ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AT THE SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL IN NIGERIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM
Jekayinfa Oyeyemi Jumoke
Abstract
The paper compared the location of Technical and Vocational Education at the secondary school level in Nigeria and the United Kingdom to fulfil its role making education realise its objective of national development. In order for TVE to play its part effectively in the changing national context, there is an urgent need to critically examine its location at this level of provision. The study employed a descriptive survey type of the adapted field study method and integrated with other methods which include the historical, scientific and comparative approaches. The population comprised all technical, vocational education stakeholders in the two countries. The target population comprised educational administrators from the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, Nigeria and Department of Education in the UK, as well as secondary school teachers in Nigeria and the UK. Out of 179 Technical Colleges in both countries, 16 Technical Colleges were purposively sampled and a total of 106 education stakeholders. Two instruments were used in the study, a questionnaire and a Structured Open-ended Interview Schedule (SOIS) with psychometric properties of content value of 0.72 reliability. The result of the study revealed that the structure of TVE at the senior secondary school level in Nigeria and the UK promotes technological and vocational attitude and development, although this is more promoted in the UK than in Nigeria (80.45 and 59.4% respectively). The study concluded that education stakeholders in Nigeria and the UK believe that TVE contributed to technological development and its location is suitable at the senior secondary school level in Nigeria and Key Stage 4 level in the UK. The study recommended that Nigerian government should allocate sufficient fund to upgrade TVE in order to promote technological development more in Nigeria as it is practised in the UK.
