Voices of the Stakeholders: A Case of Power Mechanics in Kenya

The primary purpose of this study was to find out the attitudes of trainers and trainees towards the 8-4-4 power mechanics course offered in secondary schools in Kenya. The attitudes and other related aspects obtained from the trainers and trainees were used as evaluative devices for the course and hence the graduates of the course. A comparison between the 8-4-4 power mechanics graduates and non power mechanics trainees was done to establish how well they fit into the job market in the automotive industry and in further training institutions. All the automotive engineering trainers in middle level training institutions and the automotive industry, and 31 secondary school graduates of the power mechanics course were used as subjects. They were selected from institutions and industries in Nairobi, Thika and Mombasa towns. Likert types of questionnaires were used to obtain the required information for the attitude evaluation study. Data were analysed using: percentages, means, standard deviations, variances, t-test for the difference of mean, chi-square and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical methods. Tests for significance were carried out at the 0.05 level of significance testing. It was found that there is no significant difference between the attitudes of the trainers and trainees towards the course and the graduates. In addition, the positive attitudes of both the trainers and the trainees were independent of the respondent's level of education. It did not matter whether the respondent was a trainee or a trainer. A significant difference was realised in the following areas: job performance, trainability, and performance in training examinations between the 8-4-4 power mechanics secondary school graduates and their non-power mechanics counterparts. The 8-4-4 power mechanics graduates were superior in all the above measured aspects. However, despite the 8-4-4 power mechanics secondary school graduates being better in comparison to others who had not taken the course, they were lacking in supervisory skills, creativity, mathematics, application of knowledge to practical situations, independence at work, innovativeness, and interpersonal skills.

an: EJ938229; source: International Journal of Training Research; docTypes: Journal Articles ; Reports - Research; pubTypes: Academic JournalReport;