The Vocational Aspect of Education

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Vocational content in the national curriculum for

Nigerian Secondary Schools: How industry can
help

Lawrence E. Ekpenyong

To cite this article: Lawrence E. Ekpenyong (1988) Vocational content in the national curriculum
for Nigerian Secondary Schools: How industry can help, The Vocational Aspect of Education,
40:106, 57-62, DOI: 10.1080/10408347308003081

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The VocationMAspect of Education (August 1988) VolumeXL, No. 106, pp. 57-62

Vocational Content in the National

Curriculum for Nigerian Secondary
Schools: How Industry Can Help
By LAWRENCE E. EKPENYONG
Faculty of Education, University of Cross River State, Nigeria

Al~raet
In spite o f the fact that the Federal Ministry o f Education together with its designated agencieshas done a good job of
producing a vocationally related curriculum for Nigerian Secondary Schools, the ministry seems to have excluded a number
o f key issues as well as agencies in designing those subjects meant to prepare studentsfor the world o f work. The question this
paper seeks to answer in the main is, 'What role should industry in association with other related bodies play in the design and
management o f job related curriculum for the senior high school graduate ?'. Essentially, the paper is to show how industry
interacting with educational institutions and local communities can help bring about a curriculum that would best meet
Nigeria's economic needs. This question is approached under a number of subheads.

Edueatioa into industry
Keen followers of educational and industrial trends must
have witnessed a growing awareness in many parts of the
world of the importance of industry's role in matters
affecting education. In the United Kingdom, new
concepts such as 'teacher into industry', 'schools into
industry" have continued to be echoed in national
conferences and seminars as well as in the school system
generally. In this country, such awareness has been
evident in the activities of the National Board for
Technical Education (NBTE) which include setting and
assessing curricular standards for polytechnics and
technical colleges, and in those of the Industrial Training
Fund (ITF) which include placement of university and
polytechnic students whose courses have direct relevance
to industry for industrial work experience.
Despite the obvious relationship existing between
industry and vocational education, there seems to be no
direct involvement of the former in matters affecting
the design, development or management of vocationally
related curricula or curricula of vocational institutions in
Nigeria beyond the level of association mentioned here.
Nor are the institutions themselves made aware of the
impact which industrial practice or change can have on
their curricula. A case in point is the new national
secondary school curriculum now in operation in the
country.
Historical background
To give the reader an insight into the issue we are going
to discuss, a brief background of the new system of
education in Nigeria will be helpful. Facts on the new
system of education which came into effect in 1982 are
outlined in the National Policy on Education (1977,
1981). The policy stipulates a 6-year primary, 3-year
junior secondary, 3-year secondary, and a 4-year univer-
sity education for the country. The system is usually
called the '6-3-3-4' for short. Within the overall national
education objectives, secondary education has two broad
aims, namely, preparation for useful living within the
society; and preparation for higher education. In order to
meet these aims, the first 3 years of secondary education
has been devised to give pupils foundation in both
general and pre-vocational courses. While the general
and core courses, namely, English language, mathemat-
ics, arts and science are designed to give pupils a general
education background, the pre-vocational ones which
include introductory technology, business studies, home
economics and local crafts seek to introduce them to the
world of work.
The demands of the 6-3-3-4 education system has for
the first time in the history of this country brought our
curriculum planners face to face with the problem
of drawing up a nationally acceptable curriculum for
Nigerian secondary schools. The problem seems to have
been compounded by the inclusion of pre-vocational
courses which hitherto had no de facto recognition in the
Nigerian national curriculum scheme. Despite the fact
that the Comparative Education Study and Adaptation
Centre (CESAC), University of Lagns, has done a good
job of its national assignment given to it by the Federal
Ministry of Education, there are still a number of dark

