Theoretical knowledge competencies required by trade artisans in domestic and industrial electrical installations in Enugu State, Nigeria

Technological development especially in the field of electrical/electronics posses a great challenge for electrical trade artisans with obsolete skills. The need to enhance the relevance of these artisans necessitated this study to determine theoretical knowledge competencies they require for domestic and industrial electrical installations in Enugu State. One research question guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Survey research design was adopted and a population of 677 (542 electrical trade artisans and 135 supervisors) was studied without sampling.  The instrument for data collection was a 5-point rating scale questionnaire with 12 items which was validated by three experts. two in the field of technical education and one in educational measurement and evaluation. The instrument was subjected to reliability testing to determine its internal consistency, using Cronbach Alpha which yielded a coefficient of 0.81.  Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research question and determine the homogeneity or otherwise of the respondents’ means, while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings of the study showed that the artisans highly require all 12 theoretical knowledge competencies listed on the instrument to be effective and efficient in their vocation. The respondents did not differ significantly in their mean ratings as a result of status and experience. Based on the findings it was concluded that electrical/electronics trade artisans need retraining to acquire theoretical knowledge competencies in order to overcome the challenges in domestic and industrial electrical installations posed by technological development. The researchers, therefore, recommended that curriculum planners should widen the contents for training and retraining of electrical trade artisans to incorporate relevant theoretical knowledge competencies in their trade areas and that government at all levels should encourage artisans in the public and private sectors to upgrade themselves by undertaking in-service training to improve their socio-economic status.   Key words: Theoretical knowledge, competencies, trade artisans, electrical installations.