THE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES CONSIDERED FOR TEACHING JOB SKILLS BY SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
Chapiter 1
Introduction
1.1 Study’s Background
Every nation’s development is built on the principles of business and education. Effective teaching methods should not be taken for granted even if a nation may brag of being economically, technologically, and educationally developed (Daniel, 1998).
Widespread public indignation among stakeholders resulted from the colonial educational system’s inability to address Nigeria’s socioeconomic challenges, particularly the lack of skill development among our secondary school graduates in the 20th century. As a result, a national education policy was created, which was essential in bringing business subjects to Nigerian public secondary schools.
Atuenyi (1999), Onifade (2007), and other academics, professionals, and policymakers all agree that business education plays a crucial role in national development because of its potential to develop work skills. A transition away from just financial capital growth and toward increased human capital development was also emphasized.
Eya (2007) asserts that there is a large gap in the way secondary schools educate practical work skills. He went on to say that the effectiveness of the teaching strategies employed is equally as important as the availability of qualified instructors and state-of-the-art facilities for instruction. The modifications to the Nigerian educational system, according to Ezekwesili (2007), were made to promote functional education for the improvement of life skills, the creation of jobs, and the eradication of poverty.
According to Anao (1986), business education includes all of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for starting and successfully operating a firm, whether one is an employee or an entrepreneur. Business education was defined by Nwaokolo (1998) as “the acquisition of business skills, attitudes, and information from secondary and postsecondary institutions for the performance of personal or corporate business operations.”
The following courses were taught at a pre-vocational level and as an integrated subject in junior secondary business education. They consist of:
(1) Business Overview and Introduction to Business Studies
(2) Office Procedures (Good Office Procedures)
(3) Trade (The Lifeblood of Business)
(4) Maintaining Books (Business Success)
(5) Shorthand (Business Skills)
(6) Typing and Keyboarding (Communication Tool)
Business courses at the senior secondary level include the following:
the subsequent vocational fields:
(1) Invoicing
Economical 2
(3) Business
(4) Keyboarding or computer studies
5) Business Technique
(6) Keyboarding.
The basic objectives of these disciplines, whether taught at the junior or senior secondary levels, are always the same: to give students the necessary work skills, knowledge, and attitude for paid or self-employment as well as for higher education in business-related fields.
According to Robinson (2010), job skills are the aptitudes needed to acquire, maintain, and perform well on the job. Any child lacking the necessary job skills today has no chance of success, and any business education curriculum that does not effectively address how students will learn and use job skills is worthless. In this regard, Ohiwerei (2009) noted that although graduates of business education lamented a lack of career possibilities, businesses lamented a lack of qualified candidates.
Business education includes the following employment skills among others:
(1) Fundamental ICT abilities, including keyboarding, word processing, data management, and internet usage
(2) Entrepreneurial skills (time management, marketing, fundamental accounting, managing a small business, etc.)
(3) Communication abilities (verbal and written, including the ability to compose succinct, clear sentences, report, present, etc.)
(4) The ability to solve problems creatively and practically, as well as to investigate, research, analyze, and find and evaluate options.
(5) Social abilities (teamwork, delegation, leadership, etc.).
Job skills are not acquired by accident; rather, they are intentionally planned, taught, studied, and practiced, particularly in secondary schools. This is because the development of work skills for paid or self-employment is at the core of business education and youth empowerment. Some schools of thought asserted that a lack of skills rather than a lack of employment was to blame for Nigeria’s rising rate of school dropouts without jobs. Parents are starting to question the importance of sending their children to school as a result of the nation’s alarmingly high unemployment rate.
Additionally, it has been suggested that the high rate of unemployment among our school graduates is a contributing factor in the prevalence of crime and other social vices in Nigeria today, such as armed robbery, kidnapping, prostitution, political thuggery, and drug and human trafficking. In light of this, Nwachokor (2002) asserted that business education is a potent force in empowering young people with the necessary skills, knowledge, abilities, and competencies to allow people to be gainfully employed or self-employed, leading to long-term economic growth and the eradication of poverty in our society. This illustrates that business education instills the necessary skills necessary for a person to be a paid employee or self-employed if effective teaching methods are used.
According to Emeniru (1989), a teaching strategy is a method, procedure, means, or approach for achieving the stated educational objectives. In a teaching and learning environment, strategies are the same as instructional approaches and processes, claim Okwuanaso and Nwazor (2000). The teaching and learning process depends heavily on teaching methods. The instruction of secondary school students and the acquisition of job skills both require effective strategies.