57
58 Vocational Content in the National Curriculum for Nigerian Secondary Schools
spots to be cleared in the area of vocational subjects
which it is necessary to spot for timely correction.
Essentially, therefore, I intend to examine:
(i) the defects associated with the design of the
vocational components of the new senior secon-
dary school curriculum for Nigeria;
(ii) how industry in association with educational
institutions and local communities can help bring
about a curriculum that would meet Nigeria's
economic needs.
I hope to draw from the relevant volumes of the
national senior secondary curriculum to buttress the
discussion. Vocational education or vocational curricu-
lum is used here to refer to professional/career oriented
or career-specific subjects in institutions such as Junior
or Senior secondary schools, technical colleges, business
schools, polytechnics or universities, which are meant to
equip students with knowledge, understanding and skill
for different occupational areas in industry. Industry, on
the other hand, is used to cover all spheres of business or
economic activities such as manufacturing, distribution
or services.
The issues
In analysing the national curriculum for Nigerian senior
secondary schools, the major issue is not so much
whether CESAC has struck a balance between its
academic and vocational components; the question
may not be pertinent because a student may decide to
concentrate mainly on the core subjects which he hopes
advance his study. It is rather whether the contents of a
student's chosen vocational subjects are relevant enough
to the area of industry he wants to seek employment in
after his senior secondary education, given the fact that
almost all the vocational subjects were drawn up without
consultation with industry's personnel.
The question to which answers will be attempted
shortly is 'What role should industry in association with
related agencies such as educational institutions and
local communities play in the design and management
of a job-related curriculum for the senior high school
student?' I shall approach this question under a number
of subheads, namely, policy structuring, the school,
course content, the teacher, and the community.
Policy structuring
The character of any curriculum is determined by the
personalities and policies behind it. Hence to really come
up with a dynamic curriculum which would be respon-
sive to the needs of the changing national economy, the
issue of the right participant (Finch and Kmnkilton,
1979) in the formulation of such a curriculum policy and
design must be tackled with a broad mind, utmost care
and efficiency.
In this country, responsibility for policies on education
including those of the curriculum have usually rested
with Federal and state ministries of education and a few
officially designated bodies and personalities such as
academic experts. A case in point is the system of
education under discussion which CESAC has been
designated, with the assistance of Nigeria Education
Research Council (NERC), to produce various curricula
on junior and senior secondary school subjects. I am of
the view that the content of these subjects would have
been more relevant to the industrial and economic needs
of this country if the designers had done a much wider
consultation within different sectors of the economy
rather than depend solely on the views of government
official representatives. An overview of the composition
of the respective curriculum planning, writing and
editorial and, critique teams on home economics,
business studies, building technology, and electrical and
auto-mechanic (Fed. Min. of Education, 1985a; 1985b;
1985c; 1985d), to mention just a few, shows that our
national and vocationally based curricula for the senior
secondary schools was a matter between the federal and
state ministries of education on the one hand and,
CESAC and NERC, on the other hand. No serious
thought seems to have been given to seeking the views
of or having seasoned employers of labour, industry's
experts, professionals and private practitioners, in the
critique teams. At least there is no reference made to any
consultative documents to that effect, as one reads
through the various volumes of the curriculum. This lack
of consultation can be nothing more than a very serious
omission when pitched against a paragraph of the
national policy on education (Fed. Pep. of Nigeria, 198 l,
p. 31, para xii) which states as follows:
"In the designing of courses, industry and government
will be consulted with a view to giving such courses
greater practical relevance. Increased use will be made
of Advisory Boards for each group of courses or trades.
The membership of these Boards will be made to
satisfy the needs of industry and other employers."
A wide representation enables curriculum planners to
articulate the views of industry better, and equally helps
to assure prospective employers that the products
(graduates) of senior secondary school who have chosen
vocational subjects as their major have been properly
equipped with knowledge and skills relevant to the world
of work, and which will make them immediately
employable (see Fed. Rep. of Nigeria, 1981, p. 18, para.
21).
A nationally applied vocational curriculum must be
capable of catering for the general and peculiar
environmental needs of the population. If we take on the
senior secondary school curriculum again it is ditficult to
believe that the peculiar local and/or occupational needs
LAWRENCE E. EKPENYONG
of the different sections of the country have been
reasonably articulated. If a wider and thorough consulta-
tion had been made by the curriculum planners, a
number of optional means of meeting the national
education objectives could probably have been evolved.
For instance, one would have expected to see in the
national curriculum a provision for states and communi-
ties with peculiar needs--as may be evident by their
types of trade and occupation--to be allowed the option
of devising their own schemes and submitting to the
