FACTORS HINDERING THE EFFECTIVE TEACHING OF VOCATIONAL COURSES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

2.0   INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the review of opinions, suggestions, views of educationists and authors etc. as they relate to the topic under investigation. For easy accessibility, the reviews are made under the following subheadings: 
1.     Concept of Vocational Courses
2.     The Importance of Vocational Courses at University Level 
3.     Applying Curricular for Effective and Innovative Teaching of Vocational Courses
4.     Creativity in Vocational Courses
5.     Problems Affecting the Teaching and Learning of Vocational Courses in Universities
6.     Suggested Ways  of Eradicating the Problems of Teaching and Learning Vocational Courses at the University Level
7.     Summary of the Literature

2.1   Working Definition of Vocational Studies 
Vocational Courses are broad, complex and multi-faceted concepts that can applied to several fields. Their multi-disciplinary accounts for a variety of approaches and conceptualization. As wehner, Csikzentmihalyi and Magyari – Beck (1991) pointed out the mass of research on creativity can be compared to the elephant in the fable in which blind men have to touch it in order to describe it, and this is what vocational courses stands for. As everyone is touching a different part they all come to a different conclusion as to what it is, and fail to  recognize  it as an elephant. 
Indeed, one of the blocks in the study of creativity has been the tendency to conceive one of its aspects as the whole, offering a narrow vision of the phenomenon (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999). It is therefore necessary to consider existing research on creativity and innovation in order to:

1. 1. present a holistic approach to the matter and avoid disregarding important aspects
   2. validate an appropriate conceptualization and definition of creativity and innovation;
   3. identify key factors, issues and concern which may play an important role in the next phases of this research; and
   4. address some of the misconceptions of creativity and innovation that are based on common connotations in an attempt to avoid any possible bias concerning the reference framework for our research.

Despite the plethora of approaches, there seems to be a widespread  consensus on the definition of both creativity and innovation; even if their applications and interpretations differ. Creativity has been understood as the “ability to produce work that is both novel and appropriate” (Sternberg & Lubart, 1997). Innovation has been understood as the “implementation of a new or significantly improved product (goods or services), or process a new  marketing method, or a new organization method in business practices, workplace organization or external relations” (OECD, 2005). Craft (2005) sees creativity as the ability to see possibilities that others haven’t noticed, Esquivel (1995) sees it as the critical process involved in the generation of new ideas. Innovation has also been defined as the “intentional introduction and application within a job, work, team, or organization of ideas, processes, products, or procedures that are new to that job, work team or organization.
Creativity and innovation are obviously interrelated. Creativity as mentioned before is seen as the “infinite  source of innovation” (EC, 2008c), and innovation if one deduces from the above definition, can in turn be perceived as the implementation and application of creativity (Craft, 2005). Moreover, different fields seems to favour once concept above the other. For instance, in business, the word “innovation” is used even when it referred to the  creative process and work (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999). As innovation can be seen as the application of a creative process or product, the product of this chapter will be primarily on vocational courses as relates to creativity and understanding of what it is and how it can be framed. Our first concern is to enhance the conceptualization of creativity, which is often influenced as Runco (1999)   suggests by a general implicit understanding and tacit knowledge of creativity. Creativity is often perceived as synonymous for imagination and originality, and is allegedly connected to the visual arts, music and artistic performance. if one were to build on these assumptions, the implication  for education would be reductionism: ceativity would be seen as the domain of the arts only and therefore, restricted to certain specific  courses. Although, recognizing the relevance of the visual arts, music, drama and the likes for creative education, it should  not be forgotten that all areas of knowledge particularly in vocational courses and all other courses can benefit from its creativity.

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