Abstract

This paper looked at one aspect of societal attitudes towards vocational education by conducting a survey involving 200 parents in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State. The result of the survey clearly showed that although parents recognize the employment value inherent in vocational education, they are still prepared to accept the superiority of socially prestigious and white-collar professions over technical related occupations. Simple percentages and frequencies were used to obtain data for this study. The paper concluded by examining the implications of these findings for guidance and counselling services in Nigeria.

Introduction

Innovations relating to vocational education have been introduced as a way of reducing “waste’ of talent often associated with conventional schools. The rationale or vocational needs would provide a more productive stimulus to the economy. In Nigeria, for example, the New National Policy on Education (2004) has not only advocated the integration of productive work into learning but also stipulated the establishment of multi-purpose vocational centres in order to facilitate the training of artisans, craftsmen, technicians, etc. In spite of the growing awareness of the need for skill training in development efforts, there seems to be lack of adequate information on the concept of linkage between education and working life; for instance, the implications of innovations and policy formulations concerning vocational education programmes in the context of individual.