Perspective Chapter: Youth Skills and Unemployment – Perceived Inadequate Soft Skills and Coping Strategies of Employers in Tanzania

Abstract

The need to equip the workforce with the relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to enhance employability and economic development at large has gained momentum, particularly in the developing world. Tanzania has introduced various initiatives to ensure that its workforce is furnished with quality KSAs. Unfortunately, the problem of skills mismatch in Tanzania lingers, particularly that involving soft skills. It is in this context that this study examines soft skills that are inadequate in Tanzania and the preferred coping mechanisms by employers. Using a questionnaire survey, this study reveals that soft skills lacking among graduates in Tanzania include teamwork, communication skills, and language proficiency. Failure to transfer soft skills is attributed to the use of English as a medium of instruction, inadequate number of instructors, lack of competent instructors, lack of training facilities, and the use of outdated facilities. Findings reveal that employers in Tanzania opt to re-train and prolong the probation period for new employees as a coping mechanism. Thus, we first recommend that the government should adopt the education-employment linkage framework in designing, delivering, and updating the curriculum. Moreover, because the preferred coping mechanisms add costs to employers, we recommend that the government either reduce the skills development levy and/or reward employers who do so.

1. Introduction

Equipping the workforce with job-relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) is one of the biggest challenges facing countries around the world as the world is grappling with record high unemployment rates [1, 2]. This is especially so in developing and emerging economies as skills mismatches are a persistent concern [3]. It is not surprising then to see that many nations across the globe put much attention towards building and improving KSAs because they contribute to employability, high-quality productivity, and standard of living [1, 4, 5].

Literature puts KSAs into various categories based on their orientation. They include foundation [4], technical positioning [4, 6], modern information and communication technologies [4], cognition [4, 6], order (ref. [7] as cited in ref. [4]), and emotion [4, 6]. Socio-emotional KSAs are also known as soft [4], noncognitive [4, 6] personality traits [4] or behavioral competencies [6]. They shall be henceforth referred to as soft skills.

It is now a well-known fact that the workforce needs both technical and soft skills to propel prosperity through quality productive work (see [6, 8]). Subsequently, there is some hope that by being equipped with proper KSAs, the ever-growing working population in Africa will soon increase the pace of poverty reduction and economic development especially since its population is rather youthful [4]. However, African countries will only realize that hope once they narrow down the widening and dynamic skills gap [4]. It is against this background that many African countries, including Tanzania, have established policies to address the skills misalignment challenge, albeit with limited success [4].

However, even though for the past 30 years, many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have increased their expenditure on education sevenfold; the region is still languishing at the bottom in the world’s skilled workforce rank [4]. The evidence further suggests that the primary and lower secondary completion rates and cognitive skills across age groups in the region are low [4]. In many SSA countries, the adult literacy rate is also below 50%, and functional literacy and numeracy are also low [4].

In Tanzania, efforts to improve KSAs have been directed towards improving technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to enhance graduates’ employability skills, thereby boosting economies through competency-based education and training [9, 10]. To make this work, the government established the Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DTVET) in the ministry responsible for education to manage two TVET quality-overseeing bodies, namely, the National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) for technical education and training and the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) for vocationial education and training [3].

Despite all initiatives to bridge the skills mismatch in Tanzania, many employers still find it difficult to get graduates with adequate KSAs tailored for their businesses [11]. Moreover, data from East Africa depict Tanzania as one of the worst-performing countries in terms of producing graduates with KSAs that are required in the market. Specifically, 61% of graduates in the country lack pertinent KSAs, whereas the proportion in Burundi stands at 55%, in Rwanda at 52%, and in Kenya at 51% [3].

Munishi [3] reveals that graduates in Tanzania lack practical communication skills, teamwork, investigative and analytical skills, initiative/self-motivation, drive, flexibility, and time management. Furthermore, the graduates seem to lack innovativeness and communication skills, notably the inability to express themselves orally and in writing as well as a poor command of the English language, all of which fall under the soft skills category [12, 13]. It is not surprising then that according to ATE [11], value-added per employee in Tanzania is alarmingly 43% lower than that in Kenya, 54% lower than that in China, and 37% lower than that in India.

