EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF WORKSHOP FACILITIES FOR SKILLS ACQUISITION IN PUBLIC TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING INSTITUTIONS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

One of the objectives of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is to impart adequate and appropriate skills in their trainees, consistent with the emerging technologies at all levels of the economy. However, despite the government’s effort to equip TVET institutions with workshops the quality of training is still low with inadequate and some outdated facilities coupled with undue emphasis on theory and certification, which could be attributed to poor utilization of workshop facilities. The general objective of this study was to investigate the utilization of workshop facilities for skills acquisition in public TVET institutions in Kenya. The study was guided by the following three specific objectives; to determine the extent to which syllabus relevance, staff competency and equipment maintenance affected the effective utilization of workshop facilities for skills acquisition in public TVET Institutions in Kenya. To achieve the objectives a sample of 298 respondents was selected consisting of students, technicians and trainers from three TVET institutions within Nairobi County, Kenya. Stratified, purposeful and simple random sampling methods were applied in choosing the participants. The observation schedule and the respondents’ interview through questionnaires were the data collection instruments. The data was analyzed by use of Statistical Package of Social Scientists (SPSS) version 21. According to the findings, the three independent variables; relevance of workshop facilities to the syllabus, competency of staff and maintenance of the workshop facilities influenced the workshop facility utilization significantly. There was a positive and significant relationship between the relevance of the facility and equipment to its effective utilization level. Most of the trainers and technicians were not trained on newly acquired equipment. According to the respondents, repairs of the machines and facilities were not timely done. The challenge of few workshops was cited by most of the respondents followed by need to have repair of the machines and facilities being done on time. Through the observation checklist there was at least an idle machine in every institution mostly due to breakdown or awaiting full installation. Based on the logistic regression analysis, staff competency had the highest impact on increasing the workshop facilities utilization. It is recommended that the TVET institutions must have a standard procurement policy and procedure manuals which outlines purchasing procedure, maintenance and staff training. It is recommended that a similar study be done at different counties and institutions to ascertain the research and generalizability of the findings.