Federal Ministry of Education or its agency for
validation. This type of arrangement would equally be
relevant to a student who might not intend to choose any
or some of the nationally approved vocational subjects
but would rather want to specialize in subjects that would
enable him to fit into the type of industry prevalent in his
local community. The provision of alternative curricu-
lum has become an acceptable practice in modern
curriculum design.
The school
One of the common flaws of the SSS curriculum is that
there has been no mention of the essence of positive
interaction between schools which are to implement the
programme and the employers of labour who will recruit
the products of the new curriculum. In fact, none of the
over 10 volumes of the curriculum I have looked through
has alluded to any form of cooperation between schools
and industry beyond the mention of occasional industrial
visits by students. The curriculum design seems to have
lost sight of the fact that industry relies heavily on
educational institutions for the regular supply of man-
power for the execution of its multifarious functions. But
Musgrave (1971) has reminded us that the key to the
survival of industry is a succession of workers to replace
those leaving or needing replacement.
The need to bring the school system to appreciate the
place of industry is, therefore, as important as that of
making industry know what is going on in the classroom.
This level of intimacy may only be attained through a
vocationally based curriculum such as ours, and through
regular communication between schools and industry.
School members, administrators, teachers and students
on the one hand, and employers of labour on the other
hand, must be made aware of what the other is doing.
Such cross-fertilization of ideas would enable those who
may be served or affected by the new curriculum to see it
not as an imposition by government functionaries but as
a responsibilitythat should fall on government as well as
on all categories of employers, schools, the community--
ideally on all those a vocational curriculum may serve
(see Jenkins and Shipman, 1976).
Course content
A vocational curriculum, apart from serving an indivi-
dual's needs, is meant to serve the economic needs of the
59
society. It is only reasonable that employers who are to be
the direct users of the products of such curriculum be
afforded the opportunity of having inputs on what
knowledge and skills are to be imparted to the students at
different levels of study. The advantage of such
opportunity is that the generality of employers would be
assured that the young school graduates they would be
recruiting have acquired knowledge, understanding and
skill together with attitudes relevant to their prospective
employment and that they would require only minimum
adjustment as workers. On the contrary, a close look at
subjects such as building technology, electrical/elec-
tronic, business courses shows, as we had earlier pointed
out, that none of them had representatives from industry
in their planning groups. It is difficult to understand
whether the omission of groups like practising industrial-
ists, artists, architects, to mention just these, by the
directors of the different curriculum design teams was an
over-sight or a deliberate act.
The curriculum development exercise was, by all
indications, controlled by the Federal Ministry of
Education, CESAC, NERC, and a few selected univer-
sity, polytechnic and secondary school teachers some of
whom it is difificult to establish have had any working
experience in organizations other than their respective
institutionsand classrooms. If the argument is that some
consultation had been made with industry, I think that
was not good enough as no evidence to that effect could
be found in any of over a dozen volumes of the
curriculum I have examined.
Given proper consultationwith industry, subjects such
as history, geography, economics and others can be
designed and made to be taught with occupational need
at the background. I understand that this strategy has
been applied in the design and implementation of the
British B/TEC programmes. It is noteworthy that where
industrial experts and technologists, for instance, are
involved in curriculum development, even primary
school curriculum can be designed to include subjects in
(a) elementary technology--in the form of designing
simple toys; (b) technical drawing--with a view to
leading pupils to the area of engineering and technical
career in future.
The teacher
There has been much greater awareness recently,
particularly in industrialized economies, of the vital
role the teacher can play in the implementation of a
vocationally oriented curriculum in order for such
curriculum to meet the needs of industry, but which
many of the SSS curricula on vocational subjects did not
emphasize.
In the U.K. the Birley Report (1978) has emphasized
the need for a direct involvement of teachers with
employers of labour and the labour union leaders. Lord
Young (1985) suggests that teachers be made to spend
 60 Vocational Content in the National Curriculum for Nigedan Secondary,Schools
some time in industry to be 'better oriented towards the
work situation and consequently in a better position to
make changes within the classrooms'. Audrey McKeown
(1986) also reports that the Confederation of British
Industry (CBI) have their concern that many teachers
enter the profession straight from colleges of education
'without much practical knowledge of the working
conditions or a proper understanding of the role and
requirements of industry'. It is probable that it was in
realization of this unwelcome situation that the British
Institute of Management (BIM, 1979) while expressing
their 'belief in the proposition that the greatest influence
in education is the teacher alone in the classroom with his
or her class and with a measure of autonomy', suggested
that 'where industrial subjects are concerned that teacher
should have help' from industry's experts.
It is of interest to note that the concern for the teacher
