Sustaining Building Construction Technologists Self-Employment Through Competency Based Training (Published)
The study determined competency based training as a practical tool for sustainable self-emploment of building construction technologists in Enugu state. Two research questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 115 practicing building construction technologists. Instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Two experts validated the instrument for data collection. The internal consistency of the instrument items was determined by the use of Cronbach alpha reliability method and 0.84 reliability coefficient was obtained. The data generated were analyzed using mean to answer research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that competency based training have the potentials to foster and sustain self-employment of building construction technologists. It can sustain self-employment of building construction technologists by equipping them with common building construction competencies such as in-depth knowledge of construction practice, building drawing and interpretation competencies, building performance analytical competency and, determination of building materials behaviours among others. It was recommended that strong partnership between training institutes and dynamic building construction industries should be encouraged. This partnership would provide an environment for students to interact with experts such that, up-to-date competencies that meets labour needs would be transmitted to participating learners.
Keywords: Self-employment, Sustainability, building construction technologist, competency-based training
Policy innovations in the VET sector: The role of instructors in competency-based training in Ghanaian TVET institutions (Published)
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in Ghana aim at providing learners with the required knowledge, skills and attitudes to perform effectively in the rapidly changing scenes in the workplace. Upgrading all polytechnics institutions into technical universities and introducing Free Education policy for all trainees in TVET institutions are recent major transformation in the TVET system in Ghana. Among the features that are emphasized in this transition is the method of teaching and learning in an environment of competency-based training (CBT). The study therefore examines what form of teaching learning strategies undertaken by instructors in CBT in order to equip trainees with the requisite competencies to perform professional tasks in the world of work. The study reveals that the pedagogical skills of instructors in CBT have not changed from the traditional system and calls for comprehensive staff development programmes for CBT teachers to establish long-term changes in their mindsets, belief systems, values, intentions and theories to match their new roles and tasks.
Keywords: Innovations, Technical and Vocational Education, competency-based training, instructors.