Competencies Needs of Secondary School Teachers for Implementation of Entrepreneurial

The study investigated “Competencies Needs of Secondary Schools Teachers for Implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades Curriculum in Adamawa State, Nigeria”. As a guide, two specific objectives, research questions and null hypotheses were raised. Descriptive survey was used for the study. The population of the study was 220 business trade teachers in Adamawa State secondary schools, and Total Population Sample (TPS) was used for the study. A 4-point scale structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by four experts and pilot study was carried out in Gombe State senior secondary schools to test the validity of the instrument using Cronbach Alpha reliability test which yielded a coefficient of .846. Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS), 25 was used to process the mean scores and standard deviations for answering the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance at 0.05 level of significant. The study disclosed that Business Trades teachers need competencies in entrepreneurial skills competencies and basic competencies for effective implementation of Entrepreneurial Trade subjects in secondary schools, without which the objectives of the curriculum would not be achieved. The study concluded that, the introduction of Entrepreneurial Business Trade subjects at the secondary school level will not address the problem of unemployment if the situation of the teachers who are responsible for the implementation of the curriculum remained unchanged. Based on these, it was recommended among others that government should organize training sessions for business trade subject teachers, to enable them to acquire the needed competencies for instructional delivery in the secondary schools. It was suggested that Entrepreneurial Business Trade teachers should acquire the two competencies entrepreneurial skills and basic competencies for implementation of entrepreneurial business trades curriculum in the secondary schools, so as to achieve the desired objectives for which the curriculum was developed, that is self-employment, self-reliance and sustenance in all facets of economic, social, political and technological developments.


Introduction
The national problems of unemployment and underemployment led the Federal Government of Nigeria to introduce trade subjects infused with Entrepreneurship Education in the curriculum of secondary schools. The National Council on Education (NCE) directed the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) in 2008, to develop the curriculum of the trade subjects for the Senior Secondary Schools. The developed curriculum was centered on 35 trade subjects out of which seven are Business Trades. The seven business trades are Bookkeeping, Marketing, Data Processing, Shorthand, Salesmanship, Store-keeping and Keyboarding. The aims and objectives of the introduction of the entrepreneurial business trades at the secondary school level are to: provide students with relevant functional entrepreneurship trade subject skills needed for poverty eradication, job creation and wealth generation, prepare students for higher education, strengthening ethical, moral and civic values at the secondary school level; addressing the dearth of technical skills needed for business operations (NERDC, 2008). The curriculum contents of Business Trade subjects are designed to help students to be occupationally trained in entrepreneurship skills that would equip them with the necessary knowledge, applied skills and attitudes in recording financial transactions, producing, buying and selling of goods and services and carrying out secretarial duties for effective business administration and management, (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2013).The curriculum contents were carefully structured and organized into a teaching sequence through adoption of practical skills such as observation, workshops, field trips and active participation of learners in the class (Adamu & Mukthar, 2018). In addition, subjects are allocated three periods of forty minutes each per week in the schools' time-table. Two periods were required for practical in a week. The realization of the laudable objectives of the new initiative depends on the knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies of the teachers who are responsible for the curriculum implementation. According to Festus (2014) competency is knowledge, skills and attitudes an individual needed for job performance. This is in line with the position of Adamu and Sani (2017) who opined that the most crucial aspect of curriculum practice is the implementation which depends on the professional and competencies of teachers. The competencies expected from teachers for implementation of the curriculum of Business Trade subjects include among others: Pedagogical, content knowledge entrepreneurial and generic or basic skills (Abbotsford School District, 2013). The author maintained that any teacher that is deficient in these competencies will find it difficult to meet the classroom expectations of the learners. Teachers' entrepreneurial skills competencies are the hallmarks for the realization of the laudable objectives of the Business Trade subjects. Entrepreneurship is all about business skills acquisition and practice and the demonstration of such skills in productive work experiences. Ezeabii and Ndelekwute (2017) considered the following generic entrepreneurial skill competencies for teachers of trade subjects to acquire for effective implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum in secondary schools: team work and cooperation, flexibility, relationship building , conceptual thinking, technical enterprise, organizational awareness, interpersonal communication , concern for order, quality and accuracy, impact and influence on others, initiative, customer service and orientation, analytical thinking, self-control, organizational commitment, ability and willingness to learn, interpersonal understanding, selfconfidence, personal planning and organizational skills, written communication, achievement orientation and problem solving. From the foregoing it is clear that teachers should competently develop and implement individualized learning plans using cross district, community and school resources for practical business orientation in the school entrepreneurship education workshop. They should demonstrate active leadership in planning initiative to impact student learning at school to facilitate after-school real business engagement. Success in the objectives of entrepreneurship education at secondary schools also depends on the generic or basic competencies of the teachers. Basic competencies can be seen as attributes embedded in the breast of man by nature to be able to use his head, heart and hand in the production of goods and services to satisfy his needs. This represent the three educational objectives of cognitive domain (the head), affective domain (the heart), and psychomotor domain (the hand). They are critically needed for implementation of any school curricular including Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum. Dhalum (2014), reported that basic competencies or skills are important for classroom instructions, maintaining that every teacher need to possess competencies in transferrable skills, communication skills, conceptual skills, mathematics, problem solving, leadership, organization, ICT and self-motivation skills which are basically effective for curriculum implementation by teachers. Musibau, Amanda, Saadat and Nkam (2016) also reported that the attitudes of entrepreneurship education teachers are to conceptualize situations, issues, problems and circumstances with the view to proffering solutions to classroom problems.