to have experience of what goes on in industry so that he
can best direct his teaching towards industry's needs is
not only felt in Britain and elsewhere but equally so in
Nigeria. Hence the National Policy on Education (Fed.
Rep. of Nigeria, p. 29) has stipulated that:
"In recruiting teachers for the technical education
institutions, the industrial experience of candidates
will be given the highest premium", and that "in-
service training including industrial attachment will
be recognised as a necessary means of updating the
competence of technical teachers".
What can be inferred from the above statement is that
the new policy places a high stake on continuous growth
and development of teachers generally through systema-
tic training and industrial experience. However, most of
our course designs apparently either failed to clarify or
lost sight of the direction which such training might take
to enhance the industrial experience of the teacher and
in consequence, his ability to ingrain acceptable work
ethics in the student.
A number of approaches which have been adopted to
enable individuals acquire industrial experience include
secondment to industry, job release or regular industrial
visits. Speaking in the U.K. at the Annual Conference of
Teachers in Business Education, Milton Dennis, a career
specialist (Focus on Bus. Education, 1986) enumerated
the importance of industrial experience for teachers to
include those of enabling a teacher to:
(i) refresh his ideas of what he is teaching;
(ii) know how to explain to the students why it
(industrial experience) is pan of the syllabus and)
(iii) know why it is pan of the world of work.
This is to say that industrial experience should enable
a teacher to be in a position to explain to his students the
job skills, qualifications and behavioural characteristics
that are required in different trades, occupations or
clusters of occupation.
Community industry
I shall finally discuss the role which local communities
can play in a curriculum process. Community involve-
ment in the curriculum process in Nigeria can become
highly justifiable if only to correct the much touted
misconception usually generated by the public about the
type and quality of education their children are receiving
at school. For instance, there has been a general out-cry
in recent times that the standard of education in Nigeria
has fallen. This type of claim, though lacking in
statistical evidence is an indication that the average
Nigerian citizens are concerned about the content and
quality of the present day education in this country. To
allay their fears and demonstrate that what is being
taught in our schools and colleges at every level of
education is worthwhile and relevant to life, there is an
absolute necessity to create channels for eliciting some
facts about the life-style and dominant industries within
a given local community.
It is a matter for regret, however, that whenever
curriculum reforms are contemplated or actually carried
out in this country not enough facts are gathered by the
planners from local communities about their needs and
mode of living and in particular, their occupational
patterns. In the SSS curriculum we are discussing, we
have no clues on whether the views of the large majority
of Nigerians who are essentially rural dwellers, were
sought with a view to shaping the curriculum toward
their general and peculiar needs. It is important to stress
that gathering facts on the various occupations and
trades dominant in a given geographical area is capable
of causing those in the area to count their involvement
as a significant contribution to the development of the
curriculum and their children's career awareness (see
Barrow, 1976, p. 147). A curriculum which is built
around the way of life, general aspiration and peculiar
needs of a society gives individuals, parents and interest
groups assurance that it will meet their respective
educational and vocational goals. To explain further: in
many communities there are a number of local industries
such as weaving, carving, blacksmithing, ceramic
making, cattle rearing, etc., which individuals require
special knowledge and skills to fit in. Those special skills
can be refined, taught and improved upon through
formal education and training. I would venture to say
that one of the reasons why the nomadic Fulani cattle
rearers can hardly be persuaded to send their children to
school is that they apparently do not see the curriculum
as relating to or meeting their peculiar occupational
needs.
Summary and possible solutions
I have raised a number of issues affecting the policy and
design of the SSS curriculum on vocational subjects and
LAWRENCE E. EKPENYONG
on what role industry in conjunction with the school
system and local communities should have played in
its process but which its designers appeared to have
omitted. These includes:
(a) lack of significant consultation with, and involve-
ment of various sectors of industry in the
curriculum policy and design;
(b) lack of emphasis on, and channels for, interaction
between schools and employers of labour in order
to make the vocational courses more realistic to
the world of work;
(c) lack of inputs by employers of labour on the course
content in terms of what knowledge and skills to
be imparted to the learners who would seek
employment in areas of industry related to their
qualifications, after their studies;
(d) inadequate clarification on what role the teacher
should play in the effective implementation of the
curriculum;
(e) lack of data from local communities on their
occupational pattern and type of industry.
To correct the identified defects, the following
suggestions are worthy of consideration:
1. In designing a vocationally based curriculum for
the senior secondary schools, consultation should
be made with experienced industrialists, employers
of labour, trade and professional groups and private
practitioners who would be in a good position to
direct the courses towards the respective needs of
industry. The national education policy has stated
