Vocational training of our fore-fathers: its lessons today

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Periodical article

Title:	Vocational training of our fore-fathers: its lessons today
Author:	Njoku, O.
Year:	1992
Periodical:	The African Review: A Journal of African Politics, Development and International Affairs
Volume:	19
Issue:	1-2
Pages:	27-40
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Nigeria Africa
Subjects:	Igbo traditional society apprenticeships iron and steel industry education Occupational training Skills development Traditional technology
Abstract:	Modern Nigeria can learn a lot from its traditional systems of vocational training. In support of his argument, the author uses the example of traditional Igbo ironworking. He focuses on the traditional vocational and technical training of the Igbo based on apprenticeship, paying special attention to the system of recruitment, training, graduation, and professional ethics. In traditional Igbo society, guilds and the apprenticeship system were two cardinal features in the organization of vocational training and the transmission of skills from generation to generation. Apprenticeship training was meticulously carried out under the close supervision of guilds. Emphasis was as much on technical competence as on acceptable professional ethics. While apprenticeship is still very much in vogue in present-day Nigeria, the virtues which characterized the traditional system have been greatly eroded by 'modernity'. Ref.