University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION, KUMASI A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF THE NEW VOCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF ASSIN FOSU AND BIRIWA VOCATIONAL INSTITUTES BY SAMUEL EKOW AMOAH AUGUST, 2016 University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION, KUMASI A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF THE NEW VOCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF ASSIN FOSU AND BIRIWA VOCATIONAL INSTITUTES. SAMUEL EKOW AMOAH (7141210012) A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of FASHION AND TEXTILES DESIGN, Faculty of VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, School of Research and Graduate Studies, University of Education, Winneba in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the award of Master of Technology Education (Fashion and Textiles) Degree AUGUST, 2016 i University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh DECLARATION CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I, Samuel Ekow Amoah, declare that, this dissertation with the exception of quotations and references contained in published works which have all been identified and acknowledged, is entirely my own original work, and it has not been submitted, either in part or whole, for another degree elsewhere. SIGNATURE……………….………................ DATE…………...........................…………….. SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that the preparation and presentation of the dissertation were supervised in accordance with the guidelines on supervision of dissertation laid down by the University of Education, Winneba. SUPERVISOR’S NAME: Mr. Stephen K. Amoakohene SIGNATURE……………………………………………… DATE……………................................................………… ii University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my sincere gratitude to the Almighty God whose divine intervention, care and protection saw me through the period of the programme successfully. The production of this dissertation could not have been possible without the active encouragement, moral support and actual participation of other people especially Mr. Stephen K. Amoakohene my supervisor. I am indeed most grateful for the supervisory role he played, suggestions and encouragement that made the completion of this work possible. I also wish to recognize and acknowledge Mr. Ernest Nyarkoh (a. k. a. Maths Doctor), a tutor at Siddiq Senior High, Agona Nyarkrom, Mr. Losford Kwadjo Doe, M. Tech student of Fashion and Textiles Design Department at the University of Education, Winneba-Kumasi campus and Dr. Daniel K. Danso, Head of Department of Fashion and Textiles Design at the University of Education, Winneba-Kumasi campus who offered pieces of advice and encouragement that made this work a success. I am indebted to my family (my wife and children) for their co-operation and understanding during the period of this work. They enabled me to devote much time, attention and financial resources to the preparation of this work. iii University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my beloved wife Mrs. Edith Abena Amono-Amoah and my children Kojo, Ekow and Adwoa. iv University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page Declaration ii Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v List of Tables ix List of Figures x Abstract xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem 6 1.3 Purpose of the Study 7 1.4 Objectives of the Study 7 1.5 Research Questions 8 1.6 Significance of the Study 8 1.7 Scope of the Study 9 1.8 Delimitations of the Study 9 1.9 Limitations 10 1.10 Definitions of Terms and Abbreviations. 11 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 12 2.2 Traditional Education 12 2.3 Colonial era Education and Educational Reforms 14 v University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh 2.4 Societal Perception towards Vocational Education 15 2.5 Methods of Lesson Presentation 18 2.6 Summary 25 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 Introduction 26 3.2 Research Intervention 26 3.3 Description of Population 28 3.4 Sampling Size 29 3.5 Data Collection Instrument 30 3.6 Data Collection Procedure 31 3.7 Data Analysis 33 CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS 35 4.1 Introduction 35 4.2 Profile of Respondents 35 4.3 The Findings and Results are Presented 37 4.3.1 Examine the extent to which vocational education has been geared towards the national development of the nation. 38 4.3.2 Students are given financial assistance when they enter into entrepreneurship. 40 4.3.3 Adequate classrooms, workshops, facilities and the logistics provided by the government are enough and appropriate for students. 42 4.3.4 Examine sector of the economy that has absorbed vocational graduates. 43 vi University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh 4.3.5 Poor funding of vocational education on the part of government has contributed to its decline. 45 4.3.6 Examine government alone being responsible of financing, maintaining and running vocational education. 46 4.3.7 Industrial attachment programme and its benefit to students 47 4.4 Industrial Attachment 48 4.5 Agencies That Deal With Vocational Technical Training 50 4.6 National Co-Ordination Committee on Technical/Vocational Education and Training (NACVET) 52 4.7 Ghana Education Service Technical/Vocational Education Division (T V E D) 52 4.8 National Vocational Training Institute (N V T I) 53 4.9 Students Performance at the Work Places 54 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 5.1 Introduction. 58 5.2 Characteristics of Respondents 58 5.3 Examine the Extent to which Vocational Education has been Geared towards the National Development of the Nation. 60 5.4 Students are given Financial Assistance when they enter into Entrepreneurship. 61 5.5 There are Adequate Classroom, Workshops, Facilities and Logistics Provided by the Government are enough and Appropriate for Students. 61 5.6 Examine the Sectors of Economy that has Absorbed Vocational Graduates. 62 vii University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh 5.7 Poor Funding of Vocational Education on the Part of Government has contributed to its Decline. 63 5.8 Examine Government alone being Responsible of Financing, Maintaining and Running Vocational Education. 63 5.9 Industrial Attachment Programme and its Benefit to Students 65 CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 Introduction. 67 6.2 Summary of Findings. 67 6.3 Major Findings 67 6.4 Conclusions 68 6.5 Recommendations. 69 REFERENCES 71 APPENDICES 75 viii University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Return Rate of the Various Population 33 Table 2: Examine the extent to which vocational education has been geared towards the national development of the nation 38 Table 3: Sources of financial support to vocational education students. 40 Table 4 Adequate classrooms, workshops, facilities and the logistics provided by the government are enough and appropriate for students. 42 Table 5: Sectors of the economy that absorbed vocational graduates 43 Table 6: Poor funding of vocational education on the part of government has contributed to its decline. 45 Table 7: Examine government alone being responsible of financing, maintaining and running vocational education. 46 Table 8: Industrial attachment programme and its benefit to students 47 Table 9. Full time courses run at Assin Fosu and Biriwa Institutes. 50 Table 10: The table below shows the distribution of the training centres in Ghana 54 ix University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Sources of financial support to Vocational education students 40 Figure 2: Sectors of the economy that absorbed vocation graduates 43 x University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh ABSTRACT The need for Vocational Education as a result of advancing technology development worldwide has prompted many nations to re-examine their education curricular (Ginner, 1996). Ghana is no exception in this global phenomenon hence the introduction of the Educational Reforms programme with emphasis on vocational and technical education into Ghanaian school curriculum. Since 1987, education in Ghana has had series of setbacks because of lack of proper planning and the inability of Vocational Education to relate properly with the economy. For a nation to become fully developed it must make good use of science and technology. Qualitative research design approach was adopted for the study. The researcher used different methods to gather data for the research work. Questionnaires, interviews, observation and document analysis were carried out in order to make the work successful and its content reliable and valid. The investigation focused on relative importance of vocational education development to what extent graduates find job to support economic growth. The major results of the study indicated that students performance in vocational schools were appreciable. The outcome of the study was that, few of the respondents especially students bought their own materials which were used for their practical work. It was also revealed that, machinery were not adequate and even those available needed proper maintenance in all departments of the National Vocational Training Institutes at Biriwa and Assin Fosu. The researcher realised that, great effort has been made towards the industrial attachment and it was helping to shape the students a lot in terms of practical work. Even though the nation has benefited from vocational education, the impact is not so great and that the government needs to do more by putting in place special funds that will cater for vocational education. Industries should be made to plough back some of the profits to develop vocational education. xi University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This chapter discusses background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, scope of the study, limitations, delimitations of the study and definitions of terms and abbreviations.