Improving practical skills to meet the world of work competence requirements in tailoring: a case of national instructors college abilonino

Abstract

The action research project aimed at improving practical skills acquisition to meet the world of work competence requirements in Tailoring for Diploma in Teacher Technical Education at National Instructors College Abilonino. The specific objectives of the study were: To identify the challenges in practical skill acquisition, implementation and evaluation of the implemented strategies. Future workshop was conducted which brought all stakeholders together. These included thirty seven (37) students, two (2) lecturers, three (3) Administrators and four instructors from workplaces. Future workshop as a tool was used to identify the problems which included: improper teaching of practicals, ineffective assessment, poor time management, low syllabus coverage, failure to conduct study coverage, industry claimed to retain learners. The study used a qualitative research design and purposive sampling to select the respondents from community NICA (students, instructors, administrator and lectures). The methods of data collection included; interviews, observation and focus group discussions among others. The data collected was then transcribed, coded and presented under themes following the research objectives. Identified intervention were: strengthening collaboration between world of work, provide sewing garments, Integration of free hand cutting with paper patterns in order to meet the world of work competence requirement, improving the teaching methods from traditional to impart Competence Based Education Training and provide industrial training to the students. Evaluation of the strategies was done using observation method, oral interview and a questionnaire. The results showed that the strategies implemented improved practical skills in Tailoring section at NICA. Recommendation were raised by the stakeholders (students, researcher, instructors, administrators and lectures).