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Building Capabilities for Work and Life: Assessing the Production of Core Values and Capabilities Among Youth in TVET Institutions in Kenya - 2018, Whole Youth Development Assessment in TVET Institutions in Kenya 2018

Kenya, 2018
Human Development (HD)
Moses Ngware
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Identification

IDNO
DDI-KEN-APHRC-TVET-2017-v01
Title
Building Capabilities for Work and Life: Assessing the Production of Core Values and Capabilities Among Youth in TVET Institutions in Kenya - 2018, Whole Youth Development Assessment in TVET Institutions in Kenya 2018
Subtitle
Whole Youth Development Assessment in TVET Institutions in Kenya 2018
Country
Name Country code
Kenya KEN
Abstract
Background

Academic and technical knowledge, individual core values as well as skills and capabilities are key success factors in the labor market. . These traits are especially important for young people preparing for the 21st century workplace. It is essential that they cultivate 'Whole Youth Development' (WYD) skills which encapsulate academic and technical competencies alongside soft skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, social and communication skills, persistence, creativity, and self-control. This report provides an assessment of how young people acquire these core values and capabilities within Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions in Kenya.

Aim

To inform policy discourse as well as improve understanding of how youth in Kenya are prepared to succeed in the job market, this study investigated:
· The extent to which TVET policy frameworks promote WYD among youth;
· The extent to which TVET curricula integrate WYD;
· Existing capacities within TVET institutions for the production of core values and capabilities;
· Key influencers of WYD for TVET institutions in Kenya; and
· The extent to which students in TVET institutions exhibit WYD capabilities.

Methods

The study was a cross-sectional survey that targeted population TVET students aged between 15 and 25 years. Students targeted were from the three categories of TVET institutions that are accredited by the Technical Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) namely; National Polytechnics, Technical Training Institutes and Vocational Training Centers. The study sample for quantitative data comprised of 171 institutional heads, 347 instructors, and 3,452 students in either the first and final years of study. Additionally, qualitative data was collected from TVET regulatory and policy making bodies, final year students, and county (sub-national) directors of TVET.

Implications

There is room to further strengthen uptake of the WYD approach and capabilities among TVET instructors and students. TVETA and National Vocational Certificate in Education and Training (NAVCET) in consultation with other key stakeholders, such as industry, have a role to play in developing effective strategies for adoption of WYD. Such strategies could include improving WYD in curriculum implementation, strengthening the capacity of TVET instructors to use WYD during instructional delivery, and enhancing peer to peer support among students.

Other than the digital literacy domain, TVET students demonstrated low acquisition of functional literacy and numeracy, as well as social-emotional skills. While these skills are traditionally acquired through instruction in a classroom setting, institutions could utilize digital technology to access learning resources in these areas, utilize cooperative learning and peer-to-peer reviews, as well as practice the skills in workplaces in a formalized program.

Interactions between instructors and training facilities, as well as instructors and students play a key role in whole youth development in TVET institutions. The former (instructor-training facilities interaction) was found to be inhibiting. While it may be difficult to have adequate and effective facilities in each institution due to budgetary limitations, it is possible for the institutions and TVETA to train instructors on adaptive techniques that could help them optimize the utilization of existing facilities. There is also the possibility that the machinery and facilities found in industry would complement those found on-campus. For this to work well, institutions will have to formalize relations with the private sector.

Further areas of research could include establishing the quality of the WYD aspects that were observed in the TVET institutions. This may help explain, for example, why the observed preference of social-emotional skills in TVET did not differ between first and final year students. It would also be useful to generate case studies of institutions and students who were found to be strong in WYD with a view to understanding what it takes to champion wholesome youth development in different contexts.

Version

Version Date
2019-12-31

Scope

Keywords
Keyword Vocabulary
whole youth development
core values
TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training
capabilities
soft skills
life skills
technical skills

Coverage

Geographic Coverage
It was a national study covering both rural and urban areas
Unit of Analysis
Basic units of analysis are as follows;

- Student survey and Student assessment would have TVET students as the units of analysis
- Instructor's/Tuto's Data have TVET instructors as the units of analysis
- Institutional data would have the individual institutions as the units of analysis TVET institutions
Universe
The study covered TVET students aged 15 - 25 years

Producers and sponsors

Authoring entity/Primary investigators
Agency Name Affiliation
Moses Ngware APHRC
Producers
Name Affiliation Role
Njora Hungi APHRC Study coordination
Funding Agency/Sponsor
Name
Anonymous funder
Other Identifications/Acknowledgments
Name Affiliation Role
John Mugo ZiziAfrique Provided coordination with other institutions that conducted similar students among youth out of training and employment, and youth in employment
Alex Awiti Aga Khan University Conducted a study targeting youth in employment
Mudit sharma Dalberg Research Conducted a study targeting youth not in training or in employment
Vollan Ochieng APHRC Research officer
Njora Hungi APHRC Project Co-ordination
Francis Kiroro APHRC Data Analysis
Grace Gathoni APHRC Field Co-ordination
Shem Mambe APHRC Field Co-ordination

