Knowledge-based economy allows for the employment of workforce who maximize their professional and semi-professional undertakings in the job market. In Kenya, employers within the industrial sector employ both graduates of the technical, vocational and education and training institutions (TVETs) as well as those from the informal sector, with little evidence of employment for the female graduates. This study therefore, examined the employability skills of female employees from the TVETs in the technical and technology job sector. The research instrument of the current study adapted from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) where 32 items were used. Among the employability skills were thinking skills, personal qualities, sourcing skills, information skills, interpersonal skills, system skills and technology skills. The survey instrument was provided to a total of 189 industry employers in Kenya. the majority of respondents are from the manufacturing/industrial sector (46.6%), followed by artisanal sector (25.4%) and the least was agricultural sector (27.5%). Based on the survey, the study found that employers ranked highly the resource/capability skills, information skills, and the interpersonal skills. Meanwhile, employers rate the female employees moderate to highly in personal quality skills. Skills that were found to moderate were thinking skills, while system and technology application skills were ranked as low. The current results indicate that female posses considerable employability skills capable of working in the technical and technology based fields. Future research should look at how the employability skills blend with technical skills and how this affect the employment status of the female graduates.
Published in | Education Journal (Volume 14, Issue 2) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11 |
Page(s) | 39-46 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Employability Skills, Female Employee, Technical and Vocational Students, Kenya, TVET
Category | Frequency | Percent (%) |
---|---|---|
Type of industry | ||
Agricultural | 52 | 27.5 |
Manufacturing/industrial sector | 88 | 46.6 |
Artisanal | 48 | 25.4 |
Position | ||
Human resource manager | 98 | 51.9 |
Artisan | 48 | 25.4 |
Supervisor | 43 | 22.8 |
Manager’s work experience | ||
< 4 years | 16 | 8.5 |
4 to 10 years | 89 | 47.1 |
> 10 years | 84 | 44.4 |
Most important | Very important | Important | Moderately important |
---|---|---|---|
Interpersonal skills | Service to the customer, negotiation ability, leadership ability, teaching ability, ability to work with people from diverse background | Able to participate as members | |
Thinking skills | Problem solving, think creative/innovative, know how to learn, able to visualize | See things with minds, decision making | |
Personal qualities | Safety, integrity, honesty, responsibility | Ability for self-management, self belief, work with minimal supervision, Sociability | Adaptability |
Resource skills | Financial and risk management | Financial management, time management, human resource management | |
System and technology skills | Technological innovation, using technologies while working, fixing tools, observation and improving the implementation | ||
Information management skills | Ability to evaluate information | Information processing | Interpret information, and preserve the information |
Thinking skills | Score (mean ± SD) |
---|---|
Creative thinking | 3.23 ± 0.31 |
Making decisions | 3.42 ± 0.29 |
Problem Solving | 3.04 ± 0.34 |
Critical visualization | 3.73 ± 0.35 |
Critical reasoning | 3.03 ± 0.34 |
Overall mean | 3.29 ± 0.31 |
Resource/capability skills | Score (mean ± SD) |
---|---|
Time management | 4.63 ± 0.33 |
Financial management | 4.42 ± 0.32 |
Materials management | 4.04 ± 0.33 |
Human resource management | 4.63 ± 0.27 |
Risk management | 3.11 ± 0.25 |
Overall Mean | 4.17 ± 0.27 |
Information skills | Score (mean ± SD) |
---|---|
Information acquisition and evaluation | 4.01 ± 0.25 |
information organization and maintenance | 4.24 ± 0.34 |
Interpretation and communication of information | 4.23 ± 0.23 |
Computer application ion information processing | 3.61 ± 0.20 |
Overall mean | 4.02 ± 0.24 |
Interpersonal skills | Score (mean ± SD) |
---|---|
Teamwork | 4.32 ± 0.28 |
Good customer serves | 3.54 ± 0.27 |
Use leadership ability | 4.00 ± 0.24 |
Good negotiation skills | 3.98 ± 0.21 |
Work with Diversity | 4.48 ± 0.21 |
Overall mean | 4.06 ± 0.28 |
System and technology application skills | Score (mean ± SD) |
---|---|
System knowledge | 3.32 ± 0.23 |
Improvement of implementation | 3.04 ± 0.22 |
Selection of technology | 3.00 ± 0.21 |
Technology application in technology | 2.68 ± 0.25 |
Troubleshoots of equipment | 2.55 ± 0.16 |
Overall mean | 2.92 ± 0.21 |
Personal quality skills | Score (mean ± SD) |
---|---|
Responsibility | 4.13 ± 0.31 |
Self confidence | 3.73 ± 0.35 |
Social ability | 3.22 ± 0.29 |
Self-management | 4.04 ± 0.34 |
Integrity | 4.23 ± 0.31 |
Punctual | 3.99 ± 0.35 |
Adaptability | 3.51 ± 0.29 |
Work with minimum supervision | 4.23 ± 0.44 |
Overall mean | 3.88 ± 0.33 |
TVETS | Technical, Vocational and Education and Training Institutions |
SCANS | Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills |
