered to the secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum will enable them develop mathematical skills. 3.87 0.88 3.68 0.89 3.33 1.14
Item 40: academic courses offered to the secondary school students will enable them develop an en understanding of the basic scientific W concepts and process of scientific inquiry. 4.43 0.62 4.04 0.78 3.66 1.24 ■ Gender and the Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses
Table 64 showed that the mean scores for male and female students were between
3.78 and 3.89, indicating that both gender agreed on the favorable perception of the academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary education system. There were no significant differences in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses offered in the secondary school curriculum based on gender.
Gender Mean Scores Standard Deviation
Male ( N = 33) 3.89 0.60
Female (N = 31) 3.78 0.74
Table 64: Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Quality of the Academic Curriculum in the Vocationalized Education By Gender
Tribal Affiliation and the Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses
Table 65 showed that the mean scores for the five tribes represented in this study ranged from 3.63 to 3.95, indicating that the students agreed on the favorable perception of the academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary education system. There were no significant differences observed in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses offered in the vocationalized curriculum based on the students’ tribal affiliation.
154 Tribes Rank Mean Scores S/D Scores
Tribe C (N = 16) 1 3.95 0.79
Tribe B (N = 30) 2 3.86 0.62
Tribe A (N = 2) 3 3.75 0.70
Tribe D (N = 7) 3 3.75 0.81
Tribe E (N = 9) 4 3.63 0.65
Table 65: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses By Tribe
Perceived quality of the Academic Courses And Age Groupings
Table 66 showed that the mean scores for the four age groups represented in this study ranged from 3.61 to 4.04, indicating that the students agreed on the favorable perception of the academic courses. There were no significant differences found in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses based on the students’ age.
155 Age Groupings Rank Mean Scores Standard
(in years) Deviation
Group B (27-30) 1 4.02 0.67
Group D (40-54) 2 4.00 0.65
Group C (34-39) 3 3.78 0.58
Group A (21-26) 4 3.61 0.71
Table 66: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students’ Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses By Age Groupings
Years of Work Experience and the Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses
The mean scores for the students’ years of work experience ranged from 3.61 to
4.01, indicating that the students agreed on the favorable perception of the academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized curriculum. There were no significant differences found in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses based on students’ years of work experience (Table 67).
156 Years of Work Experience Rank Mean S/D
Group E (13-35 years) N = 13 1 4.01 0.67
Group B (2-4 years) N = 12 2 3.89 0.89
Group A (O-I year) N = 13 3 3.78 0.76
Group D (7-12 years) N = 11 4 3.75 0.53
GrouD C 15-6 vears) N = 13 5 3.61 0.69
Table 67: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students* Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses in the Vocationalized Curriculum By Years of Work Experience
Perceived quality of Academic Courses and Types of Work Experience
Table 68 showed that the mean scores for students’ types of work experience ranged from 3.67 to 4.25, indicating that the students agreed on the favorable perception of the academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized curriculum. There were no significant differences found in the students perceived quality of the academic courses based on the students’ types of work experience.
157 Types of Work Experience Rank Mean Standard Scores Deviation
Group D (Ed. Evaluation N = 1 1 4.25 0.76
Group C (Ed. Planning) N = 2 2 4.12 0.17
Group B (Admin. Job) N = 11 3 4.09 0.56
Group A (Teaching) N = 33 4 3.78 0.68
* Group E (“Other”) N = 17 5 3.67 0.76
* Students without any type of work experience
Table 68: Mean Ranking and Standard Deviation Scores of Students Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses By Types of Work Experience
Perceived Quality of Academic Courses and Other Variables
Table 69 showed the correlation between the perceived quality of academic courses and other variables. There was a moderate correlation between the perceived quality of academic courses and the perceived decrease in urban migration (r = .463, p <
.05).
158 Other Variables Correlation Significance Level Prob > IRl
Perceived Economic Value o f Vocational Education .287 .0203
Perceived decrease in Urban Migration .463 .0001
Perceived decrease in the desire for university education .322 .0089
Table 69: Correlation Between the Perceived Quality of Academic Courses and Other Variables
Analysis of Variance and the Perceived Quality of the Academic Courses
An analysis o f variance test was used to determine if significance differences existed among various groups based on the demographic data collected. The result of the
F test showed that there were no significant differences in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses in the vocation^ized curriculum based on the educational institutions (geographical location), tribe, age, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p = .05.
159 DATA ANALYSIS FOR THE OPEN-ENDED SECTION
Introduction
The essence o f including a qualitative (open-ended) approach as part o f the techniques employed in data collection for this study was to give the student population the opportunity to explain freely without the restrictions imposed by numerical coding of the quantitative procedures; their general perceptions of vocational education, problems associated with the programs, the success and/or failures of the programs as well as recommendations for improvement. The students were required to comment freely on the open-ended questionnaire reproduced below:
Questionnaire Item 41 : In this section, you are invited to briefly discuss your perceptions of vocational education programs in Nigeria, touching on issues such as the success o f the programs, problems, any concern you may have felt, and your observation of the secondary school students’ reactions to the programs. You can make suggestions on how you think the programs may be improved.
In analyzing the open-ended section of the questionnaire, the researcher examined students’ responses individually in an effort to discover patterns, trends, and commonalties in their responses as well as point out diversions. In order to do this, the researcher engaged in a holistic and inductive approach type of data analysis (Highlen and Finley
(1996). This exercise involved examining each individual comments at least three to four times as a way of discovering recurring themes, patterns and trends. Themes were discovered by observing repetitions in students comments. Trends and patterns were noted by interpreting students remarks. Themes were jotted down on the paper, and further examination was carried out. Then the themes were organized in groups as
160 reflected in Table 70. Frequencies and percentages were used to calculate the number of students’ responses organized in themes (Table 70).
Table 70 showed various recurring themes as recorded by the students who participated in this study. From the various remarks made by the students, the researcher was able to understand that the students perceived curriculum vocationalization as a beneficial educational innovation and at the same time they (students) recognized that it had many problems, the most serious one was poor implementation. The comments below were direct quotations fi"om the students remarks about vocational education and these remarks were representative of the general perceptions of vocational education as noted by the students.
