This study assessed the implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in colleges of education in south-south Nigeria. Three research questions based on curriculum design in terms of objectives and content, methodologies and quality of personnel were raised to guide the study. Also two hypotheses were formulated. Survey research design was used and a sample of 117 lecturers in school of business education from the three federal colleges of education in south-south Nigeria was equally used. The instrument used was a structured questionnaire which consisted of two sections with five point response options. The instrument was validated by two experts in business education and one in measurement and evaluation. Test-retest reliability was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument and the reliability test coefficient (r) of 0.78 was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyse data relating to the research questions in order to answer them while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results of the analysis showed that curriculum design in terms of objective and content, methodologies used in teaching and learning, and retraining of lecturers contributed to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. Based on the findings, recommendations were made including that caliber of lecturers; particularly experienced ones involved in the implementation of the programme should be increased.
Keywords: Methodologies, Implementation, Entrepreneurship education, Technical college, Curriculum design, Retraining.
Received: 22 January 2021 / Revised: 26 February 2021 / Accepted: 18 March 2021/ Published: 9 April 2021
The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by revealing the extent to which curriculum design, methodologies employed in teaching and retraining of lecturers contributed to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in federal colleges of education in South-South Nigeria.
Entrepreneurship Education is a programme designed to furnish students with knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes with a view to make them recognize, activate, develop and acquire entrepreneurial mindedness, required for self- reliance. It is an avenue to sensitize and create awareness for the realization of potentials once latent in an individual or his environment, coupled with generating the willingness, courage and determination to bring their potentials into concrete reality. Entrepreneurship education programme inculcate attributes that helps one exercise innovative ideas, creative, resourceful and productive abilities, higher self esteem and greater sense of independence. These competencies are derived from the combination of diverse skills and knowledge acquired which results in the creation of innovative products and services that touches and changes the lives of people.
Entrepreneurship education serves as a vital ingredient in the development of any nation’s economy. Through it, young and old people alike are made innovators and inventor of new products and services. Also, employment opportunities are generated and created for the benefit of the entire society. In fact, Entrepreneurship education helps to create an enabling environment that stimulates and provokes people from being dependent on employee to being employer, from being a customer to being a manufacturer, from being a dreamer to being doer. In other words, Entrepreneurship education enables one to visualize, create and build, thereby actualizing ones vision. Leading nations in the world today like the United States of America (USA), in terms of economic, social, political, attribute their advancement to entrepreneurship consciousness which has permeated every fabric of their system the capitalist oriented. In recent years, there has been growing interest in Entrepreneurship education globally.
The advocacy for its introduction as a course in the curricular of tertiary institutions in different nations of the world (including Nigeria) can be attributed to numerous factors. The most outstanding of these factors are “unemployment” and “poverty”, which become evident after the economic recession of the early 1980s and population explosion (Alarape, 2008). All over the globe, these problems are mounting up more pressure. The employed are losing their jobs while school graduates are roaming the streets without jobs. Nigeria is not exempted from this perplexing menace. According to Mcoliver, Okafor, Nwaguru, and Okogie (2006) graduate unemployment is one of the most urgent problems facing Nigeria today. These prevailing situations have stirred up the awareness of policy makers in many countries of the world in realizing the ability of small and medium sized (SMS) enterprises to generate widespread employment opportunities, thereby combating the menace of unemployment and poverty.
Until now, Nigeria educational system at all levels had favoured liberal arts education and humanities. A system whose disciplines, according to Toby (2000) consist of grammar, rhetoric and logic and sew education as being classes for the freeman, the leisured and ruling classes. Ample evidence portray that the liberal art education have not been responsive to the needs and demands of our society. Despite the introduction of the 6-3-3-4 system in 1981, the educational system that was supposed to integrate vocational studies in the school curriculum, the idea that education should concern itself with liberal arts and humanities has persisted to the present day.
The resultant effect of this was that, it culminated into Nigeria Colleges and other higher institutions designing and utilizing curricula that meet mainly the manpower needs of governments, which was erroneously assumed to be the greatest employer of labour. Reacting to this fact, Mcoliver et al. (2006) posited that this design has derated to meet the employment at all levels have failed to meet the employment requirements of the country’s teaming graduates. Also, the private sectors in different capacities have helped to elevate the problem, but their inability to produce or operate at full capacity as a result of numerous impediments. Therefore, most graduating students are left in quagmire of being unemployed and sometimes unemployable.
