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FACTORS AFFECTING MALE ENROLLMENT IN VOCATIONAL STUDIES

A STUDY OF YMCA, MUKONO BRANCH

BACKGROUND

The study will be carried out in YMCA Mukono branch. YMCA is an international body for of all ages, embracing mankind of all religious denominations. The institution is under Uganda YMCA which was founded in 1959 and has various Branches throughout the country.

YMCA Mukono branch was formed in 1989 and is today offering a variety of activities in Gender and Youth, and Education Departments.

YMCA Comprehensive Institute has enjoyed a decade of rich and successful traditional provision of Qualitative Education. Its mission is to promote the moral, spiritual and mental development of individuals. The institute aims at building a self-sustainable institution that promotes growth and effective leadership and participation of all stake holders.

YMCA management is headed by the board of directors who run the administrative duties of the campus in Mukonoand the branch secretariate who overlooks the adminstrative duties.

YMCA has the following objectives which include the following but not limited to these

Inculcate practical skills to students so that they can become job creators
Bring up students of high moral capacity and discipline
Talent development and organization
Inspire students to be leaders of tomorrow
General development of neighbouring communities

The institute offers courses like Fashion and design, Secretarial studies, Hair dressing, Hotel management &catering , Beauty & cosmetology, Child care and many more at Diploma, certificate and elementary.

The concept of vocational education has been subjected to various slightly different definitions and interpretations by several scholars. F.R.N(2004) defines it as that form of education which is obtained at the technical college equivalent to senior secondary education but designed to prepare individuals to acquire practical skills, basic and scientific knowledge and attitude required as craftsmen and technicians at sub-professional level. Osuala (1998) stated that vocational education refer to vocational or technical training or retraining which is given in schools or classes under public supervision and control under contract with a state board or local education agency. He maintained that it is conducted as part of programme designed to prepareindividuals for gainful employment as semi-skilledworkers or technicians or sub-professionals in recognized occupations and new and emerging occupations or to prepare individuals for enrolment in advanced technical education programme.

Vocational education can equally be defined as that part of the general education curriculum thatis primarily concerned with the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, knowledge and competencies necessary for securing and sustaining employment in a given occupation or cluster of occupations (UdoudoandUdoekpo, 2005). All these definitions have one common element: vocational education is primarily designed for the acquisition of practical skills in specific occupations.Several vocational educators often use the term vocationaleducation and technical education synonymously to mean one and the same thing while others maintained that there is a clear distinction between the two terms. For instance, Okoro (1993), maintained that vocational education specifically refer to training for all occupations requiring less than a bachelors degree while thoseones that require up to a bachelor‟s degree and above are classified technical education. This view is supported by Okorie (2001). However despite the controversy, several other authors use the terms jointly as vocational and technical education. UNESCO and ILO (2002) define technical and vocational education (TVE) as comprehensive terms which refer to those aspects ofthe educational process, involving, in additional general education, the study oftechnologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life.

Consequently, Vocational Education (VE) is used as a comprehensive term referring to those aspects of the educational process involving in addition to general education, the study of technologies, related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes understanding and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life (UNESCO & ILO, 2002).

According to Ibeneme (2007), most of the male students in Uganda do not seem to accord vocational education (VE) the attention it deserves Aina (2006) opined that since the introduction of vocational education in Nigeria countries educational system some years ago, participation in technical and vocational education programmes has remained low specifically in areas of cookery , since most of the male students view this as jobs of the women.

More so, Yakubu (2006) reported that the total enrollment figure into technical and vocational education programes in countries like Nigeria is low and men normally take up vocations in areas of construction, and plumbing while field like cookery and baking are viewed as fields for women.

According to Ozioma (2011) the Federal Government wants technical education to occupy a prominent position in our schools the education sector pays little or no attention to Vocational Education, teachers and students seem not to understand what it is all about and consequently develop some contempt and aversion for vocational courses and subjects, teachers, and students now makes technical education to be unhealthy. However, many of the occupation and trades in Vocational Education are regarded as ignoble and unbecoming, an average Nigerian parents does not want his son or daughter to earn a living as a full time farmer, plumber, brick/block layer, carpenter and auto-motor mechanic for many parents these trades are for the poor and underprivileged (Ozioma, 2011).