Sampling

Sampling Procedure
The sample size was estimated using two main assumptions: (1) that the proportion of students attending TVET institutions and exhibiting requisite soft skills is 50% - based on a study done by Muthoni et al. (2013) which showed this proportion ranged from 32% to 75%; and (2) a precision of 5% and design effect of 1.1 given the variability that may exist due to measuring soft skills using students nested within TVET (clustering effect). Following the formula for estimating prevalence as provided by Pourhoseingholi, Vahedi and Rahimzadeh (2013), and assuming 95% level of confidence, the estimated minimum sample size was 423 TVET institutions spread across Kenya.

In each of the nine selected counties, a national polytechnic in that county was automatically selected into the study sample, except for Turkana County which has no national polytechnic. This enabled the study team to study eight of the eleven national polytechnics plus a representative sample of institutional types and categories in those counties. Turkana County despite not having a national polytechnic, as mentioned above, was purposively included in the sample to represent marginalized areas and to represent the northern part of Kenya.
There were 364 TVET institutions in the nine counties meaning that the study sample which involved at least 50% of them, included 182 institutions. Though less than the intended 423, this number was sufficient for an exploratory study like this one as the sample was large enough to allow statistical analysis.

In each institution, two training programs with an adequate number of students for first year (5 or more) and final year (5 or more) classes were randomly selected. This was done with the assumption that students who make it to the final year are strong in their study area, and have the technical know-how for purposes of this study. They were an essential demographic as they were about to enter the job market. They were key respondents as they would help in understanding the skills gained that prepared them for the job market, having gone through the entire length of their respective programs. Ten students (five first year and five final year students from each gender) from the two focal programs were randomly selected.

There were certain cases where meeting this gender composition was difficult as some programs were predominantly male forcing the team to work with the available gender representation. Such cases would be mitigated against by including an equal number of the under-represented gender in the next/following institution. Where an institution's or institutions' program had less than ten students, additional program(s) were selected at random, though this rarely occurred.
Response Rate
The TVET student sample selection took gender and study program into consideration. In each selected TVET institution, 20 students (10 in their first year and 10 in their final year) were randomly selected. Since 182 institutions were to be visited, the maximum student participation was expected to be 3,640, and the study achieved a success rate of 94.8% (3,452). Students in their first and final years were selected to estimate the impact of the TVET curriculum in WYD skills.

Two instructors, one from the first year class and another from the final year class were selected from the two study programs. The instructor sample size was expected to be 364, but the study achieved 95.3% (347) of the target. For the institutional managers' questionnaire, there were two sets of items - part A and B. A total of 182 managers were targeted for this study and a 94% (171) success rate was achieved for part A while part B had a success rate of 82.4% (150). The reduction in number (between part A and B) was due to the refusal to participate in Part B items which were perceived to be sensitive - this mainly affected private institutions in Nairobi County. The affected items in Part B sought responses on financial performance of institutions, enrolment records, number of graduates produced per year as well as their respective performances, and information on their graduates' placement in the job market.

Data Collection

Dates of Data Collection (YYYY/MM/DD)
Start date End date
2018-10-10 2018-11-27
Mode of data collection
Face-to-face [f2f]
Supervision
During data collection, senior research team members conducted random spot check visits to confirm adherence to procedures and the accuracy of information collected. The data collected were verified at the end of each day on site for accuracy and completeness, after which they were uploaded to a central server. Thereafter the data were synchronized and cleaned for inconsistency and missing values.

Research supervisors encouraged strong teamwork among enumerators and provided easy access between field teams and the study leadership to provide a direct channel of communication for any clarifications.

Data Processing

Cleaning Operations
Data processing involved, labelling the data, cleaning through checking for consistency and missing values. Ensuring that sample unit's replacements were correctly done/matched, synchronization and merging of datasets e.g the student's datasets.

The software used for data processing was Stata v15.1.
Other Processing
Enumerators were rigorously trained on data collection and th software used had pre designed checks to ensure data quality gathering. Data were collected by use of tablets and hard paper questionnaires. Data from Students (Student Survey and Assessment), Tutor questionnaire (instructors) and Institutional Part Awere all collected by use of tablets through face to face interviews. Institutional Part B data were collected through Hard Paper questionnaires since information on enrollments were obtained from institutional heads and needed ample time for the data to be gathered, they were left by the Field interviewers and collected later after which data was populated into the tablets.

