| dc.description.abstract | UNESCO, World Bank and different countries including Kenya have placed
education and training as a central tool towards youth employability and realization
of the industrialization agenda. Despite the dying industries and increase in demand
for employability skill in training, TVET graduates have inadequate employability
skills. The study was tasked to investigate the efficacy of Technical Education in
Kenya towards attaining Sustainable Development in the light of pragmatic theory
as postulated by John Dewey. The research objectives were to: Examine the
objectives of TVET in Kenya in light of pragmatic theory towards lifelong learning,
assess lived experiences of Principals and Industrial Liaison Officers on TVET
practices linking training and industry towards attaining trainee empowerment and
establish how Dewey’s concepts of democracy can facilitate TVET in Kenya to
realize Sustainable Development. The study sought to answer the following research
questions: what are the objectives of TVET in Kenya in light of pragmatic theory
towards lifelong learning, what lived experiences of principals and Industrial Liaison
Officers on TVET practices linking training and industry towards attaining trainee
empowerment and how can Dewey’s concepts of democracy facilitate TVET in
Kenya towards realizing Sustainable Development. The study used constructivism
paradigm and a philosophical design that adopted Philosophical analysis and
synthesis methods for objectives one and three. Hermeneutic phenomenology was
adopted in collecting and analyzing the lived experiences of Principals and ILOs.
Both Primary sources and secondary sources were used. Finally, the synthesis
method was adopted to establish the applicability of Dewey’s democratic concept in
TVET institutions towards attaining trainee empowerment. Data analysis was done
through thematic analysis and Interpretive Phenomenological analysis. The findings
revealed that TVET is committed in training for skill development, social efficiency
and democratic participation however skill development has been overemphasized.
In objective two, the study found out that the shared lived experiences of both
Principals and ILOs are industrial collaboration and institutional hubs and dual
training is vital in reinventing TVET for attaining lifelong learning among TVET
graduates. In the third objective, the study established that Dewey’s Democratic
concept can facilitate TVET in realizing Sustainable development through learner
centered training and collaborations. The study recommends promotion of holistic
competency training, promotion of dual training in institutional hubs and industry
and finally, explicitly embrace adopt democratic concept in CBET implementation
towards attaining Sustainable Development. | en_US |