Vocational education program in Nigeria is a right step toward the economic growth of the nation. But it is really disappointing that since the introduction of this program more than a decade ago, the impact has not really been felt. This, to my opinion might be the result of the poor take-ofif of the progrtun. There was no adequate preparation for the effective implementation of the program before it was started. It is a program that requires adequate infirastructure and equipment to make it meaningful and effective. These facilities were not available at the start of the program, even thereafter these provisions were and are not made available. The program needs reorganization and proper planning. Those in the field should partake in the planning of the program so that the implementation will be effective.
I believe that if the vocational education is given a place of pride, Nigerian economy would have been placed on a sound footing.
The importance of vocational education in Nigeria cannot be over-emphasized. This being mainly due to the creativity level attainable only by students that are well taught as per vocational education. Development of skills and technological awareness are resultant effects of vocationalization.
161 Also, I will suggest that the federal government pay attention to this area in terms of funding them; as the concentration is on the university level so it should be in the secondary schools.
Students’ remarks showed that they (students) had realized the importance o f vocational education as a tool for skill development. However, they were also aware of the problems
facing vocational education as contained in the comments which were reproduced from the respondents direct remarks. The students were also aware that poor implementation had hindered the success of curriculum vocationalization. Students’ concerns had been categorized into five groups and summarized in Table 70.
There were other observations made by the students that were not so common,
and could be regarded as diversions However they could be illuminating. One student
complained that vocational instructors were usually late for classes. The student also
revealed that her school was located in a big city, and noise from the heavy traflBc
disturbed their note taking lessons. The student recommended sound proof classroom for
shorthand classes.
162 Educational Institutions Major Remarks Based on Theme Interpretations A;N=I6 B; N = 22 C;N = 27
*F % *F % *F %
Vocationalization is a good idea, provides employment opportunities, provides self-employment opportunities but poor implementation. 9 56.25 13 59.09 15 55.55
Due to poor implementation, vocationalization is perceived as inferior and not good enough by other people 3 18.75 5 22.72 4 14.81
The Nigerian economy lacks employment opportunities for vocational school graduates. 5 31.25 8 36.38 7 25.92 en w Lack of well trained instructors, lack of senior administrative staff, lack of adequate materials, equipment, lack of sufficient funding, time allocated for vocational subjects not enough, lack of suitable space for learning practical subjects and poor implementation. 12 75.00 II 50.00 15 55.55
Recommendations: Carry out campaign to educate the parents and the public about the importance of vocational education, better funding, provision of equipment/materials, and motivate teachers. 9 56.25 13 59.09 16 59.25
*F = Frequencies
Table 70: Students' Remarks on Curriculum Vocatioualizatiou Based on Theme Interpretations of the Open-ended Section CHAPTERS
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This study was carried out in order to assess how vocational-technical education students perceived the relevance of curriculum vocationalization in the Nigerian secondary school system, their attitude toward vocational education and their perceived economic values of curriculum vocationalization. In this chapter, the investigator summarized the methods and techniques employed in conducting this study. A summary of the findings were presented. Conclusions were drawn and they were based on the findings of the study. Recommendations were made in accordance with the findings and also in accordance with the insights gained as a result of conducting this research.
SUMMARY OF THE STUDY PROCEDURES
The Need for the Study
The present study gave the student population the opportunity to assess their perceived relevance of vocational education, and attitude toward vocational education following curriculum vocationalization in Nigeria secondary school system. The study made it possible for the participants to assess their perceived economic value of curriculum vocationalization. Since the vocationalization of the school curriculum about
164 two decades ago, adequate follow-up studies had not been undertaken, this study represented a follow-up study.
The Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to assess students attitudes toward vocational training, and to determine how they (students) perceived the relevance o f vocational education, their perception o f the economic benefits of vocational training programs following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum in Nigeria.
Research questions
Seven research questions were developed by the researcher to guide the study and they were reproduced below:
1. What is the perceived relevance of vocational education?
2. What is the perceived economic value of vocational education?
3. What are the research participants attitudes toward vocational education
following curriculum vocationalization?
4. What is the relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school
curriculum and the perceived prospects for self-employment?
5. What is the relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school
curriculum and the perceived decrease in urban migration?
6. What is the relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school
curriculum and the perceived decrease in the desire for university education?
7. What is the perceived quality of the academic courses offered in the Nigerian
vocationalized secondary school education?
165 Literature Review
The literature review for this study focused on the various perceptions of education and work as well as on the historical and philosophical justifications for curriculum vocationalization. Research findings associated with vocational education were extensively reviewed, especially, African vocational innovations and in particular
Nigerian vocational education programs. Literature on attitude toward vocational education was examined with particular reference as to how it provided motivation for learning. Various types of vocational education programs such as integration of academic and vocational education, collaboration between vocational education schools and workplace, technology preparation (tech prep), and school-to-work transition programs were discussed and analyzed. Their strengths and weaknesses were considered.
Selection of the Educational Institutions
Educational institutions which participated in the present study were selected according to geographical location. The institutions were selected in such a way as to represent various tribes and languages in Nigeria. Therefore, educational institutions were selected from the eastern part of Nigeria, northern part of Nigeria, and western part of
Nigeria so that the population reflected all the major tribes. The University of Nigeria,
Nsukka (UNN) was represented in this study as educational institution A and was selected because it is located in the eastern part of Nigeria, this gave the Ibo speaking students the opportunity to participate in the study. Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is located in the northern part of Nigeria, and was selected because it gave the Hausa
166 speaking students the opportunity to take part in the present study. ABU was represented
in this study as educational institution B
Yaba College of Technology (YCT) is located in the western part of Nigeria, and
was selected because it provided opportunity for the Yoruba speaking students to be
included in the study. YCT was represented in the study as educational institution C. The
Edo tribe was iiicluded in the study because it is one of the major tribes in the middle
section of the western part of Nigeria. The Edos speak the Edo language. The map of
Nigeria (Appendix A) showed the geographical locations of UNN, ABU and YCT.
Student Population
Master’s degree students majoring in vocational-technical education were chosen to take part in the study because they were being trained to teach vocational-technical courses in Nigerian secondary schools after their graduation. The HND students were
chosen to participate in the study because they were being prepared to work in business and industrial settings upon graduation. Therefore, their experience in vocational education programs and the insight they gained as result of participating is this study would serve as an informative guide to education policy makers.
