CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS OF AUTOMOTIVE MECHATRONICS INSTRUCTORS IN VOCATIONAL ENTERPRISE INSTITUTIONS IN ABUJA AND KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was designed to identify the capacity building needs of automotive Mechatronics Instructors in Vocational Enterprise Institution in Abuja and Kogi State, Nigeria, five research questions and five null hypotheses guided the study. Relevant literatures were reviewed in line with the objectives of the study. A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study was carried out in FCT, Abuja and Kogi state, Nigeria. A proportional stratified random sampling technique was used to drawn 10% of automotive industrial technicians for the study. Therefore, the sample population for the study was 115 respondents which comprise of 77 automotive industrial technicians and 38 automotive mechatronics instructors were used as population for the study. The instrument used for data collection was Automotive Mechatronics Instructors Capacity Building Needs Questionnaire (AMICBNQ) developed by the researcher and validated by three experts. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.88 through Cronbach Alpha statistics. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 23) was used for the data analysis, weighted mean, standard deviation and improvement needed index (INI) were the statistical instrument for answering research questions. While z-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses formulated for the study at .05 level of significant. The findings on the capacity building needs of automotive mechatronic instructors on the maintenance of braking system with a grand capacity building need value (CBN=0.74) shows that the respondents agreed with all the items as capacity building needs of automotive mechatronics instructors in maintenance of braking system, likewise the findings on the capacity building needs of automotive mechatronic instructors on the maintenance of ignition system with a grand capacity building need value (CBN=0.82) revealed that the respondents agreed with all the items as capacity building needs of automotive mechatronics instructors in maintenance of ignition system, furthermore the findings on the capacity building needs of automotive mechatronic instructors on the maintenance of transmission system with a grand capacity building need value (CBN=0.71) shows that the respondents agreed with all the items as capacity building needs of automotive mechatronics instructors in maintenance of transmission system, meanwhile the findings on the capacity building needs of automotive mechatronic instructors on the maintenance of fuel supply system with a grand capacity building need value (CBN=0.79) shows that the respondents agreed with all the items as capacity building needs of automotive mechatronics instructors in maintenance of fuel supply system, finally the findings on the capacity building needs of automotive mechatronic instructors on the maintenance of suspension system with a grand capacity building need value (CBN=0.60) shows that the respondents agreed with all the items as capacity building needs of automotive mechatronics instructors in maintenance of suspension system, Based on the findings it was recommended that: Workshop and seminars should be organized for automotive mechatronics instructors in order to build their capacity in braking, ignition, transmission, fuel supply and suspension systems. Management of VEIs should sent automotive mechatronics instructors for further training in automotive mechatronics courses in order to update their knowledge/competencies. It was concluded that the trainees in VEIs at all levels can only acquire skills for employments or self-reliant under competent instructors. The inclusion of these identified areas of competences in the training manual of automotive mechatronic instructors will in no doubt help the instructors in effective teaching of automotive mechatronics courses.