‘Business without social responsibility is business without morality’: employer engagement in upper secondary technical and vocational education and training schools in Ghana

ABSTRACT

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) have both an educational and professional function. Although employer engagement is necessary to execute the latter function effectively, employer engagement remains a problem for most TVET institutions. This research investigates employer engagement in upper secondary TVET schools in Ghana. The analysis of this paper is based on existing employer engagement literature and empirical data collected through semi-structured interviews with three employers, two headmasters and two policymakers. The analysis reveals two key themes: ‘Not engaging with Upper Secondary TVET Schools’, which discusses how some multinational food and consumer products manufacturing industries did not engage with upper secondary TVET schools, and ‘Engaging with Upper Secondary TVET Schools’, which discusses seven identified employer engagement activities. Overall, the findings are worrying and, if not rectified, will render upper secondary TVET school learners disadvantaged in advanced technical, technological and employability skills desirable in the labour market. To rectify these concerns, the Government of Ghana should establish and implement a robust national employer engagement-oriented education framework. Second, there is an urgent need for further empirical qualitative and quantitative research in Ghana to inform the design and implementation of a national employer engagement in education framework.

KEYWORDS:

• employer engagement
• technical and vocational education and training (TVET)
• secondary TVET schools
• skills development
• Ghana

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to all interviewees who made time for the interviews; sponsors for funding my master’s degree at the University of Oxford and Dr Maia Chankseliani for supervising my master’s degree dissertation. Final appreciations to all known and anonymous reviewers for their relevant comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

The author reports no potential conflict of interest.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.