AN INVESTIGATION OF ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATING FACTORS INFLUENCING SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS VOCATIONAL SKILLS ACQUISITION

Abstract

The study attempts to investigate attitudes and motivating factors of secondary school students towards vocational skill acquisition. In doing this two objectives and two research questions were raised relating to attitudes and motivating factors. The study adopted a
descriptive survey design. The target population for this study comprised of 1500 (ss1-3) senior secondary school students in 30 schools in Kaduna Metropolis. Simple random sampling was used to select 1500 respondents. Data was collected through the use of 3 likert scale questionnaire and analyzed using simple descriptive statistics (percentages). The study found out that above 85% of students in secondary school has positive attitude toward acquisition of vocational skills and it was also gathered that more than 75% of the respondent agreed that the motivating factors include parents, guidance, passion, interest, talents, career choice and availability of resources. However, many students prefer white collar job than a vocational skill, this is due to the importance the government and society attached to certificate, economic value to white collar job and vocational skill. The study recommends that trade certificate should be recognized as equivalent to other certificate by government and society. Also, trade unions should be organized to enhance productivity, professionalism and high economic value. The benefit to government is huge as taxes generated from these categories will improve revenue and state development.