According
to Creative Education Foundation (CEF) (2016), basic competency involves understanding, critical thinking, numerical computations, communication and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This competency is good for the Entrepreneurship Education teacher and the learner to learn and acquire for onward transmission to the field of business activities that could bring development to the society.

Statement of the Problem
The persistent growth rate in unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria compelled the federal government to introduce trade subjects infused with Entrepreneurship Education in all secondary schools across the country. The intention is to produce secondary school graduates with the necessary skills for entrepreneurial activities that cut across occupational areas in economic, social, political and science and technology. However, the intended outcome doesn't seem to be insight even after the takeoff. According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), (2021), the unemployment rate in Nigeria, as at the last quarter of 2020 was 33.30%, which is all time high since 2006 and in the last quarter of 2021 the rate was estimated to be 32.50%. To change the narrative, the correct skills need to be taught by competent teachers, who would have acquired entrepreneurial and basic competencies for classroom instructions. The good intention of the Nigerian government for introducing the trade subjects in the secondary schools' curriculum seem to be marred with problems of untrained teachers without the requisite entrepreneurial skills and basic competencies in Entrepreneurship Education with which to implement the curriculum effectively and efficiently. According to Department of Education and Training, Victoria (2017) when educational policies are made, but not properly implemented, it gives rise to non-attainment of the aims and objectives for which the policies were designed. The effects of the problems are glaringly seen in the unproductive nature of the secondary school leavers in spite of the abundant resources available to the country. This resulted in incessant spate of crime and social vices among the youths which is threatening the security and stability of the country. It is because of these disturbing scenarios that prompted the researcher to carry out this study, to determine the competencies needed by teachers for the implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades in secondary schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria.
Objective of the Study 1.
Determine entrepreneurial skills competencies needed by teachers for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades in secondary schools in Adamawa State, 2. Find out basic competencies needed by teachers for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades in secondary schools in Adamawa State.

