ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was in identification of clothing and textile occupations available to Senior secondary school leavers in Abia slate and cluster the occupations into clothing jobs accord hg to their relatedness and then identify the employment requirements of such Ohs hi ternis of tasks (related knowledie and working skills) and traits (work habits) necessary liii each of the occupations. Three research questions guided the study and iwo (2) hypotheses were tested in the study. Z-test at 0.05 level of signcance was used to lest (l-lo) while cIa-square (2) was used to test 1-102at 0.05 level of significance. The design of the study was survey \vliile lie instrument for the data collection was a stnucl u red quest ionnai c ll ie study area was Abia state. Two major towns in Abia state — Aba and t. fnivalua were chosen as a sample Ibr the study because of their positions as coiiuiiercial city and stale capiai respectively. Data collected were non-parametric data and descriptive statistics e.g. mean, percentages and frequencies were used for analyzing the data. Twenty-nine ()) clot lung jobs were identified from the study while eighty seven (7) tasks made up of 30 related knowledge and 5 1 working skills were also identified to be necessary for each of the idc"tilied occupations. Twenty four (24) traits were found to be necessary br the ideuiti lied occupations. From these findings, suggestions and rec.onuuenda.tiens were made for further action. Some of such suggestions are that the tasks and habits ideuititied by this study be developed into teaching modules which the seconclnry school teachers could use. In order to facilitate the students' acquisition oft lie identified knowledge, skills and habits, the government should employ qualified c.loi hung and textile teachers for the secondary schools.