The history, status, curricula, examinations, cost and staffing of business secondary schools are discussed together with an analysis of the structure of business education within the overall educational framework and its relationship to office work in the 'real' world. The concern of the study is with the working environment which school leavers are about to enter. It identifies and critically analyses the ideas and ideology with which office work is often associated. The study analyses Ghana's economic structural adjustment as it influences current thinking on the relationship between education, the employer and work. Further, the study explores employers' opinions and beliefs about the selection and recruitment of (vocationally-oriented) business secondary education school leavers. The employers' role is also examined as it embraces a set of transactions and experiences that must be included in any valid discussion of the vocationally-oriented education process. Important consideration is given to experiences from other countries that are tackling similar issues and/or share many economic and social problems with those of Ghana. In using theories that attempt to explain the relationship between education and work, the study confronts important questions about the strengths and limitations of the system of vocational secondary education. Particular attention is given to human capital theory, the screening hypothesis and the correspondence principle. The research methodology used for the fieldwork component of the study was the survey approach, with the emphasis placed on the use of questionnaires/interview schedules, analysis of documents and observation techniques. The following populations were sampled: teachers, headteachers, curriculum developers, teacher trainers and education officers, students, employees and employers. The data are analysed in four chapters. Thereafter, employers' recruitment policies as well as policies for business curriculum practice as they exist today are investigated, with a view to offering suggestions for policy as regards the recruitment of school leavers with (vocationally-oriented) business secondary education. The conclusion re-examines the previously explored theoretical approaches in the light of the empirical investigation. It also advocates a linking of policy and curriculum developments in education and training to wider social and economic changes, together with a more co-operative approach between the employer, the student and the teacher in the context of a more successful management of the transition from school to work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:615496 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Hesse, Dorothy Olivia Juliet |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10018867/ |
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