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APA Style
Omutange, E., Mutai, W. K., Barasa, V. M. (2025). Employability Skills of Female Employees from Technical and Vocational Training Institutions in Technical and Technology Job Sector: Employer Perspective. Education Journal, 14(2), 39-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11
ACS Style
Omutange, E.; Mutai, W. K.; Barasa, V. M. Employability Skills of Female Employees from Technical and Vocational Training Institutions in Technical and Technology Job Sector: Employer Perspective. Educ. J. 2025, 14(2), 39-46. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11
@article{10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11, author = {Elijah Omutange and Wesley Kiprotich Mutai and Violet Mecha Barasa}, title = {Employability Skills of Female Employees from Technical and Vocational Training Institutions in Technical and Technology Job Sector: Employer Perspective }, journal = {Education Journal}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, pages = {39-46}, doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20251402.11}, abstract = {Knowledge-based economy allows for the employment of workforce who maximize their professional and semi-professional undertakings in the job market. In Kenya, employers within the industrial sector employ both graduates of the technical, vocational and education and training institutions (TVETs) as well as those from the informal sector, with little evidence of employment for the female graduates. This study therefore, examined the employability skills of female employees from the TVETs in the technical and technology job sector. The research instrument of the current study adapted from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) where 32 items were used. Among the employability skills were thinking skills, personal qualities, sourcing skills, information skills, interpersonal skills, system skills and technology skills. The survey instrument was provided to a total of 189 industry employers in Kenya. the majority of respondents are from the manufacturing/industrial sector (46.6%), followed by artisanal sector (25.4%) and the least was agricultural sector (27.5%). Based on the survey, the study found that employers ranked highly the resource/capability skills, information skills, and the interpersonal skills. Meanwhile, employers rate the female employees moderate to highly in personal quality skills. Skills that were found to moderate were thinking skills, while system and technology application skills were ranked as low. The current results indicate that female posses considerable employability skills capable of working in the technical and technology based fields. Future research should look at how the employability skills blend with technical skills and how this affect the employment status of the female graduates. }, year = {2025} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Employability Skills of Female Employees from Technical and Vocational Training Institutions in Technical and Technology Job Sector: Employer Perspective AU - Elijah Omutange AU - Wesley Kiprotich Mutai AU - Violet Mecha Barasa Y1 - 2025/03/07 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11 DO - 10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11 T2 - Education Journal JF - Education Journal JO - Education Journal SP - 39 EP - 46 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2327-2619 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20251402.11 AB - Knowledge-based economy allows for the employment of workforce who maximize their professional and semi-professional undertakings in the job market. In Kenya, employers within the industrial sector employ both graduates of the technical, vocational and education and training institutions (TVETs) as well as those from the informal sector, with little evidence of employment for the female graduates. This study therefore, examined the employability skills of female employees from the TVETs in the technical and technology job sector. The research instrument of the current study adapted from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) where 32 items were used. Among the employability skills were thinking skills, personal qualities, sourcing skills, information skills, interpersonal skills, system skills and technology skills. The survey instrument was provided to a total of 189 industry employers in Kenya. the majority of respondents are from the manufacturing/industrial sector (46.6%), followed by artisanal sector (25.4%) and the least was agricultural sector (27.5%). Based on the survey, the study found that employers ranked highly the resource/capability skills, information skills, and the interpersonal skills. Meanwhile, employers rate the female employees moderate to highly in personal quality skills. Skills that were found to moderate were thinking skills, while system and technology application skills were ranked as low. The current results indicate that female posses considerable employability skills capable of working in the technical and technology based fields. Future research should look at how the employability skills blend with technical skills and how this affect the employment status of the female graduates. VL - 14 IS - 2 ER -