WORK-BASED LEARNING FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF BUSINESS EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated work-based learning framework for effective implementation of Business Education curriculum in tertiary institutions in Delta State, Nigeria. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. To achieve the main purpose of the study, four research questions were answered while four null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population for the study was 331 which comprise of the entire 103 Business Education lecturers and 228 final year Business Education students form Delta State University Abraka, Federal College of Education Asaba, Delta State College of Education Agbor and Delta State College of Education, Warri. The entire population of 331 Business Education lecturers were used; therefore, there was no sampling. The instrument for data collection for the study was a structured questionnaire, face-validated by three experts in Business Education. The reliability of the instrument yielded a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.79. Out of the 331 copies of the questionnaire administered, 265 copies were completely filled and returned representing 84.3% return rate. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation for answering the research questions while t-test statistics was used for testing the hypothesis. Based on the data collected and analysed, the study found that the current practice of work-based learning in Business Education in the state is very poor. The study concluded that, work-based learning is a suitable learning framework for use in Nigeria tertiary institutions for the production of quality craftsmen and technicians with required work skills for work. The study among others recommended policy framework to ensure functional work-based learning in Business Education and other areas of technical and vocational education in Delta State and Nigeria in general.