This occurs as a result of the terrible effects of inadequate work skill training. For instance, the development of skills among school dropouts may be minimal or nonexistent due to the lack of efficient methods for teaching work skills. Unemployment may result from a lack of skills or the inability to develop them. On the other hand, poverty and societal ills are caused by unemployment.
Both Agwu (2001) and Uwameiye (2005) observed that the majority of business education instructors use more theoretical teaching methods than practical and inquiry-based ones, and that the materials they use to deliver their lessons are all out-of-date and unsuitable for the modern information technology era. They also stressed that the majority of teachers are more concerned with covering their students’ course material than they are with their participation and involvement in class. Every educator uses a different approach depending on the knowledge or skills being taught. The three main learning styles—auditory, visual, and kinesthetic—must all be taken into consideration in a successful lesson plan or teaching strategy. A great teaching strategy must also include the environment, learning goals, and prior knowledge of the pupils.
For the purpose of teaching work skills, Mannison (2009) listed the following six categories of instructional techniques:
(1) Direct Instructional Strategies: These, in his opinion, are the most efficient ways to teach students new material because they are primarily focused on the teacher. Examples include lectures, listening and visualizing, programmed instruction, customized instruction, etc.
(2) Indirect Instructional methods: He classified this category of methods as student-centered approaches that aim to involve a lot of students in observing, researching, drawing conclusions from data, and formulating hypotheses. Examples include the Dalton Method, the Inquiry Method, the Questioning Technique, the Read and Practice Method, etc.
(3) Interactive educational Strategies: According to him, using interactive educational strategies largely relies on participant interaction and sharing. Students can strengthen their social skills and critical thinking while learning from teachers and their peers. Examples include discussions, inviting special guests to speak or serve as resources, debates, role plays, and conferences, among others.
He called them learner-centered and activity-oriented experimental instructional strategies. It involves the learner’s personal and practical experiences. Field trips, office visits, workshops, exposure to laboratories, etc.
(5) Independent Instructional Strategies: According to him, independent strategies are a variety of teaching techniques that are specifically offered to encourage the growth of each student’s initiative, self-reliance, and capacity for progress. Examples include the project method, computer-assisted instruction, and the critical thinking method.
Using instructional materials and visual aids in the teaching and learning process is covered in strategy number six, materials/visual aids. The student can use sight and sound to learn. Television, videotapes, using a textbook, instructional films, etc. are some examples.
According to Tema (2007), the main focuses of efficient teaching methods in business education are:
(a) To provide top-notch business subject instruction and learning in educational institutions.
(a) To ensure that graduates of business education are employable
(c) To raise the profile and appeal of the business education program. While the guiding principles of efficacy, quality, accessibility, entrepreneurship, employability, and sustainability are thought to be significant drivers of these methods. Subject matter competence and the efficacy of the strategies used to impart such material to the student are the two main characteristics of a competent and effective teacher, according to Eya (2001).
No nation can go above the caliber of its professors, according to Collins (1979), Daniel (1998), Atuenyi (1999), Agwu (2001), Ohakwe (2001), Ezeom and Afe (2004), Nwodo (2006), and Onifade (2007).
Teachers, school administrators, and government officials do not give effective teaching practices enough consideration. If immediate action is not done to assure successful teaching of work skills at the secondary school level, teaching and learning of job skills in business education will continue to experience setbacks, and unemployment among school dropouts, with its associated social evils, would also continue to grow.
Last but not least, Maduako (1996) issued a warning: a teacher’s blunder can have a greater negative impact on a country’s future than that of a doctor, engineer, or lawyer. For instance, a doctor’s mistake could cause a patient to die, an engineer’s mistake could cause a bridge to crumble, and a lawyer’s mistake could land someone in jail, but if a teacher makes a mistake in education, future generations could be affected.
In light of the aforementioned, the researcher made the decision to carry out a study on the efficacy of six groups of instructional strategies for imparting job skills in business education at the secondary school level in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was based on the perspectives of male and female, urban and rural, degree- and non-degree-holding, experienced and less experienced business teachers. The timing of this study couldn’t have been better. It is necessary, timely, and a positive step.
1.2 Definition of the Issue
Lack of efficient methods for teaching work skills in business education at the secondary school level, not only in Anambra State but across the nation, is one of the fundamental flaws in the educational system that parents, educators, and the government have pointed out. It was also found that in Anambra State schools, the availability of teachers, the quantity of classroom space and equipment, including computers, did not appear to be linked with effective teaching strategies to give students the crucial job skills they need to succeed in school.
