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Most of TVET graduates end up as employees in MSE and their views were deemed vital for this study. The views were collected from both the formally trained TVET and the informally trained employees who worked side by side in the MSE. Their views are divided into six sections namely: training institutions, trainers, reasons for taking up training, gender distribution and the informal training, and the quality of skills.

The 19 businesses involved in this study employed a total of 148 workers, of whom 40 (27 per cent) were formally trained and 108 (73 per cent), were informally trained. Of the 57 employees who took part in this research, 29 were informally trained, and 28 were formally trained at different levels. This almost equal ratio was attributed to the sampling procedures used in this study, which have been expounded in the methodology section in Chapter 5. Ninety-two per cent of the informally trained employees cited cost of training as the primary motivation in their choice, while eight per cent conceded that they found the formal education challenging.

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acquired from their institutions, which contributed to their low self–confidence when they eventually entered the workplace. They noted that their institutions lacked modern and adequate technology to equip them for the outside world; thus they had to undergo rigorous practical training in the workplace to keep pace with demands of the industry.

In Chapter 2 it was revealed that in Kenya there exist many vocational private training providers, some of whom are not legally registered. This situation led SN46 to observe that the public perception that formal TVET-trained graduates were ‗half–baked‘ and lacking in the practical skills was a result of a proliferation of ‗bogus‘ (unregistered and unaccredited) training institutions. He recommended that formal TVET ought to be assigned only to accredited training providers (both public and private). In addition, the frequency of government inspection needed to be increased to ensure that facilities were up to date and the instructors were adequately equipped with the required skills to necessitate quality training.

Trainers: In addition to inadequate equipment at the TVET institutions, employees who had

undergone formal training blamed their trainers who lacked the necessary industry–based technological skills. This affected the quality and competency of trainees‘ skills acquisition, impacting negatively in their performance at the workplace. SN40 noted that during his training, he felt that his knowledge of motor vehicles was more advanced than his trainers because he had access to many different models of cars in his father‘s garage. He was constantly in conflict with his trainers because he could point out areas of their inadequacy.

Reasons for MVRSI training: Employees gave various reasons for taking up training for the

MVRSI, 32 per cent indicated they had not met the university admission entry points, 52 per cent had considered the cost of training, 12 per cent had a passion and admiration for the trade, and 4 per cent were influenced by relatives. SN38 noted that ―I did not meet the requirements to join university and undertake a degree in engineering and, as such, the next course of action was to start from a lower level with a view to advancing my education‖. Of those who took up the course due to interest, SN27 described his long path to becoming a qualified mechanic:

After leaving secondary school, I did manual work in various towns before finding employment as a turn boy (loader) on one of the heavy commercial vehicles that transported timber to Pan African Paper Mills, Webuye. As a turn boy, I closely observed the maintenance of the fleet of vehicles on which I worked until I could offer assistance. On closure of the paper mills, I joined Owaji Motor Services in Mumias, where my skills were honed until I became a qualified mechanic. (SN27)

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Gender: In Kenya, gender stereotyping affects employability of women in jobs considered a

domain for men, such as motor vehicle mechanics. A female respondent (SN53) described her loneliness in the profession, adding that certain courses, like automotive courses, were considered a preserve of men and at times she felt out of place on such ‗unfamiliar ground‘. ESN9 described a scenario where a male customer, on seeing that a young woman was the mechanic, refused to have her repair his car, arguing that she ought to be doing more female chores. He indicated that he did not trust her abilities to do mechanical work, despite the fact that she was one of the most competent workers in the garage. The employer quipped that when the owner left the car at the garage, the girl actually did the repair work to the satisfaction of the owner. SN23 talked of constant harassment and ridicule by both colleagues and members of the public, adding that ―it‘s all in a days‘ work‖. She explained that if she made a mistake it was made to look like ―the original sin‖, yet when her male colleagues made the same mistake it was taken as normal human error. Contributing factors to this situation are imbalances and inaccessibility concerning training, retrogressive cultural practices (such as early marriages that bar women from achieving their potential), and inadequate support from the labour industry (Lutta-Mukhebi, 2004).

Informal training: The employees‘ assessment of informal training was varied. Those who trained

informally cited the shorter training duration, the appropriate occupation-specific skills gained, the affordability of the training (they did not have to pay for the training, instead they performed manual tasks without pay), and less rigid curriculum. SN16 recounted his journey to the informal training thus:

I completed secondary school in 1995 and did not meet the requirements for university admission. Having been born to a poor family and being the first born, I had to do various manual jobs in the local town, including ―Boda boda‖ (bicycle taxi operator) for two years. I was encouraged by friends to join them at the garages, where, at the end of the day, I made a higher income and decided to stick to motor vehicle maintenance. (SN16) Employees, both formally and informally trained, criticised informal training for its over-reliance on skill acquisition without the relevant theory or knowledge base. A number of informally trained employees indicated that they felt lost in the academic aspects of their trade; they performed as ‗robots‘ on the vehicles and could not adequately explain their actions SN1, SN34 and SN54 wished that they had a chance to train in a formal setting. The lack of a structure in their training was attributed to a lack of a syllabus and the nature of the on-the-job instruction. This kind of training often leads to exploitation of the employee, since despite their competence; they may be treated as learners due to the lack of adequate assessment or evaluation. On the other hand, there were instances where the trainee was deemed competent, yet still lacked necessary

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understanding of the tasks at hand, with huge cost implications for the business.

Skills: SN22 and SN28 recommended that the TVET training should test proficiency rather than

theory, whereby trainees demonstrate their applied aptitudes instead of following the strictly examination and certification methods. To this end, nine of 25 formally trained employees commented that training for high-quality skills and proficiencies requires suitable equipment and tools, sufficient training materials, and adequate relevant practice by the trainees to improve the quality of TVET training.

According to SN21, informally trained employees possessed inadequate ethical, interpersonal and business skills that were attained by formal TVET training. Informally trained employees also lacked workplace organisation and discipline, for instance strict adherence to health and safety precautions (SN14). Wachira, Root and Olima (2009) observed that because informal training was achieved through learning by doing and instruction was received from trainers who lacked both pedagogy and certified trade skills, learning takes place by coincidence rather than by design; resulting in inconsistencies in qualifications and competencies within the same profession because of limited standardisation of both the method of skilling and the graduate aptitude.