Institutional factors influencing acquisition of employable skills by students in public technical and vocational education and training institutions in Nairobi county, Kenya.

Abstract

TVET training is an avenue to empower the youth to be self-employable, to have employable skills and to boost economic development. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the institutional factors influencing acquisition of employable skills by students in TVET institutions in Nairobi County ,Kenya. Four objectives guided the study: to establish the establish the influence of academic qualification of TVET teachers on acquisition of employable skills, establish the extent to which availability of training equipment influence acquisition of employable skills, establish the influence of teaching methods on acquisition of employable skills, establish the influence of adequacy of TVET teachers on acquisition of employable skills. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The study targeted three TVET institutions in Nairobi County.The research instruments used were questionnaires’ for teachers and students and an interview guide for principals. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and quantitative statistics. Data was presented in frequency tables and percentages. The key study findings were that teachers had prerequisite academic qualification to teach in TVET institutions, the TVET teachers do not have any professional development program or industrial attachment, academic qualification of teachers’ influences acquisition of employable skills by students. There is inadequate provision of training equipment, institutions do not have modern equipment that are relevant to those used in the industries, relevance of training equipment influences acquisition of employable skills, workshops were not well equipped , teachers mainly use lecture, demonstration, workbased learning and discussion teaching methods due to large class sizes, inadequate training equipment and their influence on skills acquisition, the institutions have inadequate teaching staff hence are forced to hire part-time teachers or merge classes in order complete syllabuses. The study concluded that the four institutional factors investigated significantly influenced the employable skills acquired by students. It was recommended that industries should support TVET institution by providing industrial attachment programs for teachers, all stakeholders; parents, industries, government and donors should contribute in providing mode rn adequate training equipment, TVET teachers should use practically-oriented teaching methods like field trip, project work, simulation and work-based teaching often methods in order to achieve the desired result of imparting the employable skills necessary for the world of work and the government should support TVET institutions in hiring of more trained teachers to curb inadequacy of teachers and merging of classes.