Whole youth development and employment: Exploring the nexus using qualitative data from a Kenyan study of Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions
- 14 August 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Adult and Continuing Education
- Vol. 28 (2), 558-594
- https://doi.org/10.1177/14779714211037357
Abstract
Investment in sub-Sahara Africa's (SSA’s) youth through effective capacity development, involving adoption of contemporary skills development approaches, is integral in alleviating the region’s high youth unemployment rates as it will equip the youth with skills needed for employment. Skills that are needed are those that holistically develop the youth skills-set, including technical/hard and soft-skills, dubbed whole youth development (WYD) skills. This paper thus explores Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students’ understanding of soft-skills and its development. The paper utilizes data collected from a TVET study in Kenya that was carried in 9 of the 47 counties, targeting learners aged 15–24 years. The selected counties were those that had national polytechnics for national representation, except one (Turkana county), which was selected to represent youth from marginalized counties. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. The findings indicate that there is a good understanding of soft-skills among the targeted respondents, with extra-curricular activities playing a key role in promoting TVET students’ soft-skills. However, inadequate human resource and low level of awareness on soft-skills among instructors contribute to inadequate soft-skills learning. This calls for a concerted effort among key education stakeholders on the development of instructors’ and institutions’ capacities for a plausible soft-skills outcome.Keywords
Funding Information
- Anonymous (GR-004303)
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- Oral corrective feedback in second language classroomsLanguage Teaching, 2012
- Vocationalisation of Secondary and Tertiary Education: Challenges and Possible Future DirectionsPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,2012
- Beyond Academic OutcomesReview of Research in Education, 2010
- Social brain development and the affective consequences of ostracism in adolescenceBrain and Cognition, 2010
- Graduate Employability, ‘Soft Skills’ Versus ‘Hard’ Business Knowledge: A European StudyHigher Education in Europe, 2008
- The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic DevelopmentJournal of Economic Literature, 2008
- Using thematic analysis in psychologyQualitative Research in Psychology, 2006
- Skill acquisition: History, questions, and theoriesPublished by Oxford University Press (OUP) ,2005
- Assessing teachers' practical knowledgeStudies in Educational Evaluation, 1996
- Africa's Strategic Minerals during the Second World WarThe Journal of African History, 1985