Development and Validation of the Questionnaire Instrument
The questionnaire was developed in such a way as to answer the seven research questions that were designed to guide this study. Questionnaires dealing with perceptions, attitudes, and opinions were examined and reviewed in order to gain better insight on designing instrument. Various attitude scales were reviewed, for example the Attitude
Scale for the University of Nebraska Examination Center (1962) and the attitudinal scale
167 used by Wichowsky and Walker (1992) in their assessment o f attitudes toward selected
educational outcomes were reviewed. Literature dealing with vocational education and measurement of its outcomes was also reviewed for better understanding of the issues
involved in developing questionnaire with a focus on vocational education. A panel of experts from The Ohio State University reviewed the instrument developed by the present researcher for validity.
Statistical Techniques Used for Analysis
Statistical Analysis System (SAS) at The Ohio State University was used to analyze the data collected for sections I to VTH of the questionnaire (Appendix F).
Statistical tools such as frequency distribution, percentages, mean ranking and standard deviation were used throughout the analysis of the data for the study. The Pearson product moment correlation coeflBcient r, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) were also used for data analysis. Section EX of the questionnaire (Appendix F) which required open-ended responses was analyzed using qualitative method which aimed at discovering trends, patterns and what was common in students’ comments.
Summary and Conclusions to Research Question 1
Research question; What is the perceived relevance of vocational education? The findings showed that the students from educational institution A (UNN) strongly agreed that they perceived vocational education as relevant to Nigerian economic growth as indicated by their mean score which was 4.56 (Table 11). No significant differences were found to exist in the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on the educational institution (geographical location).
168 The findings also showed that the female students strongly agreed that they
perceived vocational education as relevant to Nigerian economic growth as indicated by
their mean score which was 4.56 (Table 13). No significant differences were found in the
students’ perceived relevance o f vocational education based on gender.
Tribes C (Yoruba) and E (Others) strongly agreed that they perceived vocational
education as relevant to Nigerian economic growth as indicated by their mean scores
which were between 4.55 and 4.60 (Table 14). No significant differences were found in
the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on tribal affiliation.
Findings showed that age groups A (21-26 years of age) and D (40-54 years of
age) strongly agreed that they perceived vocational education as relevant to Nigerian
economic growth as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 4.55 to 4.57
(Table 15). No significant differences were found in the students’ perceived relevance of
vocational education based on age.
Students’ years of work experience were placed in five groups. Groups B (2-4
years of work experience) with a mean score of 4.63, and E (13-34 years of work
experience) with a mean score o f 4.51 strongly agreed that they perceived vocational
education as relevant to Nigerian economic growth (Table 16). No significant differences
were found in the students’ perceived relevance of vocational education based on years of work experience.
Students’ types of work experience were placed in five groups. Groups B
(students with administrative job experience) with a mean score of 4.63, and E (“Others” -
students without any type of Job experience) with a mean score of 4.52 strongly agreed
169 that they perceived vocational education as relevant to Nigerian economic growth (Table
17). There were no significant differences in the students perceived relevance of vocational education based on the students’ types of work experience.
The findings showed that there was a meaningful, substantial relationship between the perceived relevance of vocational education, and the attitudes toward vocational education (r = .570, p < .05) as shown in Table 19. There was also a meaningful, substantial relationship between the perceived relevance of vocational education, and the perceived self-employment prospect of vocational education (r = .582, p < .05) as indicated in Table 19. The result of the F test showed that no significant differences existed among various groups based on educational institutions (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p = .05.
Based on these findings, the researcher concluded that all the various groups of students, when grouped, based on demographic data, agreed that vocational education was perceived as relevant to Nigerian economic growth These findings support the findings of Omstein and Vairo (1969) who claimed that relevance was important to educational success. They also support the findings of Marshall (1994) who credited vocational education for German economic progress.
Summary and Conclusions to Research Question 2
Research Question 2: What is the perceived economic value of vocational education? The findings showed that the students fi*om the three educational institutions agreed in the perceived economic value of vocational education as indicated by their mean
170 scores which ranged from 4.08 to 4.17 (Table 20). There were no significant differences found in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on the educational institutions (geographical location).
The findings showed that both male and female students agreed in the perceived economic value of vocational education as indicated by their mean scores of 4.10 for male students and 4.17 for female students (Table 22). The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on gender.
All the five tribes represented in this study agreed in the perceived economic value of vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.87 to 4.23
(Table 23). No significant differences were observed in the students perceived economic value of vocational education based on the students’ tribal afiBliation.
All the four age groups which participated in the study agreed in the perceived economic value of vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 4.03 to 4.31 (Table 24). No significant differences were found in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on the students’ age groupings.
Students who took part in the study were grouped according to their years of work experience (Table 25). All the groups agreed in the perceived economic value of vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3 .98 to 4.35
(Table 25). No significant differences were found in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on the students’ years of work experience.
171 Students who took part in the study were grouped according to their types of work experience. All the groups of student agreed in the perceived economic value of vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.75 to 4.30
(Table 26). No significant differences were found in the students’ perceived economic value of vocational education based on the students’ types of work experience.
There was a substantial relationship between the perceived economic value of vocational education and the perceived decrease in the rate of urban migration (r = .510, p. < .05) as reflected in Table 27. The results of the F test showed that no significant differences existed among various groups based on educational institutions (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p
= .05.
As a result of the findings presented, the researcher was able to conclude that all groups of the students who took part in the study acknowledged that vocational education had some economic advantages such as improving job opportunities for secondary school graduates in both urban and rural areas. The student participants agreed that vocational education would provide businesses and industries with human capital (skilled labor).
These findings mirrored closely the view points expressed by other writers. Ella (1950) pointed out that “economic, social, intellectual, and personal values” (p.2) were some of the benefits of vocational education. Pscharachoulous and Loxley (1985) argued that vocational education would provide employers with the type of workers required to be able to maintain a competitive edge. Rosenfield (1988) stated that vocational education programs in the rural areas were more likely to reflect and meet rural occupational needs.
