A way forward for vocational education tutors

Traditionally, VTE teachers are recruited from among artisans, tradesmen, technicians and engineers/technologists whose major training has been concentrated on technical areas.  Few have been trained as teachers.  There have been rate cases of specialist undertaking a diploma in education to prepare themselves for teaching in schools. This situation has not been without associated problems.  In […]

Traditionally, VTE teachers are recruited from among artisans, tradesmen, technicians and engineers/technologists whose major training has been concentrated on technical areas.  Few have been trained as teachers.  There have been rate cases of specialist undertaking a diploma in education to prepare themselves for teaching in schools. This situation has not been without associated problems.  In several areas, due to low pay, it has not been possible to attract the right teachers as qualified VTE professionals.  Often, many opt for deployment in lucrative enterprises or self-employment where income is more attractive.
As a first step to attract personnel with the interest and the right qualifications and experience, government and employment agencies should consider offering attractive and competitive remuneration and other employment benefits to VTE teachers and trainers.  This will also be complemented by a selective recruitment strategy where only the most qualified will be employed.
Once recruited, VTE teachers should be offered opportunities to advance in pursuit of higher education and training and also, to periodically take retraining either through enterprises or in specialized institutions to keep being current in their technical disciplines.
At present, most VTE progrmames including teachers education, have limited opportunities for further training. This has left many VTE personnel un-progressing as the are by-passed during promotion exercise to a higher scales and positions of responsibility. There is an urgent need to link VTE programmes to university programmes either by providing credit for courses taken or even work experience.  There is also an urgent demand for graduate VTE teachers and trainers to help advance the field. At present, VTE problem and issues are under researched due to the lack of manpower with the higher level analytical and research skills.
The fast pace of scientific and technological development worldwide affects the knowledge and the skill bases in VTE programme in Nigeria as a major consumer of goods and services from the advanced countries. The changing work environment also calls for a new set of knowledge and skills for the trainers to fit in either the formal or informal sector.
Current VTE curricula are still too foreign oriented and in some cases out-dated because they are based on old trades most of which are now non-existent in the western countries.  There is a need therefore for innovation in VTE curricular to make them more relevant to the changing needs of modern African work environments.
Such curricula innovation begins with teachers education curricula.  It is evident that a wide spectrum of the teachers are required for both formula, informal and non-formal learning situations. There is a need to design curricula that integrate the liberal, scientific and vocational disciplines in the formal school system while emphasizing the vocational training component in post-school programmes aimed at producing artisans, craftsmen, technicians and technologists.
An essential component of the VTE teachers career development should be the requirement for such teacher trainers to undertake industrial attachment periodically (e.g. after every five years) to ensure they keep professionally current in their areas of specialization.
In order to keep current with the state of the art practice there is a need for collaboration between VTE institutions and enterprises to enable students gain skills and to enable teachers to retool in their own occupations, in this relationship, tangible benefits accrue to both educational institutions, and the informal/formal sector.  Since enterprises are mostly likely to be operating within the state of the art technology, they should be included on curricula panels to participate in curriculum development.
Today, VTE is financed under various arrangements including: public financing, enterprise financing, private and public sponsored financing international donor assistance, not a single method amongst the above can suffice.  Often, a combination is recommended. However, it is imperative that public financing be committed to the preparation of VTE teachers/trainers without much dependence on other sources. This is an important state responsibility of a pool of teachers/trainers is to be guaranteed for the future. The government can rally the support of stakeholders e.g. employers, employee union, parents and trainees to supplement the cost of VTE for the benefits of development at the national level.
The current trend of mushrooming VTE institutions in response to rising unemployment is counter productive and the scarcity of resources is there. It is advisable for governments to have fewer but moiré comprehensive and well-equipped VTE institutions with more capacity than the existing under-resourced and poorly managed institutions.
The role of technical and vocational education and training in the preparation of manpower for national development is well acknowledged in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.  However, the potential of this aspect of education has not been fully exploited due to a wide variety of constraints. This has left the majority of potential work force unprepared for the world of work.
An important step forward in addressing this problem must begin with teacher preparation.  Without qualified and well experienced VTE teachers and trainers to plan and execute VTE programmes, not much can be realized at the grassroots.
There is the need for higher level trained VTE expert to provide the professional, academic and research leadership in the field to support policy formulation, planning, development and implementation. While recognizing the current financial constraints Nigeria faces, it is important, however, to point out that despite its prohibitive cost, ignoring VTE is most likely to be more costly in the long run as no nation can expect to become competitive in the modern liberalized markets without such technical manpower.
Mamuda Hamma Lakun wrote from Government Science Technical College, Area 3, Garki, Abuja