THE CHALLENGES IN THE ACQUISITION OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS IN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

THE CHALLENGES IN THE ACQUISITION OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS IN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In the recent times, The National Board for Technical Education enhanced the objectives of the secretarial training. Hence the nomenclature changed to office Technology manager. This affected both the curriculum of Colleges of Education and Polytechnics. The Polytechnic curriculum composes of four main components for both National Diploma and Higher National Diploma hence, General Studies/Education Foundation courses, Professional courses, SIWES. The professional courses are courses which give the student the theory and practical skills he needs to practice as a secretary. This may account for between 60percent to 70percent of the contact hours of study.
According to Agboola (2014) greater prominence is given to ICT courses than shorthand and keyboarding; which had credit hours drastically reduced. The purpose is to actualize the demand for supply of manpower who have appropriate office skills and competences to manage office view technologies to profit the organization given the current wave of information communication technology.
The Office Technology and Management (OTM) career encourages employment creation given multifaceted skills embedded in it including: reprographics, word processing, micrographics, telecommunication, data processing and others.  Merraim Webster Dictionary (2013) explains skill as ability coming from one’s knowledge practice or aptitude to do something well. Etonyeaku (2008) added that it involves practical knowledge in combination with cleverness, expertise, dexterity and ability to perform a function which could be acquired or learnt in school.
There are areas which require immediate attention as standing on the perception of Aina (2002) that business education inculcating OTM is concerned with development of individuals, person skills and attitudes, communication and occupational skills, technological literacy, employability skills, broad specific occupational skills and knowledge, Oladunjoye 2015 asserts that the products of a deficient curriculum cannot function effectively and efficiently in today’s consistent change in the work environment.
Computer studies was first examined at SSCE level – WAEC in 2014 and has become optional in SSCE. The basic Education at JSS level is exclusive of shorthand but optional in Secondary School. The revised edition of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2014) outlined that the acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competencies both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live in and contribute to the development of the society. The objective of each level of education is to give the individual a climbing stone to a higher level. Where the secondary school curriculum is inadequate, it cannot prepare students for useful living and solid higher education. It is obvious that there various challenges facing acquisition of Office Technology and Management Skills. Thus, this study intends to examine the challenges in the acquisition of Office Technology and Management Skills in College of Education Ikere Ekiti.
Statement of the Problem
Office Technology and Management is embedded with a conglomerate of courses inclined to development of skills and competencies. It has been observed that there certain criteria which must be met by teachers, students and policy makers in order to achieve the overall objectives of the programme in the polytechnic.
With the unprecedented rate of change in technology as requiring knowledgeable workers and creating entrepreneur opportunities, students need to be adequately prepared to make choices and acquire basic skills to enhance learning. Other critical issues requiring immediate attention include as follows: inadequate number of trained teachers, poor societal perceptions, retraining of teachers on e-teaching platform, poor industry/institutional collaboration, incessant strike actions and proper utilization of modern ICT.

Purpose of the study
The general objective of this study is to investigate the challenges in the acquisition of Office Technology and Management Skills in College of Education Ikere Ekiti state. The study intends to specifically.
  1. ascertain the extent basic skills in secondary education affect acquisition of Office Technology and Management (OTM) skills.
  2. determine the critical issues in the learning of Office Technology and Management (OTM).
  • identify measures that can ameliorate these challenges affecting Office Technology and Management (OTM).
Research Questions
The following research questions were raised for the study.
  1. What are the basic skills in secondary education that affect the acquisition of Office Technology and Management (OTM) skills in the in College of Education Ikere Ekiti state.
  2. What are the challenges faced in Office Technology and Management (OTM) skills acquisition?
  • What are the measures which can be adopted to improve Office Technology and Management (OTM) skills acquisition

Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses were raised for the study.
  1. There is no significant difference in the basic skills in secondary education that affect the acquisition of Office Technology and Management (OTM) skills in the in College of Education Ikere Ekiti state.
  2. There is no significant difference in the challenges faced in Office Technology and Management (OTM) skills acquisition.
  • There is no significant difference in the measures which can be adopted to improve Office Technology and Management (OTM) skills acquisition. Significance of the Study
This study will be of benefits to government to identify problems responsible for the acquisition of Office Technology and Management Skills. It is expected this study will prompt government to proffer solutions to the problems by building more classrooms and making more adequate provision for learning materials for quick acquisition of Office Technology and Management Skills
More importantly, it will be an eye-opener to school administrators on the inadequate materials necessary for Office Technology and Management Skills. It will assist stakeholders in education to know that there should be a reasonable match between students’ population and the available resources for effective teaching and learning of Office Technology and Management.
The study will also help teachers to identify the various challenges effective teaching and learning of Office Technology and Management. It will provide  comprehensive  information  for  educational planners, educators,  and  parents  on  how  they  can  assist  students to cope with available resources for effective teaching and learning of Office Technology and Management. This research work will lead to further in-depth study on the available resources for effective teaching and learning of Office Technology and Management. Lastly, it will serve as a contribution to knowledge in the subject area. In  this  regard,  it  will  be  useful  for  other  researchers  who might want to carry out research in related areas.
Scope of the Study
This study was limited to College of Education Ikere-Ekiti students offering vocational and technical education as either one of their major or minor courses.  Sampled students in the College of Education Ikere form the sampled population consisted of college of Education students only since the topic concerns the challenges in the acquisition of Office Technology and Management Skills.
Definition of Terms
          The following terms were operationally defined in this study:
Teaching: This is the process of transferring ideas through methods by the teacher to the students’ in order to ensure learning.
Learning: This is the process of acquiring new ideas which involve change in behavior after acquiring new concept.
Students: someone who is studying at a university, school etc
Classroom: a room that you have lessons in at a school or college
Teacher: someone whose job is to teach, especially in a school
Reactions

You may like these posts