172 Summary and Conclusions to Research Question 3
Research question 3: What are the research participants attitudes toward vocational education following curriculum vocationalization? The findings showed that the students fi'om the three educational institutions agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged fi'om 3.99 to
4.18 (Table 28). The result of the F test showed that there were significant differences in students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on educational institution at p =
.0096 (Table 36). Educational institutions A (UNN) and B (ABU) had higher mean scores than educational institution C (YCT) as stated in Table 28. Students fi'om educational institutions A and B who were being trained to become teachers in the secondary school system perceived vocationalization more favorably than students from educational institution C who were being trained to work in business or industries upon graduation.
Both male and female students agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 4.04 to 4.17
(Table 30). The result of the F test showed that significant differences existed between the male and the female students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on gender at p
= .0054 (Table 37). Female students had higher mean score than their male counterparts.
(Table 30).
All the five tribes represented in the study agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged fi'om 3.97 to
173 4.22 (Table 31). No significant différences existed in the students’ attitudes toward vocational education following curriculum vocationalization based on tribal afiBliation.
All the age groups represented in the study agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged fi'om 4.02 to
4.27 (Table 32). There were no significant differences in students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on age.
Students who took part in the study were grouped according to their years of work experience. All the groups agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.96 to 4.26
(Table 33). There were no significant differences in students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on the students’ years of work experience.
Students who participated in the study were grouped according to their types of work experience. All the groups agreed that they had favorable attitudes toward vocational education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.93 to 4.15
(Table 34). No significant differences existed in the students’ attitudes toward vocational education based on the students’ types of work experience.
The findings showed that there was a meaningful, substantial relationship between students’ attitudes toward vocational education, and students’ perceived relevance of vocational education (r = .570, p < .05) as shown in Table 35. The results of the F test showed that students’ attitudes toward vocational education were not significantly different among various groups based on age, tribal affiliation, years of work experience, and types of work experience.
174 These findings support Parks (1968) whose work showed that “public school superintendents, vocational education state supervisory personnel and teacher educators were favorable toward vocational education in Ohio’s public schools” (p.47).
Summary and Conclusions to Research Question 4
Research Question 4 . What is the relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum and the perceived prospect for self-employment? The findings showed that educational institutions A (UNN), and C (YCT) strongly agreed in the perceived self-employment prospect of curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which were 4.76 for educational institution A (UNN), and 4.59 for educational institution C (YCT) (Table 38). No significant differences existed in the students perceived self-employment prospect of curriculum vocationalization based on educational institutions (geographical location).
Female students strongly agreed in the perceived self-employment prospect of curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean score which was 4.70 (Table 40).
There were no significant differences in the students perceived self-employment prospect for curriculum vocationalization based on gender.
The findings showed that tribe C (Yoruba) with a mean score of 4.71, and tribe D
(Edo) with a mean of 4.64 strongly agreed in the perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization (Table 41). No significant differences were found in the students’ perceived self-employment prospect of secondary school curriculum vocationalization based on tribe.
175 Findings showed that age groups A (21-26 years o f age) with a mean score of
4.57, and age group D (40-54 years of age) with a mean score of 4.55 strongly agreed in the perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization (Table
42). No significant differences were observed in the students’ perceived prospect for self- employment following curriculum vocationalization based on the students’ age.
Students who participated in the study were grouped according to their years of work experience. Groups A (0-1 year of work experience), B (2-4 years of work experience), C (5-6 years o f work experience), and E (13-34 years of work experience) strongly agreed in the perceived self-employment prospect of curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 4.57 to 4.70 (Table 43). There were no significant différences found in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization based on the students’ years of work experience.
Students who participated in the study were grouped according to their types of work experience. Groups A (teachers), and E (“others”) strongly agreed in the perceived self-employment prospect o f curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 4.51 to 4.73 (Table 44). No significant differences were observed in the students’ perceived prospect for self-employment following curriculum vocationalization based on the students’ types of work experience.
The findings showed that there was a meaningful, substantial correlation between students’ perceived prospect for self-employment, and students’ perceived relevance of vocational education (r = .582, p < .05) as indicated in Table 45. The results of the F test showed that no significant differences existed among the various groups based on the
176 educational institutions (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p = .05. As a result of the findings, the researcher concluded that all the various groups of students represented in this study believed in the perceived self-employment prospect of curriculum vocationalization.
Summary and Conclusions to Research Question 5
Research question 5: What is the relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum and the perceived decrease in urban migration? The findings showed that the students from the educational institutions B (ABU), and C (YCT) agreed in the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocaionalization as indicated by their mean scores which ranged fi’om 3.55 to 3.57 (Table 46). No significant differences were found to exist in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration based on educational institutions (geographical location).
Female students agreed in the perceived decrease in urban migration as indicated by their mean score which was 3.59 (Table 48). Male students were undecided in their perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization as indicated in their mean score of 3.50 (Table 48). The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization based on gender.
The findings showed that tribes A (Hausa), and C (Yoruba) agreed in the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which ranged fi"om 3.62 to 3.93 (Table 49). Tribes B (Ibo), D (Edo),
177 and E (“Others”) were undecided as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from
3.22 to 3.47 (Table 49). No significant differences were found to exist in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization based on tribal affiliation.
Age groups A (21-26 years o f age) with a mean score of 3 .60, and age group D
(40-54 years of age) with a mean score of 3.62 agreed in the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization as indicated in Table SO. Age groups B
(27-30 years of age) and C (34-39 years of age) were undecided. There were no significant differences observed in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration based on age.
Students who participated in the study were grouped according to their years of work experience. Groups D (7-12 years of work experience) with a mean score of 3 .75 and E (13-34 years of work experience) with a mean score of 3.63) agreed in the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization (Table 51).
Groups A (O-l year of work experience) B (2-4 years of work experience), and C (5-6 years of work experience) were undecided in their views about the perceived decrease in urban migration (Table 51). The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization based on students’ years of work experience.