Statement of the problem

Whereas the Uganda government is making some appreciable efforts to increase on the number of people enrolled in Vocational education to help in the provision of jobs and self employment among the youths there is still a big problem of gender imbalance because very few number of male students enroll for vocation educations in the hotel and institutional catering course (MoE, 1999). Despite this low number of students enrolling for vocational Education in Uganda and in Africa the government of Uganda has continued to invest billions of Ugandan shillings to help in the reduction of unemployment by training youths in different vocational education careers, However the number of enrollment of the male students in specific courses like Hair dressing, Baking and cookery is still lower than expected

At the same time, a pool of male professionals especially from the university are unemployed or under employed this has led to the increase in poverty among the young educated people.

This has posed a lot of questions to the stake holders as to what could be the cause of low enrollment among the students in vocational institutions in specific courses like Hair dressing, cookery and Baking.

The central concern of this study is that though the factors responsible for the low male student enrollment in vocational institutions on courses like Baking, food production and Baking appear to be broadly known, there are no systematic data that analyze the factors affecting male enrollment in vocational studies specifically in Cooking, Baking and Hair dressing food production. Studies have not also explained adequately why despite a series of policy interventions, the problems still persist and in some instances, seem to worsen. It is against this background that this study investigated the factors influencing male enrollment in vocational institution (catering department).

Objectives/ study topics

Major objective

To assess the factors affecting male enrollment in hotel and institutional catering course.

Specific objectives

How parental perceptions affect the enrollment of male students in hotel and institutional catering course

Parents think catering is for girls
Girls possess more qualities needed in hotel and institutional catering courses.
Parents think vocation education is soft work for girls only

Male attitudes affecting their enrollment in Hotel and institutional catering

Male students think hotel and institutional catering is for girls
Male students think home economics courses are designed for girls
Workers are being under paid

To identify strategies to enhance male student enrollment in hotel an institutional catering courses.

Career guidance
Government support to vocational institutions
Advertising vocational institutions

Recommendation

How enrollment of male students affect work places (industries) and schools.

Conclusion

DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

Catering

Hotel

Perception

Enrollment

Vocational education

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Vocational Education (VE) means all forms and levels of the educational process involving, in addition to general knowledge and academic skills, the study of technologies and related sciences, the acquisition of practical skills, know-how, attitudes and understanding relating to occupations in the various sectors of economic and social life.

Vocational Education, (VE) is further understood to be:-

(a) a means of preparing for occupational fields and for effective participation in the world of work;

(b) an aspect of lifelong learning and a preparation for responsible citizenship;

Vocational Education (VE) is an important element of nation’s education initiative. For Vocational Education to play its part effectively in the changing global environment, it is imperative to redefine the objectives of vocational education and training and to make it flexible, contemporary, relevant, inclusive and creative.

According to Eyibe (2000), Technology education refers to a process of inculcating technical, vocational and traditional knowledge, skills and methods for the harmonization of theoretical and practical experience, the aim of which is to produce, manage and distribute goods and services for the welfare of humanity.

It is important to recognize that with more than 35% of citizens aged below 15 years, 700 million young people below 35 years and population growing at 1.8% per annum in countries like India they are expected to become the global powerhouse of human resource by 2025. Involvement in vocational education is very important for the individual and the country.

It is widely recognized that skills and knowledge are indispensable for employment, social inclusion and job creation, economic and national development, and international competitiveness (Akoojee, 2010) and that education and skills are crucial for improving workers‘ employability, industry productivity and inclusiveness of economic growth (ILO, 2011).

There has consequently been a strong drive in a number of countries for skills development policies (ILO, 2011) and transformation in their Vocational Education (VE) systems (RSA, 2008; COTVET, 2012). TVET has attracted attention from both national and international community’s (WanjalaKerre, 1999).

