1.1 Introduction
Business education is described as an education for business and about business. It equips its recipients with creative skills that would make them to perform well as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is encouraged in Nigeria because it could lead to self-employment, help in reducing unemployment and contribute towards development of the country. One of the major objectives of business education is to provide technical competencies to undergraduates to have a successful career as professionals (McVay et al., 2008). Business courses serve as an important, though not exclusive, source for such skills and competencies directly addressing desiderata related to startup businesses. Entrepreneurial education reflects the notion that, regardless of business specialization, students should enjoy equal opportunity to own businesses through a supportive education that inculcates skills requisite for entrepreneurship (Hynes & Richardson, 2007).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Business education is widely acknowledged as a pivotal factor in the development of professional or trained labor in all aspects of the commercial, industrial, and managerial sectors. Business curriculum content provides students with an elementary theoretical framework for understanding business management and, at the same time, provides students with knowledge and techniques indispensable to start- ing up and managing small business effectively (Venter, 2001). While valid questions remain as to how effectively institutions of higher education prepare graduates to meet the challenges in constantly evolving and highly demanding workplaces (Rubin & Dierdorff, 2009), a lack of business knowledge and skills typically rank as the main reasons for small businesses failure (O’Gorman, 2001).
According to Osuala (2004), the introduction of business education emphasizes the need of providing children with an educational experience that qualifies them with marketable skills and abilities. He continued, Business education is a vocational subject taught in junior secondary schools in Nigeria with the goal of providing youths who may go on to senior secondary school with the necessary prevocational skills that will enable them to be useful to themselves and to the community in which they live to graduate with the necessary prevocational skills that will enable them to be useful to themselves and to the community in which they live to be useful to themselves and to the community in which they live to be useful to themselves and to the community in which they live to be useful to He stated that all students in school would be exposed to educational experiences that would provide them a competitive advantage in the workplace.
The growing interest in student performance necessitates determining the role of business education and evaluating business subjects in the educational system. Insufficient instructional quality, students’ negative attitude toward school, overcrowded classrooms, and poor facilities are among the variables impacting students’ academic performance, according to (Olujuwon, 2010).
According to Abdullahi (2002), Business education is an aspect of total educational programme which provides the recipient with knowledge, skills, understanding and attitude needed to perform well in the business world as a producer or consumer of goods and services. Furthermore, Osuala (2004) is of the opinion that Business education is a broad area of knowledge that deals with a nation’s economic system and also identifies and explains the rate of business contentment and experience that prepare individuals for effective participation as citizens, workers and consumers.
According to Adegun and Akomolafe (2013) explained the concept of entrepreneurship development as a gradual growth of creative and economic and social venture. It involves establishing an individual to explore, opportunities successfully through making a profitable or suffering loss of invested capital. It has to do with system of ideas and values that are now given attention recently as part of the tertiary institution curriculum (Mkpa, 2014). According to Onifade (2010), part of the problem stems from the inability of governments at all levels to put in place teaching and learning facilities at all secondary school levels. Some teachers’ methods, such as typewriters, shorthand, and accountancy, do not improve students’ ability to comprehend and understand the material. Shorthand and typewriting are conventionally intended skill topics.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Assessment of Entrepreneurship Skills Needed by Business Education Graduate for Self Reliance.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the failure of students in business education examinations is one of the most concerning developments in the education industry in recent years. As a result, there are student failures in public secondary schools, which may be due to a lack of qualified teachers, insufficient teaching and learning facilities, insufficient infrastructure, poor teaching methods, non-completion of the syllabus before the examination, and a lack of confidence on the part of teachers and students.
In the teaching and learning of business education, a lack of equipment such as typewriters, computers, and other devices causes challenges. Internal and external influences have caused a lack of interest in various business education disciplines.
Ineffective teaching and learning of business education in secondary schools is caused by a lack of text books on business education courses in the school library. As a result, there is a need to address this issue and see what can be done to stop the situation from worsening. True, compared to the concentration on scientific and vocational topics, many public secondary schools have not paid sufficient attention to business education.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to assess the Entrepreneurship Skills Needed by Business Education Graduate for Self Reliance. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To investigate the factors affecting the self reliance of Business Education Graduate during entrepreneurial skills acquisition;
- To examine the entrepreneurial skills needed by Business Education students to be self-reliant entrepreneurs;
- To identify the problems of entrepreneurial skills which hinder self-reliance among Business Education students;
- To determine the impact of entrepreneurial skills on Business Education students’ self-reliance; and
- To recommend ways of improving Entrepreneurship Skills Needed by Business Education Graduate for Self Reliance.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Are there the factors affecting the self reliance of Business Education Graduate during entrepreneurial skills acquisition?
- Is there any the impact of entrepreneurial skills on Business Education students’ self-reliance?
- What are the entrepreneurial skills needed by Business Education students to be self-reliant entrepreneurs?
- What are the problems of entrepreneurial skills which hinder self-reliance among Business Education students?
- What are the ways of improving Entrepreneurship Skills Needed by Business Education Graduate for Self Reliance?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant impact of entrepreneurial skills on Business Education students’ self-reliance
- H1: There is significant impact of entrepreneurial skills on Business Education students’ self-reliance
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There are no significant factors affecting the self reliance of Business Education Graduate during entrepreneurial skills acquisition
- H1: There are significant factors affecting the self reliance of Business Education Graduate during entrepreneurial skills acquisition
1.7 Significance of Study
The relevance of this study in the field of business education curriculum content will be beneficial for understanding business management and, at the same time, provides undergraduates with the knowledge, skills, and techniques arguably indispensable to start up and manage small businesses effectively (Venter, 2001). The teaching and learning of business education enables students to acquire vocational skills, enhances the entrepreneurial intentions of students and establishes vocational aspirations of secondary school students.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Assessment of Entrepreneurship Skills Needed by Business Education Graduate for Self Reliance using University of Benin (UNIBEN) Business Education Graduates in Edo State, Nigeria as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Entrepreneurship Education:
It Seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of settings. Variations of entrepreneurship education are offered at all levels of schooling from primary or secondary schools through graduate university programs.
Development:
Hornby (2000) defines development as the gradual growth of something so that it becomes more advanced and stronger.
Teaching:
Teaching is an art of creation and the product of this creation is the human personality. Teaching is defined as a systematic activity deliberately engaged in by the teacher to facilitate the learning of the intended knowledge, skills and values by the student and getting the necessary feedback (Offorma, 2006).
Job Creation:
The process of providing new jobs, especially for people who are unemployed, the government's job creation strategy
Skills Acquisition:
The ability to learn or acquire skills; it involves the development of a new skill, practice of a way of doing things usually gained through training or experience.
