Abstract
The purpose of the study was to identify and describe factors influencing instruction competencies as perceived by Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students in Malaysia. The study described the students’ self-perceived level of knowledge and their perceived importance of instruction competencies for TVET courses conducted by a private vocational college in Kuala Lumpur and a public institution in Selangor. The study employed a mixed-method explanatory sequential study design. Data were gathered from a sample of 171 TVET students using the Instruction Competency Questionnaire (ICS). Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation were used to analyses the data. This was followed by individual semi-structured interviews with 3 TVET students from the Selangor public institution. Feedback from the respondents of the ICS showed that 68.4% indicated that they had knowledge on scientific, interpretative, and critical paradigms. Significant correlations (p < .05) were reported (a) between perceived knowledge of experience in designing instruction and perceived knowledge of need for further education in instruction competence, and (b) between perceived importance of training on designing instruction and perceived importance of the need for further education in instruction competence. The study also showed that perceived importance of instruction competencies and perceived knowledge of instruction competencies were predictors for the need for further education on instruction competencies. The findings indicated that instruction competence was important for the overall quality of educational experience since it was shaped by expectations about the educational outcomes that students should manifest upon their graduation.
Highlights
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Malaysia has undergone major changes since its introduction in the period just before the country obtained her independence in 1957
The general perception is that there is a mismatch of skills that students are trained for and those demanded by the industry. It is upon this critical observation that this research is conducted to identify and investigate the factors that might influence instruction competencies as perceived by TVET students, as they are the ones who would benefit from a better TVET curriculum
Review of Literature Participants’ Perceptions Regarding Perceived Importance and Perceived Need for Training in Relation to Instruction Competencies In a study conducted by Polkinghorne and Arnett-Harwick (2014) to determine the perception of educators in family and consumer sciences (FACS) on the integration of reading skill instructions in secondary FACS courses, the results revealed that most FACS teacher educators reported positive perceptions towards the integration of reading skills into FACS courses
Summary
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Malaysia has undergone major changes since its introduction in the period just before the country (formerly Malaya) obtained her independence in 1957. It is upon this critical observation that this research is conducted to identify and investigate the factors that might influence instruction competencies as perceived by TVET students, as they are the ones who would benefit from a better TVET curriculum. The TVET curriculum should be designed to equip students with specialized skills for specific jobs so that they will be gainfully employed upon graduation. It is the government’s objective to ensure that by 2020, the workforce will comprise adequate skilled workers to drive the economy to greater heights. As students have diverse needs and different ways of learning, research regarding methods of instruction for today’s TVET education is extremely important. Instruction competence as used in this study is ‘the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management and evaluation of processes and resources for learning’ (Seels & Richey, 1994)
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