The Indigenous Mechanical Apprenticeship System in the Lagos Metropolis: A Study of the Instructional Procedures and Learning Effectiveness of Informal Skill Training.
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Date
1984-09
Authors
Asiedu, K.
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Volume Title
Publisher
University of Lagos
Abstract
The indigenous mechanical workshop is perhaps the most virile form of informal business set-up in West Africa. Its basic function is the repair of vehicles, and as transportation expands, so does the demand for the mechanic. Indigenous mechanics can be found in almost every street in Lagos, and their occupation attracts more young boys than any other single occupation in the informal sector. Yet, to date, the training these workshops provide is rudimentary and need therefore to be improved. Before any meaningful suggestions for improvement can be made, we need a thorough understanding of the procedures they adopt in instructing their wards, and the level of efficiency obtained by the training they impart. This study investigated the approaches adopted by fifty mechanics in imparting their skills to their apprentices, and also measured the levels those apprentices had acquired at various stages of their training. Two hundred apprentices were tested using a Mechanics' Skill Test developed by the researcher, and their scores correlated with such variables as their educational background, and that of their masters, their ages, their school experience, their level of commitment, the size of the workshop and the volume of work at the workshop. The scores of the terminal group were also compared with those of apprentices trained in modern-sector workshops. The instructional procedures were closely observed personally by the researcher at five of the fifty workshops. The study found that junior apprentices hardly had any instructional contact with their masters, and were taught mainly by senior apprentices. Their learning in the first year was confined to mastering the social work environment, rather than the learning of technical skills. Learning at the workshop was promoted largely through observation and trial and error, with a very little theoretical component. The study found that a sizeable number of apprentices entered training with very little understanding of what to expect, and therefore with little commitment to the training. Apprentices were drawn mostly from pupils who were more interested in manipulative subjects than in liberal subjects. Six years of schooling for both the master and the apprentice was found to be necessary for effective learning at the workshop, and learning was best promoted where workshops were collectively sited. The training received at the modern-sector workshop was found to be superior to that received at the indigenous workshop, and the study, therefore, made certain suggestions for improving upon the latter, including the establishment of counselling services in schools, the registration, and resettlement of mechanics, the indenturing of apprentices, an extensive programme to supplement workshop training with theoretical tuition and the organisation of seminars for master mechanics on instructional techniques and business management. It was also recommended that apprenticeship comes after the completion of the Junior Secondary School, that apprentices be made to leave training only after passing the Grade III Trade Test, and that those who so desire must be admitted into formal trade schools. It was recommended that all State Ministries establish Technical Education Divisions to manage the industrial extension programme and that each district or local government unit have a Vocational Training Board to take charge of the placement of young school leavers and the supervision of their training. The study also found that some features of the apprenticeship system, such as its curriculum, level of supervision, and its cost, are gradually approximating to those of the formal system of technical training and were becoming slowly institutionalised. The researcher thus concluded that the two systems were gradually becoming indistinguishable, and can play supplementary roles to each other. He, therefore, suggested various ways by which the apprenticeship system could provide useful out-of-school practical experiences for students in technical schools, and those by which these schools could also enhance the theoretical content of apprenticeship training. In the end, the researcher recommended, each of these two systems of training should be seen as mutually dependent upon each other, rather than as parallel, shadow, competing systems of technical education.
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Keywords
Occupational training , Mechanical Engineering , Informal skill training
Citation
Asiedu, K. (1984), The Indigenous Mechanical Apprenticeship System in the Lagos Metropolis: A Study of the Instructional Procedures and Learning Effectiveness of Informal Skill Training. University of Lagos School of Postgraduate Studies Phd Thesis and Dissertation Abstracts. 234pp.