Challenges Facing Trainees in Practical Skills Acquisition: The Case of Some TVET Colleges of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

The major purpose of this study was to investigate challenges facing trainees in practical skill Acquisition in Some TVET Colleges of Oromia regional state. To attain this objectives, 180 (81 male, 42 female trainees) and 41 male and 6 female trainers, totally (180) respondents were selected using simple random sampling from five Colleges of Oromia regional state. Moreover, 5 Deans, 5 training process owners and 10 head departments of each sample colleges were purposely selected and included in the interview. The central question is What are the major challenges facing trainees in practical skill Acquisition in same TVET Colleges of Oromia regional state? To this end, Self report questionnaire and structural interview are the main tools for this research. The collected questionnaire is analyzed mainly by employing qualitative and quantitative approach. Simple percentage, mean and standard deviation are the main methods of data analysis. The analysis of data revealed that the major challenges facing trainees in practical skills Acquisition are shortage of training materials, incompatibility of training material with occupational standards, less attention given by the college to industrial attachments and the gap of trainers in applying the existing materials at practical training session. Likewise, there are trainers, who were carelessness in demonstrating their professional knowledge during practical skill training. The preparation of TTLM is different from college to college. Based on the findings, recommendations were made for concerned body to complement the colleges effort in the provision of basic training tools with given special packages and the colleges advised of effective industrial attachment schemes that will enable trainees to identify and gain practical knowledge required for the workplace through hands-on experience in local industries. Furthermore, central preparation of TTLM is recommended for the uniform provision training throughout the country. More importantly, for the quality betterment of practical skill training, concerned authority are advice to adopt project based training instead of competency based training which is currently in practice. Keywords: Challenges, Assessment, occupational standards, trainees, trainers, center of competency, project based training, competency based training. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-4-02 Publication date: February 28th 202