Software used to develop the application for data was Survey CTO.

The student socio-economic status (SES) index was computed from the sum of possession of the following 14 household items: television, working smart phone, computer, post office box, tablet, video player (DVD or VCD), radio or music system, fridge or refrigerator, car, piped water, electricity, washing machine, farm machinery, and flush toilet. The reliability statistics (Cronbach's alpha) of this SES index was 0.831, which is well within the accepted range of 0.70 to 1.00.

Majority of the items were closed ended and had been pre-coded before data coillection, however, the open ended areas of questionnaires were coded by use of various commands in stata during data processing.

The TVET Type had initially in the questionnaire allocated TVET categories and vice versa, during data processing these were corrected and the variable names interchanged.

in data processing some varibales were recoded such as age, education, likert scales such as those that agreed versus those that did not agree to a certain concept or were ambivalent, etc

Imputations of the missing dates of birth in the student data was done based on the average age of similar cases (Beginners or Finalists and whether they were male or female), this was done to address the issue of "don't know dates"

Data access

Contact
Name Affiliation Email URI
African Population & Health Research Center APHRC datarequests@aphrc.org http://microdataportal.aphrc.org/index.php/catalog
Conditions
APHRC DATA ACCESS AGREEMENT

The user agrees to comply with the following conditions:

1. Access to the restricted data will be limited to the Lead Researcher and other members of the research team listed in this request.
2. Copies of the restricted data or any data created on the basis of the original data will not be copied or made available to anyone other than those mentioned in this Data Access Agreement, unless formally authorized by the APHRC Director of Research.
3. The data will only be processed for the stated statistical and research purpose. They will be used for solely for reporting of aggregated information, and not for investigation of specific individuals or organizations. Data will not in any way be used for any administrative, proprietary or law enforcement purposes.
4. The Lead Researcher must state if it is their intention to match the restricted microdata with any other micro dataset. If any matching is to take place, details must be provided of the datasets to be matched and of the reasons for the matching. Any datasets created as a result of matching will be considered to be restricted and must comply with the terms of this Data Access Agreement.
5. The Lead Researcher undertakes that no attempt will be made to identify any individual person, family, business, enterprise or organization. If such a unique disclosure is made inadvertently, no use will be made of the identity of any person or establishment discovered and full details will be reported to the APHRC Director of Research (info@aphrc.org or datarequests@aphrc.org). The identification will not be revealed to any other person not included in the Data Access Agreement.
6. The Lead Researcher will implement security measures to prevent unauthorized access to licensed microdata acquired from the APHRC Microdata Portal. The microdata must be destroyed upon the completion of this research, unless the APHRC Director of Research obtains satisfactory guarantee that the data can be secured and provides written authorization to the Receiving Organization to retain them. Destruction of the microdata will be confirmed in writing by the Lead Researcher to the APHRC Director of Research.
7. Any books, articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, reports, or other publications that employ data obtained from the APHRC Microdata Portal will cite the source of data in accordance with the citation requirement provided with the dataset.
8. An electronic copy of all reports and publications based on the requested data will be sent to the APHRC Director of Research (info@aphrc.org or datarequests@aphrc.org).
9. APHRC and the relevant funding agencies bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
10. This agreement will come into force on the date that approval is given for access to the restricted dataset and remain in force until the completion date of the project or an earlier date if the project is completed ahead of time.
11. If there are any changes to the project specification, security arrangements, personnel or organization detailed in this application form, it is the responsibility of the Lead Researcher to seek the agreement of the APHRC Director of Research to these changes. Where there is a change to the employer organization of the Lead Researcher this will involve a new application being made and termination of the original project.
12. Breaches of the agreement will be taken seriously and APHRC will take action against those responsible for the lapse if willful or accidental. Failure to comply with APHRC's directions of the Data Archive will be deemed to be a major breach of the agreement and may involve recourse to legal proceedings. APHRC will maintain and share with partner data archives a register of those individuals and organizations which are responsible for breaching the terms of the Data Access Agreement and will impose sanctions on release of future data to these parties.
Citation requirement
Ngware M.,Building Capabilities for Work and Life: Assessing the Production of Core Values and Capabilities among Youth in TVET Institutions in Kenya, 2018,1st Edition, African Population and Health Research Center

Metadata production

Document ID
DDI-KEN-APHRC-TVET-2017-v01
Producers
Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
Development Economics Data Group DECDG The World Bank Documentation of the DDI
Assessment of Whole Youth Development Data WYD APHRC Documentation of the WYD Data
Date of Production
2019-12-31