Research Questions
The following two research questions were raised to guide the study:  Uzoagulu (2011), face validity of a survey instrument of this nature is considered adequate. The instrument was therefore considered suitable for the study. The researcher with five research assistants distributed the instrument since the target teachers and area of coverage were many. All the copies of the questionnaire excepting four were duly completed by the respondents and collected by the researcher for analysis. Data collected from the study were analyzed in three stages. In the first stage, the data was used to determine the reliability of the instrument using Cronbach Alpha reliability test, which yielded 0.846 coefficients and were considered reliable as suggested by George and Mallery (2003) that any coefficient value above 0.65 is reliable for a study. In the second stage the data was used to run descriptive statistics of mean scores and standard deviations to answer the research questions using interval scale of 3.50 -4.00, Very Highly Needed; 2.50 -3.49, Highly Needed; 1.50 -2.00, lowly Needed and 1.00 -1.49, very lowly Needed.
In the third phase, the inferential statistics of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to determine the difference of the mean scores among the respondents based on their subject areas. The choice of ANOVA was based on the submission of Minitab (2016) who suggested that Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) should be used to determine whether the means of three or more groups are different. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significant.   The ANOVA output used to test null hypothesis one in Table 2  competencies needed by teachers for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Curriculum Trades in secondary schools in Adamawa State. The hypothesis was therefore retained.

Research Question Two
What are the basic competencies needed by teachers for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum in secondary schools?  Table 3. The result disclosed that items mean scores range from 2.54-3.64 which were classified under the benchmark of highly needed and very highly needed respectively. The lowest weighted grand mean was 3.01 and the highest was 3.53 with cluster mean of 3.11, 3.22 and 3.26. The means were all under the index score of highly needed. This is also applicable to the grand mean score of 3.20 which suggests that the basic competencies needed by teachers for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum in secondary schools in Adamawa State was very high.

Research Hypotheses Two
There is no significant difference between the mean responses among Book-keeping, Marketing and Data Processing teachers on basic competencies needed for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum in secondary schools in Adamawa State.

Discussion
The findings of research question one and test of the corresponding null hypothesis shows that business trade teachers need entrepreneurial skills competencies for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum in secondary schools in Adamawa State. The finding is in agreement with the position of Abbotsford School District (2013), that for entrepreneurial skill competencies to be achieved, teachers need to acquire the skill to competently implement the business trade curriculum. Any teacher that is deficient in such competencies will find it difficult in meeting the classroom expectations of the learners. The findings of the research question two and the Analysis of Variance used to test hypothesis two indicated that business teachers in Adamawa State need basic competencies for implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum in the State. This finding is in agreement with Dhalum (2014) who found that basic competencies or skills are transferrable skills that are needed by every teacher for use in a flexible and adoptable school classroom situation. The author identified such basic competencies as human skills, communication skills, conceptual skills, mathematics, leadership, organization, ICT, problem solving and self-motivation skills. These skills could enhance the teaching and learning episode in any business skill training program. Also concurring is the view of Creative Education Foundation (CEF), (2016), that basic competency involves understanding, critical thinking, numerical computations, communication and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The organization maintained that this competency is good for the Entrepreneurship Education teacher and the learner to acquire for onward transmission to the field of business activities that could bring development to the society.

Conclusion
The outcome of the study indicated that Entrepreneurial Business Trades teachers needed entrepreneurial skills and basic competencies for effective implementation of Entrepreneurial Business Trades curriculum in secondary schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The need for these competencies becomes necessary if the desired objectives of the curriculum are to be achieved. Consequently, lack of teachers having the needed competencies might affect the realization of the philosophy of the business trade subjects at the secondary school level, which is geared towards providing students with skills for addressing the problems of persistent increase in unemployment rates among secondary school graduates in the country. If the situation of the teachers who are responsible for the implementation of the curriculum remained unchanged, the end in view of the program will remain elusive to the students for which the program was designed. The study concluded that the introduction of trade subjects at the secondary school level would be addressed only when competent teachers are employed.

Recommendations
Based on the outcome of the study, the following recommendations were put forward: 1. Adamawa State government should organize training sessions for business trades subject teachers, to enable the teachers to acquire entrepreneurial and basic competencies for instructional delivery in the state secondary schools. 2. The government should collaborate with higher institutions of learning to organize seminars, workshops and conferences that will equip teachers with the needed entrepreneurial and basic competencies for effective implementation of the trades' subject curriculum at the secondary schools in the state.