Applying Lucas et al.'s (2012) conceptual framework of six desired professional outcomes to the pedagogical practices observed in these lessons, the study found that the teachers' exploratory and demonstrative approaches focused primarily on achieving the professional outcome of routine excellence, while half of the lessons also addressed the professional outcomes of ingenuity and craft. Teaching methods identified by Lucas et al. 2012) used in lessons following the demonstration approach………161 Table 5.34 Summary of pedagogical choices identified by Lucas et al.
Introduction
What role do apprenticeship or work placement opportunities play in complementing or expanding first year auto mechanic capabilities or competencies. Almost every week I would have it brought to an automotive mechanics lecturer at the Swaziland College of Technology;.
Thesis Structure
Given that both deductive and inductive methods were used, some of the issues that emerged were not directly linked to theory. It summarizes the significant findings of the research as they relate to the theoretical framework against which the data were tested, suggesting the implications these have for the training of automotive mechanics in Swaziland.
The Context for Vocational Education Systems
In 'coordinated' market economies such as the German example, vocational training takes place in the education system and at the workplace in the form of apprenticeships. Below I explore vocational training in Swaziland since independence and how the VET sector has evolved.
Initial Vocational Training Aspirations in the Education System of Swaziland
Secondary school vocational education was piloted in about sixteen secondary schools in the mid-1990s, but faced challenges in terms of sustainability. The ongoing debates in parliament and in government about the restructuring of secondary school VET and the expansion of scholarship funding for VET are influenced, to a significant extent, by the number of young people who are unable to attend VET- in the middle and are excluded from being players in the economy.
The Swaziland College of Technology (SCOT) and Technical and Vocational Education
This explains why some teachers e.g. even after introducing local national qualifications in the various specializations – including auto mechanics – in the mid-1990s, it lacked the confidence or ability to produce course plans and quietly continued to use City and Guild course plans. We used City and Guilds, but already in the National Diploma it is taken from City and Guilds.
Gwamile Vocational and Commercial Training Institute in Matsapha
In 1988, city and guild exams were introduced following industry complaints about the recognition of the German certificate and partly because of British influence in the country and the fact that the Swaziland School of Technology had been using the same exams for some time. In the case of the Diploma in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, it was started due to industry demand for workers with this specialization.
Manzini Industrial Training Centre
The director stated that one of the major challenges they faced with this type of training was that production training was inextricably linked to the challenge of regularly finding clients to engage the trainees in practical work. However, there has been some recent improvement in trainees' education levels following the introduction of free primary school education and occasional funding made available for orphans and vulnerable children.
The Directorate of Industrial and Vocational Training
Trade Testing
The Trade Testing Regulations 1989 were formulated under the Industrial and Vocational Training Act 1982. Panels are responsible, inter alia, for:. a) establishing an appropriate trade standard for approval by the Trade Testing Committee.
Apprenticeship
While he stated that as an employer he has the ability to choose "the cream of the crop" in terms of who to choose for succession and continuity, he acknowledged that not only are apprenticeship opportunities declining, but that as a company they are not employing all those who their apprenticeship is over because, as he said, "the taste of the pudding is when you eat it." The Apprenticeship Officer, however, is in the interview [4. August 2016] stated that apprenticeship opportunities in Swaziland were significantly reduced due to the absence of a training levy.
City and Guilds Automotive Mechanics Curriculum Structure
Assessment takes place through two final written exams with multiple choice questions, one on engine systems and one on chassis systems, lasting one and a half hours each. This is divided into two parts: one for engine systems and one for chassis systems.
Conclusion
Vocational education and training in Swaziland, therefore, can be said to be essentially Eurocentric in terms of the foundation on which it rests. In terms of the model developed by Wheelahan et al. 2015), post-secondary VET in Swaziland tends more towards an 'educational logic' in that it is not based on any strong institutional link between education and work.
Introduction
Vocational Education and Knowledge
Knowledge in Vocational Education
This point is made in relation to the less informed nature of knowledge associated with vocational education. The knowledge question is central to the view that vocational education scores lower than academic education.
Knowledge Categories
Winch (2014) argues that the idea of increasing subject expertise is central to curriculum design, be it academic or vocational, as considering different types of knowledge will require consideration of their relationship and how they can be integrated into the curriculum. This concept is analyzed in relation to the pedagogical practices of lecturers and the level of epistemic ascent for which they prepare automotive mechanics students.