that in order to make courses relevant to the needs
of industry increased use will be made of advisory
boards for each group of courses or trades. This
policy statement should not, like other grandiose
ones, be buried in the paper but executed to the
letter. At the moment the average Nigerian worker
or teacher does not know or have information on
the existence or any advisory boards for any
profession or trade. The location, function and area
of trade or industry which each advisory board
represents should be made public in order for
schools, ministries and interested members of the
work-force to interact and exchange information
on curriculum matters. In collecting data on
curriculum matter, advisory boards' areas of oper-
ation should span both urban and community based
industry.
2. In order for it to respond more effectively to the
needs of industry, the content of the vocational
courses must be restructured to reflect the cooper-
ative role between schools and industry in the
learning process. Provision for such interaction
should enable experts and personnel from industry
61
to make suggestions or give schools information on
the types of subjects/modes of teaching that would
prepare students adequately for different job skills
and functions. Where there are new and emerging
job demands, it is those from industry that will be
well able to influence schools, which should in turn
respond by directing their courses toward meeting
those demands. In other words, if our curriculum
encourages school/industry relationship, there will
be a strong tendency for the two sides to join i n - ( i )
research on the curriculum; (ii) monitoring, ap-
praising, restructuring of existing or, (iii) develop-
ing of, new courses. Such courses will be beneficial
to the students in terms of relevant job related
qualifications, and to the employers by assuring
them that the school leavers they are recruiting
have adequately prepared for their respective job
roles.
3. As the 6-3-3-4 system of education emphasizes
functional knowledge and skills, there is a need to
restructure teacher education programmes at all
levels to include industrial study so that not only
technical teachers (as stipulated in the policy
document) but also other categories of teacher, may
develop insights into what obtains in the world of
work. As a matter of deliberate policy, student
teachers in colleges of education or universities,
irrespective of their area of specialization, should
be made to have idea about courses in other fields.
It is important for them to be made aware of
offerings in faculties and departments such as
engineering, technology, environmental and busi-
ness studies. Experience so gained should equip
them with basic knowledge for counselling their
students and for ordering their teaching with
occupational bias.
Exchange visits between institutional heads and
personnel from industry should be emphasized as
this is an important means of maintaining effective
communication between educational institutions
and industry. The import of the visit will be
manifested in the opportunity with which both
sides would have in studying the programmes of
each other with the intent of developing cordial
relationship which will be beneficial to education
and industry.
4. As occupations and job requirements vary from
location to location in the country, the national
curriculum on vocational subjects should be as
flexible as is reasonably possible. For instance,
states or local communities which have special or
peculiar job requirements should be free to devise
appropriate courses tailor-made to suit their special
circumstances. On the other hand, members of
local communities, particularly those occupying
important positions in their respective work estab-
62 Vocational Content in the National Curriculum for Nigerian Secondary Schools
lishments must not be denied the opportunity of
contributing to the development of a curriculum
which will affect their wards' career future.
Any review of the SSS curriculum which does not
take the issues raised in this paper into considera-
References
Barrow, R. (1976). Commonsense and the Curriculum.
London: Allen and Unwin.
Birley Report. (1978). Opportunities at Sixteen. Belfast:
HMSO,
British Institute of Management. (1979). Industry,
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Federal Ministry of Education. (1985a). National Curri-
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Economics. Lagos: Fed. Ministry of Education.
Federal Ministry of Education (1985b). National Curricu-
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Studies. Lagos: Fed. Ministry of Education.
Federal Ministry of Education (1985c). National Curricu-
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Technology. Lagos: Fed. Ministry of Education.
Federal Ministry of Education. (1985d). Electrical and
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Lagos: Fed, Ministry of Education.
tion would, in my opinion, be failing in the national
effort to bring about a curriculum which will
adequately prepare Nigeria's young people to meet
the needs and challenges of its national economy.
Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1977). National Policy on
Education. Lagos: Fed. Min. of Information.
Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1981). National Policy on
Education (revised). Lagos: NERC Press.
Finch, C. R. and Krunkilton, J. R, (1979). Curriculum
Development in Vocational and Technical Education.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Focus on Business Education. (1986). Journal of the
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p. 13.
Jenkins, D. and Shipman, M. D, (1976). Curriculum: An
Introduction. London: Open Books.
McKeown, A. (1986), Teachers into Industry: in Focus on
Bus. Education: Vol. I, No. 2, pp. 16-20.
Musgrave, F. (1971). Patterns of Power and Authority in
English Education. London: Methuen, pp. 20-28.
Young, Lord. (1985). Prepare School Leaversfor Industry:
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