Managing economic innovations for skill acquisition in public secondary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined managing economic innovation for skill acquisition in public secondary school in Rivers State, Nigeria. Precisely, it examined the ways entrepreneurship education and industrial partnership are implemented at the senior level. Two research questions and 2 hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. Appropriate sample size was determined using the Taro Yamane formula. A sample of 380 respondents were drawn through proportional random sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire titled: Management of Entrepreneurship Education for Effective Skill Acquisition Questionnaire (MEEESA) and Management of Industrial Partnerships for Effective Skill Acquisition (MIPESA), structured on four modified Likert type rating scale. Cronbach alpha statistic was used to determine the reliability of the instrument of Management of Entrepreneurship Education for Effective Skill Acquisition at 0.78 and Management of Industrial Partnerships for Effective Skill Acquisition was 0.77 index. The research questions were answered using mean and t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that economic innovation is not adequately implemented while hypotheses showed no significant difference in the opinion of respondents on how economic innovation is implemented for skill acquisition in Rivers State, Nigeria. It was concluded that although entrepreneurship education and industrial partnership as economic innovations are included in secondary schools’ curriculum, they are yet to be well implemented. The study recommends that principals ensure students are regularly engaged in entrepreneurship-based activities, that the schools establish formal collaborations with industries and that government allocates resources effectively.