PRE-SERVICE VOCATIONAL TEACHERS PERCEPTIONS ON THE CHALLENGES OF SIWES IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN ENUGU STATE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was designed to identify the Pre-Service Vocational Teachers perceptions on the Challenges of SIWES in Tertiary Institutions in Enugu State of Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The population of the study comprised of 317 students with a breakdown as follows: Federal colleges of Education Eha-mufu – 68, Enugu State College of Education (Technical) Enugu – 73, University of Nigeria, Nsukka - 92, and Enugu State University of Science and Technology - 84. No sampling was carried out since the number is manageable. For effective investigation, a four point scaled 51 item questionnaires face validated by three experts from the Department of Vocational Teacher Education with reliability coefficient of 0.84 was used for data collection from the respondents. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed the administrative challenges, implementation challenges as well as the possible solutions to these challenges as perceived by pre-service vocational teachers in the area of the study. The study therefore recommends that the Government and allied stakeholders should implement the real objectives of SIWES as provided in the ITF document so that the students of vocational education, engineering and related courses will greatly benefit from the programme, Good incentives should be given to supervisors in doing supervisory work, in order to encourage them, Establishment of industrial developmental centers of small scale industries closer to higher institutions should be encouraged among others.