Article 2025

Evaluating the role of internships in shaping lifelong learning trajectories of technical vocational education and training undergraduates

Education and Training
Journal · pp. 1-18
Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of internship in shaping lifelong learning trajectories of technical vocational education and training undergraduates. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Structural equation modelling was used with the extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to evaluate the role of internship in shaping lifelong learning among Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) undergraduates. The study group comprised 365 third- and fourth-year TVET undergraduates from higher institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria, selected through a multistage sampling technique. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) through SmartPLS 3.0. to analyse data collected for the study. Findings – The result of the study shows that internship have a significant relationship with attitude, self-efficacy, subjective norms and behavioural intentions, but subjective norms only have significantly relationship with lifelong learning. Originality/value – Students’ participation in internship gives them real work experience which will be beneficial to employers and complement technical vocational education programmes, as they are exposed to real-life situations. © 2025 Emerald Publishing Limited

Keywords

Author Keywords

Internship self-efficacy lifelong learning attitude Intentions Subjective norm

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Department of Vocational Education, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
Department of Industrial Technical Education, University of Nigeria, Naukka, Enugu, Nigeria
Department of Business Education, University of Nigeria, Naukka, Enugu, Nigeria
Department of Agricultural Education, University of Nigeria, Naukka, Enugu, Nigeria
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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