THE EXTENT TO WHICH TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING INSTITUTIONS PREPARE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING TECHNICIANS FOR THE LABOUR MARKET IN KENYA

Abstract

TVET institutions in Kenya are mandated to collaborate with other stakeholders in developing a comprehensive national skills curriculum (KESSP report, 2005-2010). Sufficient TVET collaboration with Industry would lead to provision of relevant competencies to trainees for Labour market preparedness. This research study investigated the extent to which TVET institutions prepare Electrical Engineering Technicians for the labour market in Kenya. The study used structured questionnaires to obtain quantitative data from TVET trainers and Industry supervisors within Nairobi Region. Survey research design was adopted for the study, simple random sampling technique was applied to select 80 respondents TVET Institutions and Industries. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS. Factor analysis was used to group the variables under study. It was established that research, development and innovation collaboration between TVET and industry, modern training equipment in TVET, TVET trainee and staff attachment programmes are vital for TVET trainee’s labour market preparedness. The study recommends TVET institutions to restructure their training programmes in Electrical Engineering to achieve competence of the graduate. Training programmes should focus on fully trainee labour market preparedness and not the quality of grades attained by the graduate.