TECHNICAL TEACHERS AND INDUSTRIAL MANAGERS RATING OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE PRACTICAL SKILLS ACQUISITION BY TECHNICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS IN KWARA STATE

Abstract

Practical skills deficiency among technical college graduates is responsible for the alarming rates of unemployment. This study aims to find out, from the rating of technical teachers and industrial managers, the strategies that could improve practical skills' acquisition in technical colleges in Kwara State. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. The population comprised of 127 technical teachers and 71 industrial managers. The population were considered manageable hence; there were no need to employ any sampling. Out of the 205 copies of the instrument sent out, 198 copies were analyzed. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The instrument was strategies for improving practical skills' acquisition by students in Technical Colleges (QERSIPSASTC) which was validated by three experts from the Department of Technology and Vocational Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Reliability co-efficient value yielded 0.85. The instrument was a five-points Likert scale type with six sections. Mean statistic was used to answer the research question and t-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 significance level. Results from the analysis of data showed that demonstration method impart practical skills to students. Results also revealed that government should always recruit qualified technical teachers to teach technical subjects. Result of t-test showed that there was a significance difference in the mean ratings of technical teachers and industrial managers on the teaching activities that could improve practical skills acquisition by technical students.

Keywords. Industrial Managers; Practical Skills Acquisition; Technical Colleges; Technical Teachers.