Apparently, there are numerous proofs to justify that Nigeria needs an educational system that will liberate its citizens from ignorance, joblessness and poverty. The type of education that will free them from unproductive intellectualism and barren ideas, the kind of education that will prepare and equip an individual for creative life, in a world that needs the best possible contribution from everyone (Toby, 2000).
What would you expect of a society where thousands of her school graduates have no means of livelihood, but roam the streets? Would such a restive situation not breed crime such as robbery, kidnapping, assassination, terrorism, suicide bombing and other vices as we have today in our nation. In order to curb this menace it was deemed fit by the Federal Government to take a three- pronged approach: a job creation scheme, an apprentice training scheme and the Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDP) (Mcoliver et al., 2006). Thus, a course in Entrepreneurship Education was introduced into all tertiary institutions of learning in the country in 2006. Okafor, Isenmola in Inegbenebor (2008) asserted that the mandatory teaching of Entrepreneurship Education as part and parcels of education curricula in all tertiary institution of learning in Nigeria commenced in the year 2006.
Today, a course titled “Entrepreneurship Development” is a compulsory course which every undergraduate student offers as a course before a certificate is issued to the student. Still on this issue, Mcoliver et al. (2006) opined that the solution to this problem has recently bounced back to these institutions of higher learning which are challenged to equip their graduating students with some entrepreneurial skills, which could form a foundation for self- employment and self-reliance.
However, it is pertinent to state at this juncture that implementation is paramount to achieving the objective of any programme. No matter how laudable a programme is, it may crash if there is poor implementation. Implementation determines the direction of the manipulation of the variables to realize objectives. This assertion is justified by Odufunwa (2011) when he posited that “faulty implementation killed the 6-3-3-4 system of education, proffering solution to graduate unemployment”. In addition, Ogechi (2011) blamed many of our education problems on the implementation rather than policy formulation. Lamenting that oftentimes money earmarked for implementation of education policies are embezzled by our political leaders. In the light of this, it will be necessary to assess the implementation of the teaching and learning of Entrepreneurship education which commenced in Nigeria Colleges of Education since year 2006, with particular reference to south-south.
In this regard, attention would be given to investigate what variables such as the curricula objective, contents, and methodologies being used in executing the programme as well as the quality of personnel.
1.1. Statement of the Problem
Entrepreneurship education programme has been introduced into Nigeria Colleges since year 2006. The initial intention for incorporating the programme into Nigeria Colleges of Education curricula was to create an avenue for broadening the business horizons of the students and to make them acquire knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes that will build and nurture in them entrepreneurial spirit for self employment and self reliance. What was not known are:
1.2. Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of entrepreneurship education in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the extent to which:
1.3. Research Questions
The following research questions were raised to guide the study.
1.4. Hypothesis
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
The research design is based on survey, this is because the researchers were basically interested in the identification and selection of variables, constants, subjects, elements which the researchers considered relevant to investigate and make a broad and provisional choice or decisions. Check and Schutt in Nwalado (2020) viewed survey research design as the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions. The population of the study consists of all business education lecturers in the three Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Geo Political Zone of Nigeria. The Federal Colleges of Education are: Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State; Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, River State and Federal College of Education (Technical) Obudu, Cross River State. In all, there are 117 lecturers, the population was manageable, hence, all was used. The instrument used for data collection was a 24-item structured questionnaire with five point response options which were assigned values as follows: very high extent-5, high extent-4, low extent-3, rarely exten-2, no extent-1. The instrument was validated by two experts in the School of Business Education, and one in the School of Education, all in the Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State. These experts validated the content, structure, language as well as the relevance of the items of the questionnaire. Test-retest reliability was used to determine the consistency of the instrument. Ten copies questionnaire were administered to business lecturers in Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze, Anambra State. After a time frame of two weeks, the same instrument was administered to the same people. The data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation method and a reliability coefficient (r) of 0.78 was obtained which was considered adequate for the study. A total of 117 copies of questionnaire were distributed and collected for data analysis. The data was analyzed using mean rating and standard deviation for the research questions. The hypotheses formulated for this study were tested using t-test statistic to determine whether significant difference existed. In other to determine the extent of each item in the instrument in relation to research question, the following were used;
3.1. Research Question 1
To what extent does curriculum design in terms of objective and content contribute to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria?
The data in Table 1 shows that all the items number 1, 3, 5 and 7 have mean rating ranging from 4.20 to 4.45 meaning that all the items contribute to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in selected Colleges of education in South-South Nigeria. Items 2, 4, 6 and 8 have mean ratings of 4.50 to 4.80 meaning that this contributes to a very high extent. The cluster mean score of 4.46 indicates that in the opinion of respondent, curriculum design in terms of objectives and contents contributes to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in the Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. The standard deviation of 0.55 to 0.78 shows that the respondents were homogenous in their responses.
