Influence of entrepreneurship education instructional Elements' on food and beverage students' level of Entrepreneurial skill acquisition in Technical and Vocational Colleges in the Nairobi Metropolitan region, Kenya

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education (EE) has been incorporated into middle-level colleges and higher education curricula in Kenya in an attempt to inculcate entrepreneurial skills in students. Consequently, the diploma course in Food and Beverage (F & B) curriculum offered in public Technical and Vocational Colleges (TVCs) in Kenya incorporates a module on EE intended to equip students with entrepreneurial skills. However, there is limited empirical knowledge on the relationship between EE and the level of acquisition of entrepreneurial skills. Therefore, this study examined the influence of EE instructional elements on entrepreneurial skill acquisition among F & B students. The specific objectives of the study include the influence of content; learning activities; learning resources and evaluation methods on the level of entrepreneurial skill acquisition among F & B students and the moderating effect of students’ socio- demographic factors on the relationship between EE instructional elements and the level of entrepreneurial skills acquisition. The study also explored the perceptions of curriculum experts and EE trainers on the role of EE instructional elements in the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills among students. The study was guided by the teaching model of EE and DeKeyser’s skill acquisition theory. The study was informed by a pragmatic paradigm that supported the use of both descriptive and convergent research designs. A sample of 132 students was selected from a population of 199 students using simple random sampling methods. Besides, 5 EE trainers from the TVCs and 1 curriculum expert from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and another from the Curriculum Development, Assessment and Certification Council (CDACC) were purposively selected. Questionnaires were administered to students and interviews were conducted with the trainers and the experts. The questionnaires were analyzed using multiple regression and Hayes Macro ‘Process’ Model 1 while the interviews were analyzed using content analysis. The study revealed that learning resources (B=.194, p=.039); and the evaluation methods (B=.282, p=.002) significantly influenced the level of entrepreneurial skill acquisition as opposed to the content (B= .094, P=.257), and the learning techniques (B= -.116, P=.190). Students’ gender (ΔR 2 = .0068, P=.3003) and family entrepreneurial background (ΔR 2 = .0204, P=.0702) did not significantly moderate the relationship between EE instructional elements and the level of entrepreneurial skill acquisition. However, past entrepreneurial experience (ΔR 2 = .0294, P=.0294) was found to be a significant moderator. The results imply that learning resources and evaluation methods positively influence the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, with the moderation of students’ past entrepreneurial experience. Qualitative findings revealed that EE's content, learning techniques, and evaluation methods are mainly theoretical, leading to the acquisition of low-level entrepreneurial skills, a challenge attributed to the limited learning resources. This study concluded that TVCs offer theoretical EE that imparts entrepreneurial knowledge to students at the expense of entrepreneurial skills. The findings provide a framework that can be used to analyze EE and for acquisition of entrepreneurial skills in the Kenyan TVET context. The study recommends to EE trainers and CDACC to implement the practical-based approach of EE that aims at cultivating proficient entrepreneurial skills among students. Besides, TVCs should mobilize resources such as qualified trainers, equipped laboratories, ICT and reference materials to sustain the implementation of practical-based learning of EE.