Students were grouped according to their types of work experience; groups B
(administrative job experience), and D (educational evaluation job experience) agreed in the perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization as
178 indicated by their mean scores which were between 4.00 and 4.02 (Table 52). Groups A
(teachers), C (Educational planning) and E (“others”) were undecided in their views about
their perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization as
indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 2.62 to 3.46 (Table 52). No significant differences were found to exist in the students’ perceived decrease in urban migration following curriculum vocationalization based on the students’ types of work experience
The findings showed that there was a meaningful, substantial relationship between students’ perceived decrease in urban migration and students’ perceived relevance of vocational education (r = .510, p .0091) as shown in Table 53. The result of the F test showed that no significant differences existed among various groups based on the educational institutions (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience, and types of work experience at p = .05.
Summary and Conclusions to Research Question 6
Research question 6: What is the relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum and the perceived decrease in the desire for university education? The findings showed that the students from the three educational institutions which participated in the study were undecided in their views about the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.18 to 3.50 (Table 54). The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived decrease in the desire for
179 university education following curriculum vocationalization based on the educational
institution (geographical location).
The findings showed that both male and female students were undecided in their views about the perceived decrease in the desire for university education as indicated by their mean scores which were between 3.21 and 3.42 (Table 56). No significant differences existed between the students perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization based on gender.
The findings showed that only tribe C (Yoruba) with a mean score of 3.61 agreed in the perceived decease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationaliazation (Table 57). Tribes A (Hausa), B (Ibo), D (Edo), and E (“Others”) were undecided in their opinion about the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization as reflected in their mean scores which ranged fi-om 2.92 to 3.50 (Table 57). There were no significant diflferences in the students’ perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocatonalization based on tribal affiliation.
Students who participated in this study were grouped according to their age.
Students in age group D (40-54 years of age), agreed in the perceived decrease in the desire for university education as indicated by their mean score which was 3.62 (Table
58). Age groups A (21-26 years o f age), B (27-30 years o f age), and C 34-39 years of age) were undecided in their opinion about the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.10 to 3.40 (Table 58). No significant differences were found
180 in the students’ perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization based on age.
Students who participated in the study were grouped according to their years of work experience. Groups D (7-12), and E (13-34 years of job experience) agreed in the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which were between 3.52 and 3.53
(Table 59). Groups A (0-1 year of job experience), B (2-4 years of job experience), and C
(5-6 years ofjob experience) were undecided in their views about the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 2.95 to 3.32 (Table 59). No significant differences existed in the students’ perceived decrease in the desire for university education based on years of work experience.
Students who participated in the study were grouped according to their types of work experience. Group B (administrative work experience), agreed in the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization as indicated by the mean score which was 3.68 (Table 60). Groups A (teachers), C
(educational planning work experience), D (vocational education evaluation), and E
(“others” students without any type of job experience) were undecided in their views about the perceived decrease in the desire for university education following curriculum vocationalization as reflected in their mean scores which ranged from 2.75 to 3.33 (Table
60).
181 The findings showed that there was a moderate correlation between the perceived
decrease in the desire for university education, and perceived decrease in urban migration
(r = .429, p < .0004, Table 61). The findings also indicated that there was a moderate
correlation between the perceived decrease in the desire for university education, and the
perceived quality of academic subjects (r = .463, p < .0001, Table 61). The result of the F
test showed that no significant differences existed among various groups of students based
on the educational institutions (geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work
experience, and types of work experience at p = .05.
As a result of the findings, the researcher concluded that both male and female
students were undecided in the opinion about the perceived decrease in the desire for
university education following curriculum vocationalization. All tribes (Hausa, Ibo, Edo) except Yoruba were undecided in their views about the perceived decrease in the desire for university education as a result of curriculum vocationalization. Only age group D
(40-54years) agreed in the perceived decrease in the desire for university education. Only group A (students with teaching experience) agreed in the perceived decrease in the desire for university education due to curriculum vocationalization.
Summary and Conclusions to Research Question 7:
Research question 7: What is the perceived quality of the academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary school education? The findings showed that students fi'om the three educational institutions agreed on the favorable perception of the academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary education system as indicated
182 by their mean scores which ranged from 3.71 to 4.00 (Table 62). No significant differences existed in the students’ perception of the quality of the academic courses offered in the vocationalized curriculum based on educational institutions (geographical location).
Both male and female students had favorable perception of the quality of academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary school curriculum as indicated by their mean scores which were 3.89 for male students, and 3.78 for female students (Table
64). No significant differences were observed in the students perceived quality of academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary school system.
All the tribes represented in the study agreed that they had favorable perception of the quality of the academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary education system as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.63 to 3.95 (Table
65). The researcher found no significant differences in the students’ perceived quality of academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized curriculum based on tribal affiliation.
All age groups which participated in the study had favorable perception of the quality of the academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationalized curriculum as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3.61 to 4.02 (Table 66). No significant differences were observed in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses in the vocationalized curriculum based on age.
Students’ years of work experience were divided into five groups, and all the groups had favorable perception o f the quality of the academic courses offered in the
Nigerian secondary education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged from 3 .61 to
183 4.01 (Table 67). The researcher found no significant difference in the students’ perceived quality of the academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary education based on the students’ years of work experience.
Students’ types of work experience was placed in five groups; all the groups had favorable perception of the quality o f the academic courses in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary education as indicated by their mean scores which ranged fi’om 3.67 to 4.25
(Table 68). There were no significant difference observed in the students’ perceived quality of the academic course based on the students’ types of work experience.
The findings showed that there were a moderate correlation between the perceived quality of academic courses and the perceived decrease in urban migration (r
= .463, p .05) as shown in Table 69. The result of the F test indicated that no significant differences were found to exist among various groups based on educational institutions
(geographical location), gender, tribe, age, years of work experience and types of work experience at p = .05.
From the data presented, the researcher concluded that all the groups of students from the three educational institutions, male, and female students, all tribes, all age groups, students with various years of work experience, and types of work experience who participated in this study had favorable perception of the academic courses offered in the
Nigerian vocationalized secondary school system. The findings seemed to represent a vote of confidence in the academic courses offered in the Nigerian vocationalized secondary school curriculum by the students.
184 Summary and Conclusions of the Open-ended Section
The findings showed that students who participated in the study accepted that the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum was an important educational innovation which would provide needed practical skills to Nigerian economy. These findings were supported by the findings derived firom research questions one and two which showed that students perceived vocational education as relevant to Nigerian economy, and believed in its perceived economic value.