Table-1. Respondents’ mean rating on the extent to which curriculum design in terms of objective and content contribute to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
| S/N | Items on curriculum design in terms of objective and content | Mean |
SD |
Decision |
| 1 | The entrepreneurship education curricula objective content creates and promotes entrepreneurial awareness/opportunities and skills | 4.25 |
0.55 |
HE |
| 2 | Imparts entrepreneurship skills to students of tertiary institutions | 4.51 |
0.62 |
HE |
| 3 | Create career development for economic transformation | 4.40 |
0.78 |
HE |
| 4 | Develops in the students critical mind to make decision about establishing and managing an entrepreneurial venture | 4.80 |
0.60 |
VHE |
| 5 | Enable the students to learn innovative ways of making a living | 4.45 |
0.64 |
HE |
| 6 | Exposes students to recognize diverse opportunities at their disposal and use them make financial gain | 4.66 |
0.74 |
VHE |
| 7 | Empower students to create employment opportunities for themselves and others by embarking on new ventures starting small and medium enterprise | 4.20 |
0.77 |
HE |
| 8 | Expose them to acquire accounting skills for fiscal resources/financial resources, investment decision, record keeping of business, management of fund/appropriate fund allocation, self-auditing and sourcing for fund for business | 4.50 |
0.65 |
VHE |
| Cluster Mean | 4.46 |
3.2. Research Question 2
To what extent has methodologies used in teaching and learning contributed to the effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria?
Table-2. Respondents’ mean rating on the extent to which methodologies used in teaching and learning contributes to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
| S/N | Items on methodologies in teaching and learning | Mean |
SD |
Decision |
| 9 | Problem solving | 4.55 |
0.46 |
VHE |
| 10 | ICT | 4.43 |
0.55 |
HE |
| 11 | Lecture | 4.72 |
0.64 |
VHE |
| 12 | Tutorial | 3.79 |
0.83 |
HE |
| 13 | Excursion/field trip | 4.63 |
0.70 |
VHE |
| 14 | Seminar presentation | 4.57 |
0.62 |
VHE |
| 15 | Practical demonstration of work in progress | 4.55 |
0.47 |
VHE |
| 16 | Exhibition/exhibition day | 4.58 |
0.56 |
VHE |
| 17 | Discussion method | 4.34 |
0.63 |
HE |
| 18 | Project method to establish mini venture/production | 4.65 |
0.57 |
VHE |
| Cluster Mean | 4.48 |
Data in Table 2 shows that items number 10, 12 and 17 have mean ratings ranging from 3.79 to 4.43 meaning that all the items contribute to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria to high extent. Item 9, 11,13,14,15,16 and 18 have mean ratings of 4.55 to 4.72 meaning that they contribute to a very high extent. The cluster mean of 4.48 indicates that in the opinion of the respondents methodologies used in teaching and learning contribute to the effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria to a high extent. The standard deviation of 0.46 to 0.70 shows that the respondents were homogenous in their responses.
3.3. Research Question 3
To what extent has retraining lecturers contributed to the effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in the Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria?
Table-3. Respondents’ mean rating on the extent to which retraining lecturers contributes to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
| S/N | Items on retraining of lecturers | Mean |
SD |
Decision |
| 19 | Sponsoring lecturers to professional conferences for new knowledge acquisition in entrepreneurship | 4.45 |
0.75 |
HE |
| 20 | Periodic inviting IT specialists to acquaint lecturers with new technologies in entrepreneurship | 4.60 |
0.46 |
VHE |
| 21 | Sponsoring lecturers to short courses on new trends in entrepreneurship development | 4.40 |
0.62 |
HE |
| 22 | Mandating lecturers to acquire professional entrepreneurship experience in industries in addition to academic training | 4.75 |
0.40 |
VHE |
| 23 | Periodically sending lecturers to relevant industries to gain insight into actual needs of the labour market | 4.45 |
0.65 |
HE |
| 24 | Institutions enabling short term refresher courses for lecturer | 4.55 |
0.56 |
VHE |
| Cluster Mean | 4.53 |
Data in Table 3 shows that items numbered 19, 21 and 23 have mean ratings ranging from 4.40 to 4.45 meaning that all the items contribute to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in the Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria to a high extent. Item 20, 22 and 24 have mean ratings of 4.55 to 4.75 meaning they contribute to a very high extent. The cluster mean score of 4.53 indicate that in the opinion of the respondents, retraining of lecturers contributes to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria to a very high extent. The standard deviation of 0.40 to 0.75 shows that the respondents were homogenous in their responses.