Signature Pedagogies
According to Shulman (2005), distinctive pedagogies operate at all levels of education, and the emphasis on professions arises primarily because professions must have pedagogies that meet not only the standards of the academy, but also those of the specific profession. Beck and Eno (2012) indicate that surface structure consists of the actual methods teachers use to teach.
Vocational Education Pedagogy
Vocational pedagogy, as it would apply to car mechanics, must be different from the pedagogy used in, for example, an academic institution. In Swaziland, the challenge of socio-economic background affects the length of study of automotive mechanics students.
Approaches to Vocational Teaching
These challenges are related to perceptions about vocational education and to the socio-economic backgrounds of VET students. For the latter, it may be related to the new changes that are taking place in the nature of work and to the way in which issues such as poverty or social exclusion affect vocational education and training.
A Framework for a Vocational Pedagogy
- Three Broad Vocational Categories
- Scope and Context of Vocational Education
- Vocational Outcomes
- Pedagogic Methods that Support Vocational Education
Another more poignant implication arising from the lack of a pedagogy in VET is that the vocational students become the losers (Lucas et al., 2012), suggesting that VET graduates may be limited in achieving their desired results. The framework itself is ambitious in terms of the challenges and constraints encountered in vocational education in the developing world and may at this point represent a standard to which vocational education in Swaziland should be aspired.
Conclusion
While the methods discussed are employed to arrive at findings that engage with theory, the use of both deductive and inductive methodology may enable the raising of new themes. The chapter begins with a discussion of the qualitative case study method, informed by the work of Yin and 2003) and others, as well as the use of a descriptive and interpretive research paradigm.
Research Design and Methodology
This chapter discusses the research methodologies used in this study to foreground the pedagogical processes used by lecturers to train automotive mechanics. Stakes (1995) calls these propositions "questions" and it is these questions, which may be related to social, historical, political or personal contexts, that can lead to the development of a conceptual framework that guides the research.
Interpretive Design
Hathaway (1995) indicates that research inspired by the interpretive paradigm carries with it the assumptions that the researcher can best learn about reality by being there, while documenting the understanding of the situation by those involved. In this regard, Hathaway (1995) adds that the researcher's own interpretation is a constructed part of the reality being observed.
Data Collection Sources
Inductive reasoning allows research findings to emerge from dominant themes in the raw data, without the constraints that a structured methodology might impose (Schwandt, 1997). These theories will be used as tools to identify which (and how) phenomena in the pedagogy of automotive mechanics lecturers operate at the three institutions and will help illuminate them within existing frameworks of action.
Research Objectives
Research Questions
Ethics
I also had to ensure that any information that was obtained as part of the research on the teachers. The latter advocates that the researcher-participant relationship must be handled carefully in a way that contributes to the quality of the research.
Sampling and Selection
I also took advantage of "emergency" opportunities whenever they arose and were related to research. A sample of two (2) lecturers was selected for each institution, with a total of six (6) lecturers selected from a total of ten who worked in the institutions.
Participant Recruitment
These included meetings that I had to attend as part of my own duties as an administrator, as well as occasions when, for example, one of the lecturers participating in the study initiated an interaction about factors affecting his work. It also enabled the conduct of other interviews which arose from the deductive/inductive nature of the research to ensure a more precise inquiry.
Profile of Research Participants
The sample size allowed for pre- and post-observation semi-structured interviews to be conducted with each participant, as well as observations of classroom and workshop pedagogical practices.
First Year Pedagogy Observations and Data Collection Methods
A more detailed explanation of their use follows in the subsection on observations and other methods. Educators commented on what is happening in this third year in the one-to-one interviews.
Pre-Testing and Conducting the Interviews
Driven by my curiosity to look behind the curtain, however, I managed to discover that at VOCTIM as a student fails to identify a component or part, or explain a function or process, in the City and Guilds s end-of-year practical assessments, he/she is asked to prepare more by reading and consulting his/her peers and return when he/she is ready to try again. In some cases, students were asked to prepare at least four times on different days.
Observations and other methods
An additional method I used in the data collection part of this research was video recording, which was used in the workshop practices. In many cases these videos would get noise in the workshop or not be saved.
The Man in a Blue Overall Top
Another challenge was that the students worked long hours in the workshop and my 16G memory card would reach capacity before they were done. Even in the workshop I mingled with them and they did their work and explained things to me like a colleague.
Organization of data
Final Data Analysis
These larger themes were interpreted using the interpretivist paradigm to provide meaning and understanding to teachers' pedagogical practices to prepare students for automotive mechanic training. While columns 1 and 2 were always completed, the third column did not necessarily always correspond to a key term or theme, as there were far fewer larger themes than key terms or theme sets.