The findings provided insights into the students’ perception of the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum. Such insights were contained in
Table 70, they showed that lack of unanimous acceptance of vocational education by parents and some people was due to poor implementation. Such poor implementation was hindering the success of curriculum vocationalization. The findings also indicated that some of the problems curriculum vocationalization was facing included inadequate funding, lack of equipment/materials, and inadequate number of qualified, trained vocational education instructors (Table 70).
The researcher believes that despite the poor image, and lack of acceptance of vocational education as a valid education program during the colonial era, the students have come to recognize vocational training as a relevant and a beneficial form of education. The researcher found that students’ attitudes toward vocational education were positive, and that they took pride in vocational education programs. Nigeria is a country divided by tribal divisions and language dififerences but the findings indicated that such
185 divisions and differences did not seem to impact on students’ perceptions of vocational
education as well as in their attitudes toward curriculum vocationalization. The students
believed in the job skills which curriculum vocationalization would provide. The findings
also revealed that various groups of students represented in the study have confidence in their vocational education programs but were disappointed in the way the programs were
implemented. From the students’ comments (Table 70), it was obvious that the students believed that more emphasis and better funding are still preserved for academic education.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are made as a result of conducting this study.
The recommendations reflect the findings of this study, the insights gained during the process of this investigation, as well as the judgment of the researcher.
1. The federal and state government should re-examine the planning and implementation strategies of curriculum vocationalization for the purpose of finding solutions to the problems which vocational education is presently encountering which were enumerated in Table 70.
2. The Nigerian federal government should mount a nationwide campaign to enlighten the Nigerian people, especially parents about the importance of vocational education, and to educate them that no knowledge or skill is inferior.
3. An educational program should be developed to educate Nigerian people that the dichotomy between academic and vocational training is a false dichotomy, and that no country can survive without the practical competencies which vocational education
186 provides.
4. The government should provide qualified instructors to teach skill subjects.
Suitable equipment and materials should be provided for the teaching and learning of skill
subjects. More time and proper space should be made available in the secondary schools
for the teaching of vocational courses.
5. Academic and vocational instructors should form a collaboration in teaching their various subject matter. Academic courses can be used to teach vocational courses and vocational courses can also be used to teach academic courses.
6. Each state in Nigeria should appoint a director for vocational education programs
who takes responsibility for the implementation of the programs. A coordinator for vocational education should be appointed in each school district to visit schools and to
learn first hand the problems teachers and students face and communicate same to the director who is empowered to examine such concerns for solutions or recommend action.
7. Regular seminars should be provided to vocational education students and teachers to discuss the accomplishment of vocational education and to share information between
school districts and between states. Such seminars may be given by vocational education experts and consultants.
8. Vocational schools, and businesses and industries should form partnerships whereby the vocational education students learn first hand the specific requirements for
each job skills. This can be achieved through methods such as mentoring or job
shadowing. Such partnerships will give vocational education students the opportunity to
assess their skill level mastery against the business or industry’s norm.
187 9. As a way of making Nigerian vocationalization more relevant to the requirements
of the Nigerian economy, modem farm agricultural techniques should be emphasized in
the curriculum. Most Nigerians are agrarian farmers, and live in the rural areas. Nigeria
suffers from food shortages, consequently have engaged in food importation.
Pscharopoulos and Loxley (1985) have pointed that "... between 80 and 95 percent of
Africans are dependent upon agriculture, the essential need in African education is the
development of large-scale technological and agricultural programs within the school at all
level. The school must provide the nucleus of modem agriculture within the villages and play a central role in the general raising of standards of living within the subsistence
sector” (p. 142).
10. Collaboration between schools and industries should also be encouraged with a view to developing job placement programs, and also with a view to structuring the
learning materials to reflect the skills required in both urban and rural areas.
Recommendations for further study
11. A need assessment study should be carried out to determine the human capital
(skilled labor) need of businesses and industries throughout Nigerian.
12. A study should be conducted within the Nigerian urban and rural economies to
determine the prospect for self-employment for specific skills.
13. A study be should carried out to determine the time requirement for each specific vocational subject.
14. A study should be undertaken to determine the need for trained and qualified teachers for various vocational courses.
188 15. A study should be conducted that includes parents, and secondary school students to determine their perceptions, concerns of curriculum vocationalizaton, and suggestions on how to make it better and serve the needs of the recipients and the economy.
16. A study should be carried out to determine the entry level skills demanded by businesses and industries in rural and urban areas so that the vocational secondary school curriculum will mirror closely the skills demanded by those businesses and industries.
189 APPENDIX A
MAP OF NIGERIA SHOWING GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS OF
UNN, ABU AND YCT
190 Map of Nigeria showing geographical locations of UNN, ABU, and YCT
ABU, Zana
UNN, Nsukka
Key:
I I Northern part of Nigeria Major Language - Hausa
|~ I Eastern part of Nigeria Major Language - Ibo
Western part of Nigeria Major Language - Yoruba
191 APPENDIX B
COPY LETTER TO THE DEANS OF EDUCATION
OF THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS WHICH
PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY
192 March, 27, 1997
Dear Dean,
I am a Ph.D. Candidate at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Presently, I am in the process of writing a dissertation based on the vocational education programs in Nigeria. My dissertation project is a survey entitled;An Assessment of the Perceived Economic Benefits and Attitudes Toward Vocational Education Programs in Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis.Data for the study will be collected from the students in Nigerian universities/college of Technology majoring in vocational-technical education. Your university/college of technology has been selected to take part in this study.
Your students are involved in vocational-technical education, and as such they have experience, insights and opinions about Nigeria’s vocational-technical programs. Therefore, I am requesting your permission for your students to participate in this survey study. Primarily, the questionnaire deals with attitudes toward vocational education programs and the perceived economic values of the programs.
The study will provide an opportunity for your students to participate in an important assessment of vocational education. Their views about the program will serve as an informative guide for educational policy makers. The research will generate findings about student attitudes toward vocational training. It will also expand research literature on Nigerian and Afiican vocational education. And, it will also produce findings about how students from different parts of Nigeria perceive occupational subjects. The study will reveal whether or not the students have confidence in current vocational- technical programs. It will draw attention to any concerns that students may have about the programs, overall.