3.4. Hypothesis 1
Male and female lecturers will not differ significantly on the methodology of instrument used in teaching/learning entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
Table-4. Summary of analysis of male and female lecturers on the methodology of instrument used in teaching/learning entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
Variables |
N |
X |
SD |
DF |
t-cal |
t-crit |
Decision |
Male |
66 |
3.12 |
0.67 |
115 |
0.83 |
0.96 |
Not Rejected |
Female |
51 |
3.37 |
0.64 |
From the result in Table 4, the t-calculated value of 0.83 is less than the t-crit value of 1.96 at 0.05 levels of significance and 115 degree of freedom. The null hypothesis was therefore not rejected. This indicates that male and female lecturers in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria do not differ in the rating on the methodology of instrument used in teaching/learning entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
3.5 Hypothesis 2
Well experience lecturers and less experience lecturers will not differ significantly on the curricular objectives used in teaching entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
Table-5. Summary of analysis of experience lecturers and less experience of lecturers on the curricular objectives used in teaching entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
| Variables | N |
X |
SD |
DF |
t-cal |
t-crit |
Decision |
| Experienced | 72 |
3.1 |
0.64 |
115 |
0.34 |
1.96 |
Not Rejected |
| Less experienced | 45 |
3.02 |
0.87 |
Result from Table 5 shows that the t-calculated value of 0.34 is less than t-critical value of 1.96 at 0.05 levels of significance and 115 degree of freedom. The null hypothesis was therefore not rejected. This indicate that experience lecturers and less experience of Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria do not differ significantly on the curricular objectives used in teaching entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria.
The finding of the study as presented in Table 1 revealed that curriculum design in terms of objectives and contents contributes to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in the Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. The nature and approach of curriculum design for entrepreneurship education contributes to its implementation. A clumsy and unrealistic curriculum contents and learning experiences will certainly impaired its effective implementation. This findings agrees with the finding of a study conducted by Akpomi (2008) that efficient implementation entrepreneurship education programme dependents on certain variables such curriculum design and availability of teaching facilities. Entrepreneurship education curriculum in terms of objectives and contents plays a pivotal role in enhancing the implementation of the programme.
The findings of the study presented in Table 2 also showed that methodologies used in teaching and learning contribute to the effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. Teaching methodologies and pedagogies are important ingredients for educational programme implementation. They determine how the students learn a given concept of instruction. Without an appropriate teaching methodology, curriculum objectives will not be achieved. This particular finding conforms to the findings of Obikaeze and Onyedi (2010) that efficiency of the strategies employed by teachers in teaching of entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning in Anambra State determines the extent of success of the programme. Teaching methodology is a critical aspect of curriculum implementation of any programme; therefore, teachers of entrepreneurship education particularly at the colleges of education should carefully integrate those methodologies examined in this study for effective programme implementation.
Another finding of this study as presented in Table 3 indicated that retraining of lecturers contributes to effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. The teachers of educational programme are as important as the curriculum itself. Hence, the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2015) stated that no educational programme can rise above its teachers. Therefore, for effective implementation of entrepreneurship education programme especially at colleges of education, teachers of the programme need to be train and retrained in line with the objectives and learning experiences of the programme. Retraining of teachers is required for the teachers to update their knowledge, skills, competencies and methodologies in sync with global trends and current realities. When a teacher is regularly retrained, it makes the implementation of education programme easy and tenable.
This study assessed the implementation of entrepreneurship education programme in Federal Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria. This was centered on the objectives, content, methodology and caliber of lecturers used in implementing the programme in three Federal Colleges of Education. The judicious application of the findings of this study by the major stakeholders, who provide entrepreneurship education programme for students in selected colleges of education in South-South Nigeria, that is, educational planner, policy makers, management of entrepreneurship education programme and students, will improve and upgrade the programme, reduce unemployment, poverty and invariably graduate restiveness. Dependence on the government for jobs will be reduced and the graduating students will become job creators and employers of labour. This ensures a better standard of living and a rapid economic, social and technological development of the nation.
The following recommendations were made based on the findings:
Funding: The research received funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUNND/DESS/FCE(T)/ASABA/RP/2018/VOL.1) |
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. |
Acknowledgement: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study. |
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