CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION OF VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS BY TVET INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA DUE TO COVID-19

Abstract

Education in the 21st century has shifted from teacher-centered to learner-centered approaches where cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains are key in preparing school graduates for the world of work. The role of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is to ensure the artisans and technicians acquire expected attitudes, skills like creativity, innovativeness, digital literacy, and problem-solving for the prosperity of an economy. TVET sub-sector has a poor image and is seen as a domain for the academic dwarfs. It has been poorly endowed with resources, especially in developing countries. The use of digital literacy, e-platforms have been sparingly applied in TVET when it comes to enhancing teaching and learning. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, there have been disruptions in learning due to the closure of institutions and this has led to the adoption of online teaching. This paper is grounded on desktop research which presents results from studies conducted on how instructors and learners in TVET institutions have been affected by Covid-19 and opportunities during the pandemic. Some challenges include widened contact between the teachers and learners, digital imbalance, limited demonstration of required competencies, ICT Competencies, and lack of virtual remote labs/workshops where the learners can continue with the learning of the competencies. Some opportunities include the creation of virtual labs, instructors were able to programme for tutorials that would allow students to access e-platforms at their own time, online learning had no limited space compared to physical learning and institutions had time to review their curriculum.