Vocational Education (VE) plays critical role in national development of every country. One of the most important features of VE is its orientation towards the world of work and the emphasis of the curriculum on the acquisition of employable skills. Another important characteristic of VE is that it can be delivered at different levels of sophistication.

This means that VE institutions can respond to the different training needs of learners from different socio-economic and academic backgrounds, and prepare them for gainful employment and sustainable livelihoods. The youth, the poor and the vulnerable of society can therefore benefit from VE to improve their livelihoods. The advanced countries that Ghana borrows resources from are in that state today because their stakeholders have respected for Technical and Vocational Education and the people in that field.

Learners learning resources included teachers who are determined to help students to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. Teachers in the pastry and bakery department have undergone pedagogical training at the degree level in Vocational studies especially in Home Economics. They have been teachers for quite a number of years in the Hotel school. I chose to work with them not only to facilitate learning but also to work as consultants. Other roles of the teachers included guiding learners during observations and facilitating the teaching and learning process. This is because the teachers have experiences in preparation of students for various tasks linked to the world of work.

The school has classrooms where daily lessons take place. Students can do their private reading in these rooms and sometimes go to the library for their private reading and consultations although the later is not very common. The school also has a computer laboratory with internet access where students can find information.

Teachers prefer to use lecture method to teach most of the lessons and occassionally read notes to the students in class. Therefore the techers interests play a big role in deciding what to teach and they ways of evaluation.

According to Barr and Tagg in (Michael, 2006, p. 160) in teacher centered approaches, what matters most in determining what is learned is what the teacher does in the lecture hall. It is of course, understood that what students do in response to the teachers’ lectures matters but the focus is on the teacher in front of the classroom.

However, Berryman (1991, p. 2) noted that control over learning in the hands of the teacher undercuts the students’ development of cognitive management skills, including goal-setting, strategic planning, monitoring, evaluating and revising-capabilities. Students develop no confidence in their own ability to learn or in their own sense making. Their abilities and opportunities to learn from experience are highly constrained.

However, Kerdpol (2016, p. 134) suggested that to be effective learners, [one must]; 1); perceive information, 2) reflect on how it will impact some aspect of one’s life; 3) compare how it fits our own experiences and 4) think about how this information offers new ways for us to act. Learning requires more than seeing, hearing, moving or touching to learn. We integrate what we see and think with what we feel and how we behave.

This therefore means that the methods of teaching should encourage a student to apply all or most of the above suggestions in order to achieve much from their education.

The school operates a demonstration kitchen where practical lessons are conducted. There are some equipment in the demonstration kitchen which include; ovens and cookers which are powered by both electricity and gas. It also has some small equipment like sauce pans, mixing bowls, whisks among others. The demonstration kitchen however doesnot have an oven or cooker which uses the local fuel (fire wood and charcoal) available in the society where my students live.

Mordi (1993) expressed education as social process in which learners and teachers come together in an effort to share meaning concerning the concepts and skills in the curriculum, he further stated that students, teacher and curriculum bring with it a complex set of causes that directly influence the efforts, actions and conduct of the educative agent. Egun (1993) acknowledged that perception, belief system, existing knowledge, life styles, life goal, needs and drive influence choice and entrance into occupation and professions, thus giving meaning to human experience and the manner in which people think, feel and act within their environment. One of such areas that have been so affected by these factors is the girlchild access to the study of science subjects, thereby creating a gap in male – female ratio in vocational education.

Sex-stereotyped occupation of the male over the female is a culture which has reinforced the notion of women into believing that it is taboo to venture into an occupation that is preserve of the males. This no doubt has affected marriages, as women that have ventured into such vocations find it difficult getting married. Gender differential treatment is extending to classroom lessons. While the boys are expected to do better in mathematics and science, the girls are expected to do better in home economics and certain art subject (Nnachi, 2008). Thus intellectual psychology of depression is developed against female potentials. This is in line with the observation of Njuku (2000). These girls are brought up to believe that science is meant for boys and the teachers (most often males) do not encourage girls to work hard in science.