Exploration of enabling conditions for TVET institution leaders to link trainees with self-employment in light of the capability approach in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Differences between Ethiopia‟s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy and Strategy for fostering an entrepreneurial culture and what actually occurs in TVET institutions have been encountered. The researcher was therefore motivated to investigate, in light of the capabilities approach in the Addis Ababa City Administration, how TVET institution leaders may connect regular programme TVET graduate trainees with chances for self-employment. The purpose of this study was to examine how TVET institution leaders use a competence framework to connect graduate trainees from regular programmes to become self - employed inside the Addis Ababa City Administration. By considering the study's research and conclusions, policy makers and programme designers may be better able to understand the existing TVET leadership structures, policies, and practices. The constructivist paradigm served as philosophy base for the study. The constructivist paradigm served as philosophy base for the study. The study guided by a qualitative approach and a case study research design, this research sampled participants from three Addis Ababa polytechnic colleges using different purposive sampling methods. Data were collected via structured interviews and focus group interview as well as document analysis. The findings revealed that each TVET institution has a functional organisational structure in place and updated them regularly to remain competitive in today‟s changing economic market. However, there is a significant disconnect between the country's TVET Policy and Strategy‟s intended goals and the reality in the research region in terms of connecting graduate trainees with self-employment. TVET colleges have a sufficient amount of resources to offer high-quality education; yet, they have not been able to efficiently utilise these resources to offer self-employment options to graduates of conventional programmes. Labour market data, entrepreneurial education, VGC services, cooperative training, support from parents or other guardians, support networks, and services for industry extension were used as capacity sets for studies under the capability set talks. However, the TVET institution leaders did not utilise these capability sets to further their organisations‟ goals with regard to self-employment with each of the sampled institutions having varying perspectives on how TVET institution executives should link graduate trainees with self-employment. Leaders of TVET institutions were encouraged to use the suggested self-employment linkage model to support activities that encourage graduate trainees enrolled in regular programmes to launch their own enterprises.