The Influence of Imported Used-Western Woodcraft on The Woodcraft Industry in The Sekondi-Takoradi (Published)
The paper examined the influence of imported used-Western woodcraft on the woodcraft industry of Sekondi-Takoradi for better product delivery and customer satisfaction. It investigated the impact of imported used-Western woodcraft on the style, technology, and finishing adaptation for local woodcraft production in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolitan area. It also explored the hands-on skills improvement and job creation opportunities for the woodcraft artisans and professionals in Sekondi-Takoradi.The analytical method was adopted to analyze the data using a purposive sampling technique. The primary information was acquired through interviews, interaction, observation, and field surveys, while secondary information was obtained from literary sources.The results showed that woodcraft producers in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis had embraced the western concepts and philosophies embedded in their International Standard Order (ISO) for the growing western taste of their prospective local patrons.The paper concludes that Sekondi-Takoradi is fortune with imported used-Western woodcrafts that have influenced the style, technology, and finishes of the locally made woodcraft. Also, the woodcraft producers in Sekondi-Takoradi have the ability to compete with their Western counterparts by adapting, replicating, and substituting foreign woodcrafts with indigenously crafted ones.
Keywords: Adaptation, Design, Influences, Technology, woodcraft
Wood Artisan Training and Job Prospects in Sekondi Takoradi -The Hope, The Helplessness, And The Hatred (Published)
The paper aimed to investigate the wood artisanal education and training designed for the youth of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis and the prevailing job prospects vis-a-vis the modern technologies, tools, equipment and materials required in the (artisanal) training and manufacturing of world-class wood products. The paper found that the wood market is available to wood artisans and wood products in the Metropolis. The quantitative design approach was applied as the work was based on information obtained from wood artisans and professionals, connoisseurs, curators and wood sellers. The primary information was acquired through interaction, observation and field survey, while secondary information was obtained from literary sources. The purposive sampling technique adopted the analytical method to analyse the data.The results showed that woodcraft artisans in the Metropolis lacked the requisite education and training in modern machinery and technological know-how needed to meet the International Standard Order (ISO) and the increasing taste of the prospective woodcraft market.The paper concludes that Sekondi-Takoradi will be threatened with employable woodcraft knowledge, skills and competencies required to meet the Metropolis’s woodcraft market and compete favourably with their Western and Asian counterparts.
Citation: Samuel Adentwi Bentum, Frederick Narkwa Anderson and Solomon Obuobisa Ayeh (2022) Wood Artisan Training and Job Prospects in Sekondi Takoradi -The Hope, The Helplessness, And The Hatred, International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education Research, Vol.8, No.2 pp.9-29
Keywords: Education, Technology, Training, artisan, wood
TVET and Industry: Revamped TVET Curriculum as the Missing Link for Sustainable Economic Growth and Development in Nigeria (Published)
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) aside from providing general education is established for training and practical skill development opportunities that attunes to national and local contexts. TVET graduates should be competent enough to apply scientific knowledge to improve and solve environmental problems. However, graduates from various TVET programmes have failed to justify this purpose. This paper explored the present curriculum using the Department of Computer Science, The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro curriculum as a case study to identify this missing link. Descriptive and Inferential Statistical analysis carried out on some graduates of the Department explicitly working in Information Technology (IT) firms as Developers to identify whether the knowledge and skills acquired in school were sufficient for their career take off, revealed a wide gap between the present curriculum and the trends in the industry. The results obtained from the study showed that 62% passed through further skill acquisition training that created employment opportunities for them, 14% trained before admission for the TVET programme while 24% were able to learn on the job. The empirical analysis also showed that the position of the participants did not differ significantly in their mean perception of TVET programs as evidenced by the F statistic of 1.690 with an associated P-value of 0.195 > 0.05 significance level.
Keywords: Curriculum Development, Education, Industry, Skill, Technology, Vocational
Current Issues and Challenges in the Acquisition of Office Technology and Management Skills (Published)
It is a well-established fact that advances in technology has affected different professions with a view to meet global trends in higher productivity, speed, networking and excellent packaging. Accomplishing the routine tasks with machines is known as automation. Hence this paper accesses how secretaries have used as a panacea to accelerate their success in the workplace. Their basic activities affected includes: reprography, word processing, organization of meetings amongst others. The paper revealed certain products of automation like: printing, book keeping, payroll, forms management. It also highlighted major challenges of lack of funds, insecurity as having bedeviled office automation. Recommendations made included that secretaries and office technology managers should constantly be retrained to sharpen their equipment handling capacity. It was therefore concluded that it was inevitable for business concerns to continue these changes to enable their secretaries reshape their products to meet global standards.
Keywords: Acquisition, Management Skills, Office, Technology