Critical questions
Methodology
This grand plan of manual skills training did not meet the standards of the workplace. Forty percent of the respondents see that manual skills training is better than academic training. Ninety-four (seventy-three percent) of the respondents agree that the government should provide infrastructure, machinery and materials for the effective delivery of manual skills training.
90 percent of respondents disagreed with this because manual skills training in schools is insufficient.
Definition of key terms
Assumptions of the study
Secondary education previously had barriers, such as a limited curriculum with academic emphasis (Leech, 1986). A new system of technical and vocational education is being introduced at the secondary schools, which includes the training of experts from industry.
Limitations of the study
Manual skills training is the total experience and activity of the learners that brings the learner readiness for the world of work. The data reflect the attitudes of students towards manual skills training in secondary schools, which is insufficient to meet the demands of the labor market. It reveals that the majority of respondents in the sample did not have to repeat any year at school.
Forty-seven percent of respondents indicated that manual skills training is a waste of time, while forty-nine percent of respondents disagreed with that sentiment.
Organisation of the report
Conclusion
This chapter reviews some of the existing research on the attitudes of students, curriculum specialists, educators, parents and other stakeholders towards manual skills training in secondary schools. Because most respondents were unemployed, they asked to be paid for completing the questionnaire. It is followed by a graphical representation of the employment status of respondents in this sample.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents disagreed with this due to the understanding that manual skills training is part of the curriculum and that all students should pay equal fees.
Plight of school-leavers
Employment patterns amongst school-leavers
To understand employment patterns among school leavers, one must define unemployment in terms of strict and comprehensive definitions. The expanded definition refers to people who have not worked in the last seven days and are available to start within a week.
The purpose of manual skills
The statistics from the answers illustrate the age and gender composition of the respondents. The statistics of this survey show that forty-seven percent of respondents agree, while fifty-three percent disagree. The answer to this question shows that seventy-eight percent of respondents agree with this sentiment.
Forty-seven percent of respondents agreed that teachers focus on theory rather than practical application.
Gender and manual skilis
Academic versus manual skills
Career guidance units should be established in schools and become an active part of the curriculum. This must be implemented to contribute to the revival of the economy (Alexandra and Williams, 1996).
The unrelated curriculum
Employer attitudes to matriculants entering the job market
Act on Further Education and Training No. 98 of 1998 (Ministry of Education) requires the mandatory participation of industry in setting the objectives of technical and vocational education. Moore (1991), disagrees with politicians and understands it as a current attack on education and the teaching profession from the point of view of employers' dissatisfaction with educational standards and the quality of young workers.
Career and vocational guidance
Forgey et al. (1999) show that around two thirds of school leavers in this country are unemployed and they need to be equipped to deal with unemployment. If students choose the wrong subjects at school, they will find it difficult to find work and will not be able to contribute to the country's economy.
Inadequate funding of manual skills
The impact of expert vocational guidance and the career picture on students' field of study decisions is not fully appreciated in this country. With the restructuring of the entire education system, a competence development law has been passed in the Norwegian Parliament.
Conclusion
This so-called skills revolution will be stalled because there are no adequate resources to promote this process together with a skills development strategy and related legislation (Pretorious, 2000). South Africa is now in the process of harnessing the industry through its tax system to establish a national skills fund, which is legislated by the Skills Development Levy Act and will be ready for use by mid-2001.
Introduction
In other words, this study looked at all twelfth grade students with manual skills who graduated at the end of the 2000 academic year.
The population
The help of a statistical expert was sought regarding the technical aspects of constructing the questionnaire. This means that the technical design of the questionnaire must be compatible with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Males make up seventy-six percent and females make up twenty-four percent of the sample.
While only ten percent of respondents agree, 74 percent disagree with this position.
The sample
The research instrument
All other questions were answered and this made coding the data for the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) spreadsheet much easier. After completing the data capture, the computer generated frequency tables and the responses were ready for analysis (Khumalo, et al., 1999).
Disadvantages of the questionnaire
Question nineteen probed the perceived inactive nature of school boards to obtain information on what campaign mechanisms school board structures have in place to promote effective craft training. Participation in the study was voluntary and as a result many questionnaires were returned unanswered. In the case of this study, twenty-two of the questionnaires were returned unanswered, representing fifteen percent of the total number of questionnaires administered.
Validity
This may be based on the respondents' own experience, given that fifty-eight percent of respondents are unemployed. Twenty-three percent of respondents believe that most schools do not offer manual skills subjects, and fifty-nine percent disagree that manual skills cost more than the subjects offered by the school.
Method of data collection
Ethical consideration
Literature review
Local literature suggests that there is a clear mismatch between manual skills training at school level and the job requirements of industry. The underlying issue here is that many matriculants have been trained in manual skills at school level and are currently unemployed some six months after graduating from school.
Conclusion
A penchant for office-based jobs reveals a flaw in the manual skills training program in schools. It is designed to find out your feelings about manual skills training in colleges.
Age and gender composition of subjects
Marital status
In this study, 95 respondents are single, 27 are married, five are divorced and one is separated. The question arises as to how these young people can support themselves when it is a known fact that in some cases all unemployed members of their respective families are unemployed.
Years at school
Manual skills subjects taken at schools
The sample consisted of all high school students who have taken at least one manual skill at high school level.
Employment status
Finally, manual skills training of every student is necessary because it prepares them for the world of work. My research focus is: Impact of manual skills training on employment patterns of twelfth grade graduates.
Types of self-employment
Item analysis
It shows the calculation of the totals for the seventeen Likert-type questions in the questionnaire. All responses reflecting strongly agree and strongly agree were merged as agree, and all items reflecting disagree and strongly agree were collapsed as disagree.
Learners are not prepared for the world of work
Analysis shows that some of the skills learned at schools can help high school graduates to establish home industries as illustrated by fifty five percent of the respondents. The chart below indicates that eighty-two percent of respondents disagree that technical/vocational training equips one to find employment within six months of leaving school.
Inadequate learner support
Respondents' perceptions of manual skills training
After completing the manual skills training program at the school, there is no need to have further training in a technique. What are the recommendations you would make to improve the status of manual skills training in schools.
Respondents' perceptions of whether career guidance should
Respondents' perceptions that governing bodies should
Respondents' perceptions that the South African Schools Act No.26
Other responses revealed that some schools are rich and that the government should allocate funds according to the bank balances of the respective schools. Examining the responses revealed that the government should pay industry experts to teach at schools.
Conclusion
Some inputs from the respondents were: "Government should get training instructors from factories to teach manual skills in school Before a teacher can teach manual skills in schools, he has to work in an industry." and "Get parent volunteers who are. The manual skills curriculum offered in high schools is limited to the extent that, for example, a student with four years of high school woodworking training will not be in able to do carpentry work.
Findings
There is statistically significant evidence that the respondents attribute a higher status to academic subjects rather than manual skills. It can be argued that most parents prefer their children to do academic subjects because of the perception that their children have no future if they took manual skill subjects.
Recommendations
In the light of high unemployment, aggressive marketing campaigns for manual skills training must be implemented to reach all stakeholders. All students should be exposed to manual skills training because it helps develop a work attitude.
Conclusion
As we are aware, school leavers find it increasingly difficult to find employment and this study will seek to make recommendations to improve the quality of manual skills training at schools to meet the demands of the labor market. After completing a manual skills training program there is no need to go to a technikon for further training 16.
Appendices