In today’s world, unemployment not only affects the youth and potential leaders of our country, but it also presents one of the biggest problems for the Nigerian people and government. Parents are starting to question the usefulness of sending their children to school due to the alarming rise in the number of school dropouts without jobs. It has also been highlighted that young Nigerian school dropouts wander the streets of cities and towns without a job or any genuine means of surviving. Many of them engage in criminal behavior and other social vices, such as prostitution, kidnapping for ransom, and other vices, which makes them a burden on society.
These school dropouts are jobless because it seems like they lack the abilities needed for paid or independent work. Business education job skills are purposefully created, taught, learnt, and exercised, especially at the secondary school level. They are not acquired by chance. Unfortunately, business teachers in Anambra State, and indeed the entire nation, do not seem to be properly identifying and utilizing effective teaching strategies, such as direct, indirect, interactive, experimental, independent, and materials/visual aid, that could be used to foster the teaching of job skills in secondary school business education and make school leavers employable upon graduation.
It is usually believed that business education students would surely learn the requisite job skills for paid or self-employment provided they are effectively taught the relevant job skills before leaving school. In addition, unemployment and poverty will no longer exist in our society. In order to best transmit the necessary work skills to business school students, this study must therefore choose the instructional strategies from among the six categories listed by Mannison (2009). Among them are materials/visual assistance, direct, indirect, interactive, experimental, and independent help.
1.3 Study’s Objectives
The main goal of this study is to identify which of the six sets of instructional strategies described by Mannison are regarded helpful for teaching job skills from the perspective of business teachers in secondary schools in Anambra State. This study’s objectives are to:
(1) Determine the effectiveness of direct instructional strategies for teaching work skills among business teachers in Anambra State.
(2) Evaluate the efficacy of indirect instructional strategies for teaching work skills among business teachers in Anambra State.
(3) Determine the effectiveness of interactive instructional methodologies in Anambra State business teachers’ instruction of work skills.
1.4 Research Prompts
The study’s research questions are as follows:
1. How effective do business teachers in secondary schools in Anambra State think direct instructional methods are for imparting work skills?
2. How effective are indirect instructional strategies for teaching job skills in the eyes of business teachers in secondary schools in Anambra State?
3. How effective are interactive instructional strategies in teaching work skills according to business teachers in secondary schools in Anambra State?
1.5 Importance of the Research
The findings of the study will be very useful to business professors, students, the government, educational authorities, researchers, and a variety of other stakeholders.
The results of the study will inspire business teachers to create and put into practice effective methods for teaching work skills to secondary school students. In order to achieve remarkable results in secondary school teaching and learning of work skills, teachers should keep up with new facilities, technologies, and equipment. These should be linked with effective teaching approaches. By using student-centered techniques to strengthen the teaching and learning of job skills for individual and national growth, they may also enhance instructors’ professional development and create vibrant business classrooms. In order for students to acquire the necessary job skills while in secondary school, the findings may also help the instructors overcome the difficulties in creating and putting into practice efficient methods for teaching work skills at the secondary school level. After graduation, many students will internalize the culture and develop an interest in entrepreneurship, which will help them in their efforts to eliminate unemployment in society and create jobs.
The study’s findings might make the government and other important education authorities more aware of the value of effective methods for teaching and learning work skills in schools. As it relates to the effectiveness of strategies used to teach work skills in secondary schools, the government may use the findings of the studies to develop an effective training program for teachers. The government may be able to identify long-term solutions to the issue of youth unemployment thanks to the findings. Additionally, it might not be essential for the government to allocate additional funds to the creation of skill-acquisition centers; instead, secondary schools that are more easily accessible to teenagers could serve as such facilities.
Finally, the results can provide as a roadmap for scientists who seek to investigate further the efficacy of methods for imparting work skills to secondary school students in Nigeria and other countries.
1.6 Study’s Purpose
Due to time and resource limitations, the researcher was only able to focus on the six categories of instructional strategies proposed by Mannison (2009): direct, indirect, interactive, experimental, independent, and materials/visual aid strategies. However, there may be other strategies for teaching job skills in secondary schools.
No attempt was made to employ things outside of the six groups mentioned above. Additionally, the survey only included business teachers from public secondary schools.
1.7 Study limitations
The difficulties the researchers had while conducting the study were related to finances, poor supplies, and time constraints.
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