An assessment of the perceived falling standards in practical skills of trainees a case study of mechanical engineering craft- practice in technical and vocational education in the Techiman municipality

Abstract

The study assessed the perceived falling standards in practical skills of trainees, using mechanical engineering craft practice in Technical and Vocational Education within Techiman Municipality as a case study. The research design adopted for this study was the descriptive research design. Survey questionnaires were distributed to apprentice/students and master craftsmen in the Vocational and Technical schools. The population for the study was nine hundred and ninety eight (998) students currently undergoing Technical and vocational training in the respective schools in the Techiman Municipality. Random sampling technique was used to select one hundred and nine respondents for the study (97 apprentices and 12 master craftsmen). The questionnaire was delivered by hand to each respondent and collected after completion by respondents. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for windows (version 16.0) was the analytical tool used to analyze the data.From the research finding 80.4% of the respondents spent less than one year at the training institutions as compare to the pass years before one can get into the MET 1, which contributed greatly to the falling standard.The study findings shows that activity based method, demonstration method and observation were used to deliver competency based skills acquisition. Most of the apprentices had their technical competency training from master craftsmen. The designing of training programmes in technical training is good. Moreover, the practical competency training is good. Furthermore, the vocational training institutes lack adequate educational resources to facilitate vocational education. This means that availability of tools and equipment for TVET training is poor. This eventually contributed to the falling standards in practical skills of trainees. The study recommended that the Ghana Education Service through the District education office should provide Teaching and Learning Materials in a form of tools and equipment to enhance the practical skills of trainees.