THE ROLE OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND COUSELLING TOWARDS SKILL ACQUISITION AMONG VOCATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS (A CASE STUDY OF SELECETED VOCATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGY CENTERS IN BAUCHI STATE)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

 Education in time past has lost its value to some extent. In Nigeria the level of restiveness among youths has grown to a very high level, making it difficult to ascertain the importance and the effect of education, for example a hand full of school dropout without any skill, technological knowhow or occupation which is suppose to help them make a living is not available. These have resulted in a greater number of the population being unuseful and unemployed as a result of lack of skills or technical knowhow which is to help them gain employment and self reliance, as a result of the  high rate of unemployment in the country, youth have fend for themselves different medium of earning a living through  illegal ways; the unemployed youths are being used by political hiding leaders s hired assassins during political campaigns and to achieve their goals, to create problems in the oil producing communities, the frequent cases of robbery attacks in the Banks, on the high ways, in our residence and the issue of bomb blast is on the increased in Nigeria on daily basis. A functional vocational and technology education right from the secondary school stage can be the solution to these problems; the average youth of today can expect to change jobs several times, often in completely different sectors. They must experience a further period of learning to update their skills as a career. Therefore, vocational guidance and counseling among vocational and technology students in Bauchi needs to improve the quality of future vocational opportunities by bringing innovation directed towards substantive development, based on the trend of enhancing perspective vocational and technology development from theories to value, attitude and practical actions.

Therefore, this study seeks to analyze the role of vocational guidance and counseling towards skill acquisition among vocational and technology students.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The poor students’ academic performance coupled with their poor acquisition of skills in vocational studies in Nigeria has negatively affected the educational sector. These poor skill acquisitions in Nigeria have equally made students less marketable in the labour market thus leading to the increase in unemployment rate in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study would be to examine the role of vocational guidance and counseling towards skill acquisition among vocational and technology students. Other aims of the study would be ;

1. To examine the relationship between vocational guidance and counseling towards skill acquisition.
2. To determine the benefits of vocational guidance and counseling.
3. To examine the advantages of vocational guidance and counseling among vocational and technology students.
4. To examine the roles of counselors towards skill acquisition.
5. To recommend ways of improving skill acquisition among vocational students.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What significant impact does vocational guidance counseling has on skill acquisition among vocational and technology students in Nigeria?

2. Does effective guidance and counseling develop decision making    and problem solving skills?

1. What are the benefits vocational guidance and counseling have in facilitating career exploration and development?
2. What are the advantages of skill acquisition among vocational and technology students in Nigeria?
3. What impact will guidance and counseling towards skill acquisition have on the educational sector of Nigeria?

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: vocational guidance counseling has no significant impact on skill acquisition among vocational and technology students in Nigeria

H1: vocational guidance counseling has a significant impact on skill acquisition among vocational and technology students in Nigeria

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will aid vocational and technology students to understand the importance of guidance and counseling. Findings from the study will highlight the various benefits of vocational guidance and counseling in acquiring skills to secure a good source of living. The study would also be of immense importance to students, researchers or scholars who are interested in further studies on the role of vocational guidance and counseling towards skill acquisition in Nigeria.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is restricted to the role of vocational guidance and counseling towards skill acquisition using vocational and technology students in Bauchi state as a case study.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.