Influence of Entrepreneurship Skills Acquisition on Employability Proficiency among Business Education Graduates in Colleges of Education

Abstract

This study examined the influence of entrepreneurship skills acquisition on employability proficiency among business education graduates in colleges of education in Kwara State. Two specific purposes, two research questions, and two research hypotheses were formulated and tested. Survey research design was used; the population for this study comprised 2,414 graduating business education students in colleges of education, and 240 were used as samples through the stratified sampling technique. The instrument used was a self-developed questionnaire titled “Entrepreneurship Skills Acquisition on Employability Proficiency among Business Education Graduates Questionnaire (ESAEPBEGQ).” Part A of the instrument contained the personal data of the respondents, while Part B was designed to gather information on the research questions, and a four-point rating scale of Very High Extent (VHE) = 4 Points, High Extent (HE) = 3 Points, Low Extent (LE) = 2 Points, and Very Low Extent (VLE) = 1 Point was used to elicit information from the respondents. Test-retest was used to test the reliability of the instrument, and a 0.78 coefficient was obtained. 240 copies of the questionnaire were administered to graduating business education students in the selected public colleges of education through the help of research assistants. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation, while t-test statistics were used to test the null hypotheses formulated at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female business education graduates on employability proficiency regarding the entrepreneurial skills acquired in colleges of education. Based on the findings and conclusion of the study, it was recommended, among others, that there is a need for adequate provision of funds by the government and other relevant agencies for the acquisition of necessary equipment and facilities for the training of business education students at colleges of education.