This survey study will ensure complete anonymity of the participants. No student name will appear in the questionnaire. The survey is strictly voluntary and confidential.
Professor Anthony A. Olinzock, my academic adviser, and members of my committee have approved my research proposal, and data collection method. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Anthony A. Olinzock, Ph D Mabel C P Oguamah-Okojie Professor of Workforce Education Ph.D. Candidate
193 APPENDIX C
COPY LETTER TO THE STUDENTS WHO PARTICIPATED
IN THE STUDY
194 March 27, 1997
Dear Student,
I am a Ph D. candidate at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States. I am interested in conducting a survey study which focuses on assessing the attitudes and the perceived economic values of vocational education programs in Nigerian
Your university/CoUege o f Technology has been selected to take part in the study, and I am asking you, please to participate by completing the enclosed questionnaire. The study is part of my Ph.D. program.
As an experienced student in vocational-technical education, you may been involved in vocational-technical programs as teachers, administrators, planners, evaluators, counselors or have experience working in business or industrial setting, and as such you may have formed opinion about the programs. In the attached questionnaire, you are expected to express your opinion about the programs by circling the numbers which best describe your perception/belief and attitudes. There is no right or wrong answers but you are expected to be sincere and honest in your judgment concerning the programs.
Please use pencil to complete the questionnaire so that you can easily make changes if you have to. Circle all the responses which truly reflect your views about the vocationalization of secondary school curriculum in Nigeria Vocationalization refers to the introduction of vocational subjects into the mainstream secondary school curriculum. This means that occupational skills are taught alongside with academic courses in the Nigerian secondary school system.
This survey study is strictlv confidential, and you don’t have to write your name on the instrument. Your participation is also voluntary. You have the right to refuse to complete the questionnaire.
You are advised to complete the questionnaire without discussing your responses with one another. It is important that no one influences you responses. My representative, Mr. Felix Oguamah will administer the instrument and verbally explain the instructions for completing the questionnaire to you. He will also provide any assistance you may require.
Thank you very much for helping. I really appreciate your help. I wish you all success in your individual programs.
Professor Anthony A Olinzock Mabel C P. Oguamah-Okojie Academic Adviser Doctoral Candidate.
195 APPENDIX D
COPY LETTER TO THE RESEARCH REPRESENTATIVE
196 March 27, 1997
Dear Mr. Oguamah,
I refer to our numerous telephone discussions and thank you for accepting to collect data from my research subjects in Nigeria. The questionnaire instrument is enclosed with this package and the package is being sent to you through the United Parcel Services (UPS).
As I have explained in our previous telephone conversations, data for the study will be collected from the students majoring in vocational-technical education in two Nigerian universities, and college of technology. These universities are University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and Yaba College of Technology (YCT), Yaba, Lagos. The population for the study consists of all the students currently registered for M.Ed. degree program in vocational-technical education in the universities identified above, and final year High National Diploma (HND) in YCT. It is therefore, necessary for you to obtain a list of the students registered for this program during 1997/98 academic session. All the students in the list are eligible to participate in the study by completing a copy of the enclosed questionnaire. However, their participation is voluntary. It is important you keep record of the total number of students registered in the program in each of the above educational institution, and the number who decline to participate.
I have written a letter to the Deans of Education of the three educational institutions participating in the study and to the students subjects. The purpose of the Deans’ letter is to ask their permission to allow their students to complete the questionnaire and also to inform them of the nature of the research as well as its significance. Please deliver the letter to the Deans. The aim of the students’ letter is to request them to complete the questionnaire and to educate them on how to do so. The letter should be given to each student participating in the study and allow them time to read it. Then explain to them what their responsibilities are as they complete the questionnaire just as we have done during our telephone discussion. Read and explain the instructions that p-ecede each section of the questionnaire. Allow them enough time to complete the questionnée. I have gone through the instructions and through each statement in the questionnée with you. I am glad you confirm that you are clear about what is expected of you and how you will administer the questionnée satisfactorily, without problem.
I will be in regular telephone discussion with you as you travel to UNN, ABU, and YCT for the data collection to answer any question you may have. Thank you for accepting this responsibility. I regret any inconvenience this may have caused you. Once again thank you so much.
Professor Anthony A. Olinzock Mabel C P Oguamé-Okojie Academic Adviser Doctoral Candidate 197 APPENDIX E
LIST OF PANEL OF EXPERTS
198 The following experts in the field of vocational education reviewed the instrument used to establish the content validity for this study.
Dr. Darrell Parks Director, Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE). OSU, and former Director of Ohio State Vocational Education Department.
Dr. Debbie Cotri Director, Instructional Materials, CETE, OSU
Dr. David Stein Professor, Adult Education, Department of Workforce Education, OSU
Marilyn Wiggan Instructor, Accounting/Business at DeVry Institute of Technology.
199 APPENDIX F
COPY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE INSTRUMENT
200 THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PERCEIVED ECONOMIC BENEFITS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN NIGERIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
This survey is designed to assess students’ perceived economic benefits and attitudes toward the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum in Nigeria. Vocationalization refers to the introduction of vocational subjects into the mainstream secondary school curriculum. This meant that occupational subjects are taught alongside academic courses in the secondary school system. Please read the letterstudents to participating in the study before completing the questionnaire. Your participation in the survey is confidential and volimtarv. No response can be traced to you. Your individual responses will be used for the purpose of statistical analysis.
SECTION I: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Please complete the information below by circling the numbers you consider appropriate and which truly reflect your position.
1 . Ed. Institution. A University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) B Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria. C Yaba Institute of Technology, Yaba (YCT) Lagos
2 Gender: A Male B Female 3. Tribe: (Language) A Hausa B Ibo C Yoruba D Edo E Others (Please specify) 4. Age: (Please state your age)
5. Experience: A As a Teacher Years of experience B As an Administrative Personnel Years of experience C As a Planner Years of experience D As an Evaluator Years of experience E Others (Please specify) Years of experience
201 SECTION H: PERCEIVED RELEVANCE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Please read the following statements carefully and circle the numbers that best describe your perception of vocational education programs in Nigeria. The statements require you to make judgment about your perceived relevance of vocational education programs following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum in Nigeria. The numerical codes used in this survey are explained below.