Generation of Themes
In the margin next to each a key term or initial key theme was noted; later some of these key terms were merged into larger themes. This was useful when it was necessary to look for the context or origin of the key phrase, especially later when the larger themes were developed and given meaning.
Conclusion
Each transcript was read once initially, with each key phrase relating to aspects of pedagogy marked or highlighted. This was because the larger theme would consist of key terms or introductory themes that had to meet the criterion of applying to at least three participating teachers from two different institutions.
Limitations of the Study
The following chapter discusses the main findings regarding the pedagogical practices of automotive lecturers in terms of the theoretical framework of Lucas et al. Other topics that have arisen and where possible related to the existing literature are also discussed.
Introduction
Background Training of Lecturers
This lecturer (VOCTIM1) also obtained vocational training at the Swaziland College of Technology and completed an apprenticeship where he said he was able to gain confidence. I found that the mechanics only had to fix the engines, but they didn't understand the wires, hours, what they mean, you see. this man would rebuild the engine without a torque wrench.
Pre- requirements to Study Automotive Mechanics
- The Role of Science and Maths
- The Need for Literacy
- What Role Does a Student’s Previous Knowledge of Automotive Mechanics
- Student’s Educational Background and Prior Knowledge: Implications for
SCOT1 was clear about the need for science and mathematics because, he said, these are key to understanding concepts in automotive mechanics. SCOT2 believed that math and science are necessary because car mechanics are based on scientific principles.
Exploratory Method
Lecturer: So everyone should watch..the convex side of the clutch plate is on the inside of the pressure plate. Another intern: This is the input shaft [apparently in reference to the word used when working with gear ratios].
Demonstration Method
Demonstration Method 1
He then loosens the belt on the crankshaft pulley by pulling it back slightly so that the timing mark on the pulley is no longer aligned. At this point he explains that he is done with the valves and now needs to line up the timing marks on the crankshaft pulley.
Demonstration Method 2
He then instructs each of the five students to select a piston and fit expansion and oil rings, as shown in his demonstration. He then demonstrated the installation of the expander and two oil rings on one piston.
Part –Parts – System Pedagogy
The proximity of the virtual teacher face to face The teacher in the field The role of the student himself-. When student 3 asked the lecturer the first question in the extract above, the lecturer's composure related to the density of the terrain to which the question led.
There is No Car Coming
The problem we have here is that we are not able to allow every pupil to do every practical task and to develop a lot of practice. You notice that a car is coming here, it has one problem..maybe brakes..you assign 6 trainees to work with you, the rest are not involved.
Seeking to Build Business-like Attitudes
In this extract, the lecturer highlighted the importance of performing all procedural checks on the customer's car when it was serviced, so that the customer is not dissatisfied. In the extract that follows, the lecturer showed how to handle new parts to be installed on a car and how to communicate with the customer.
Towards a Signature Pedagogy for Automotive Mechanics
- Vocational Outcomes of Automotive Mechanics in Lessons using the Exploratory
- Lecturer Teaching Methods in the Exploratory and Demonstration Approaches
- Lecturer Decision Making on the Ten Point Decision-Making Tool
- A Signature Pedagogy in Automotive Mechanics?
The following is a summary of the teaching methods used by lecturers related to the vocational outcomes of Lucas et al. At the level of the German Beruf, where the individual establishes himself or herself in the social.
Conclusion
The effect of the students' background on the pedagogical processes can be seen in the case of MITC, where the limited background of the students leads to only rudimentary and repetitive forms of routine expertise being attempted, which may involve a student doing 'brake only'. '. In terms of linking this framework to Winch's (2014) epistemic ascent, I used descriptors of each level of epistemic ascent to show that even if teachers included all six outcomes in Lucas et al.'s (2012) framework ) achieved, The highest level of epistemic progress that could be achieved by the students would be if they mastered transversal skills.
Introduction
Apprenticeship, and Positioning Apprenticeship, in Swaziland
As a result of the view of apprenticeship as opposed to flexibility, almost all countries have seen a dramatic decline in the number of apprentices in recent years. In the context of this discussion, I must reiterate the lack of practice opportunities that has resulted in many students.
Apprenticeship in the Specialization of Automotive Mechanics
Conclusion
C ITY AND G UILDS P RACTICAL C OMPETENCE A SSESSMENT FORM FOR E NGINE S YSTEMS 1
