Abstract
The study is a survey research design conducted to investigate core technical skills needed by automobile technology education students for self-employment in Enugu and Anambra States. The study was conducted at Enugu and Anambra States. The population for the study was 35 respondents comprising of ten automobile technology lecturers and twenty-five automobile technology practitioners. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire constructed by the researchers. The return rate of the instrument was 100%. Three experts chosen among automobile technology lecturers and automobile technology practitioners in the study areas validated the instruments. A pilot study was conducted and Cronbach Alpha reliability indices of the instrument yielded 0.83 using SPSS version 22. This showed that the instrument was reliable and appropriate for administration. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was employed to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The study found that automobile technology education students needed all indentified core technical skills to great extent for self-employment and job creation. There was no significant difference between the mean responses of automobile technology lecturers and automobile technology practitioners on core technical skills that students needed for self-employment and job creation. The study recommended among other things that technical education administrators and curriculum developers in automobile technology education should revisit the curriculum and inculcate in the curriculum core technical skills for self-employment and job creation. In conclusion, the study showed that automobile technology education need core technical skills to a great extent for self-employment in automobile technology. Therefore, automobile technology education lecturers should be ready for core technical skills development in automobile technology to enhance self-employment among automobile technology education students upon graduation.
Keywords: Automobile, self–employment, technical skills, technology education
Publication Date: 2026-12-09