5 means Strongly Agree) (SA) 4 means Agree (A) 3 means Undecided (U) 2 means Disagree (D) 1 means Strongly Disagree (SD)
SA U SD
1. I like the vocational education program because it is relevant to Nigerian economic growth. 3 2
2. Studying vocational subjects improves my appreciation for work. 3 2
2. Vocational training is an important aspect of education. 3 2
SECTION ni: ATTITUDES TOWARD VOCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
Please read the following statements carefully and circle the numbers that best describe your attitude toward vocational education programs in Nigeria. The statements in the questionnaire require you to make judgment about the programs. There is no right or wrong answer but your honesty is needed as you complete the questionnaire.
SA U SD
4. Vocational education is an important aspect of education 5
5. Vocational education is mentally challenging
6. Vocational education cannot provide me with an opportunity for respectable career
202 SECTION m (continued)
SA A U D SD 7. I do not feel comfortable discussing my vocational interest with friends 5 4 3 2
8. Vocational skills are not important as academic knowledge. 5 4 3 2
9. I think of changing my major in area other than vocational-technical education. 5 4 3 2
10 Time spent learning vocational subjects is not well spent. 5 4 3 2
11 Academic knowledge makes more sense when it is used in teaching vocational courses. 5 4 3 2
12 I do not enjoy learning vocational education courses. 5 4 3 2
13. Vocationalization is a good and beneficial idea. 5 4 3 2
14. Vocational training programs are not inferior to academic education. 5 4 3 2
15 .1 cannot achieve my career goal by majoring in vocational-technical education. 5 4 3 2
16. Student are not excited when they earn good grades in their vocational education courses. 5 4 3 2
17 Students like working with their hands as as they learn. 5 4 3 2
18. Students take pride in vocational training due to the vocationalization of school curriculum. 5 4 3 2
203 SECTION IV: VOCATIONALIZATION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE URBAN AND RURAL AREAS
The following statements deal with whether vocationalization of secondary school curriculum is related to employment in urban and rural areas. As a graduate student who has been involved in vocational education programs, you are invited to rate the following statements in accordance with your perception of the program. This is not a test and there are no right or wrong answers. Please circle the numbers which best describe your judgment of the program. Your honesty is needed as you complete this and all other parts of the questionnaire. The numerical codes are explained below:
5 means Strongly Agree (SA) 4 means Agree (A) 3 means Undecided (U) 2 means Disagree (D) 1 means Strongly Disagree (SD)
SA A U D SD
19. As a result of the vocationalization of the school curriculum, school graduates will acquire the skills they need to work in businesses and industries in urban areas. 5 4 3 2 1
20 Vocationalization of the school curriculum improves job opportunities for secondary school graduates in urban areas. 5 4 3 2 1
21 The vocational training program helps students get job quicker than academic programs in urban areas after graduation. 5 4 3 2 1
22 The vocationalization of the school curriculum improves the ability of secondary school graduates to use available resources in urban areas to develop and own business. 5 4 3 2 1
23 The vocationalization of the school curriculum will provide school graduates with the vocational-technical skills required to work in small/basic businesses and industries located in the rural areas. 5 4 3 2 1
204 SECTION IV (continued)
SA A U D SD 24 The vocationalization of the school curriculum will improve job opportunities for secondary school graduates in the rural areas.
25 The vocationalization of the school curriculum will improve the ability of secondary school graduates to transfer skills to the workplace in the rural areas.
26 The vocationalization of the school curriculum will provide school graduates with the skills to use materials and equipment available in the rural areas to develop their own business
SECTION V: PERRŒIVED PROSPECT OF SELF- EMPLOYMENT AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
The following statements deals with the perceived relationship between the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum and the perceived prospect for self- employment. The statements below require you to make judgment about the perceived prospect for self-employment following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum in Nigeria. There is no right or wrong answer but your honesty is needed as you complete the questionnaire.
SA A U D SD
27 Vocational education provides students with the opportunity for self-employment.
28 Vocational education helps students to be creative, using their skills to produce new things
205 SECTION VI: VOCATIONALIZATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND URBAN MIGRATION
SA A U D SD 29 The vocationalization of the school curriculum is means of equalizing educational opportunities between urban and rural areas. 5 4 3 2 1
30 Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, fewer students from the rural areas will migrate to urban cities in search of better education. 5 4 3 2 1 31 Following the vocationlization of the school curriculum, more students will choose to remain in the rural areas to use the skills they acquire to work. 5 4 3 2 1
32 Following vocationalization of the school curriculum, opportunities for developing local industries and businesses in the rural areas will increase. 5 4 3 2 1
SECTION VH: VOCATIONALIZATION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND DESIRE FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION SA A U D SD 33 Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, large number of secondary school graduates will choose to work instead of attending university. 5 4 3 2 1
34 Following the vocationalization of the secondary school curriculum, students will no longer use vocational training as a stepping stone to prepare for academic education. 5 4 3 2 1
35 Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, students will be more interested in jobs that involve vocational training. 5 4 3 2 1
36 Following the vocationalization of the school curriculum, university education will not be perceived as the only way to make economic progress. 5 4 3 2 1
206 SECTION V ni: THE QUALITY OF ACADEMIC COURSES IN THE VOCATIONALIZED SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM
SA A U D SD
37. Academic courses offered to secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum will enable them develop proficiency in reading.
38. Academic courses offered to secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum will enable them develop proficiency in writing.
39. Academic courses offered to secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum will enable them develop basic mathematical skill.
40. Academic courses offered to secondary school students in the vocationalized curriculum will enable them develop an understanding of basic scientific concepts and processes of scientific inquiry.
SECTION IX : OPEN-ENDED
41. In this section, you are invited to briefly discuss your general perceptions of vocational education programs in Nigeria, touching on issues such as the success of the programs, problems, any concern you may have felt, and your observations of the secondary students’ reactions to the programs. You can make suggestions on how you think the programs may be improved. Please use the space below to express your views, (please continue in the next page).
207 OPEN-ENDED SECTION (continued)
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