It is fair then to conclude that soft skills constitute a major challenge among graduates in Tanzania. Thus, it is important to examine how the labour market in Tanzania copes with those skills gaps. In a rather nonscientific report, ATE [11] attempted to unlock this matter by arguing that businesses ought to employ foreigners and/or retrain locals to close the soft skills gap. However, methodological limitations (unrepresentative sample, unclear analytical techniques) and the fact that the study is relatively old, make the ATE study difficult to rely on. Indeed, with the tightening of immigration laws prohibiting the employment of foreigners in areas where locals ‘have required skills’ and the corresponding cost of hiring them, the solution given by ATE does not seem to be sustainable. It is in this context that the present study seeks to examine the adequacy of soft skills and the employers’ coping strategies for narrowing the soft skills gap in Tanzania.

The present study is guided by three research questions: i) To what extent do TVET programmes inculcate soft skills?, ii) Which soft skills are inadequate according to employers?, and iii) What are their coping strategies to address shortages of soft skills? Answers to these questions are critical because they add to the current debate on the skills gap and can inform national employment policies and strategies. The strength of the study is anchored on the fact that it uniquely draws its data from four main actors of the labour market, namely, TVET students, TVET and non-TVET graduates, TVET instructors, and employers selected across the country.

2. Literature review

2.1 The concept of training and its theories

Learning in training is generally informed by three main theories. These are behaviorism, cognitivism, and humanism [14, 15, 16]. We succinctly discuss them in this subsection.

Behaviorism, which provides the first known learning perspective, involves the analysis of observable behaviors of individuals. Under this theory, learning is described and eventually rewarded based on observable changes in the behavior, attitude, or performance of individuals [14, 15]. According to this theory, people learn (or respond to stimuli) in two main ways. First, individuals learn by replicating personal or other people’s behaviors that result in a possible reward. Second, they learn by refraining from personal or other people’s behaviors that could result in a ‘punishment.’ Simply put, behaviorism proposes that individuals such as TVET students learn by responding to certain incentives or disincentives.

Meanwhile, cognitivism concerns itself with examining mental processes involved in learning. It proposes that perceptions in individuals are formed by the mental identification of patterns in observed events [16]. Bruner, Goodnow, and Austin [17] concur with this view by stating that cognitive learning can be explained by the mental categorization of events. They argue that the only way individuals learn is by assigning information they get to existing information categories within their brains. Subsequently, individuals only formulate new categories if the information they process does not fit the existing ones.

Although cognitive learning is an upgrade to behaviorism, it is often criticized by researchers [15, 18] for ignoring the importance of critical reflection in learning. Indeed, categories formed in the human mind are usually ‘culturally induced’; therefore, unless they are ‘reframed,’ their interpretations may be misleading [18, 19]. For instance, a TVET student relying on cognitive learning without applying critical reflection techniques is prone to making decisions according to the status quo, which may not necessarily be the correct way of approaching the issues at hand.

Humanism, on the other hand, is concerned with enhancing the way an adult learner is instructed [20]. It departs from the theories of behaviorism and cognitivism by assuming that human behaviors can also be determined by factors other than experiences or environment, particularly when a learner is effectively trained [16]. The chief among humanistic theories of learning is andragogy, which proposes that the way adults learn is significantly different from the way children learn, otherwise known as pedagogy [21, 22].

Knowles [23] advocated andragogy on the assumption that adults can self-direct their learning process. It is assumed that in instances of self-directedness in adult learning, adults have an intrinsic ability to plan, execute, and evaluate their learning processes without any external support. Furthermore, andragogy proposes that adults are self-motivated, ready, need to learn, and are capable of incorporating their experiences in the learning process [20]. It is not surprising, then, that andragogy advocates argue for more experiential types of training based on real-life tasks, unlike the more theoretical approaches that are popular in pedagogy [24]. A typical adult such as a TVET student would therefore be expected to self-direct his/her learning process.

Understandably, andragogy has been fiercely criticized by several adult education theorists [18, 24] due to inherent weaknesses in its principal assumptions. These include assumptions that generalize the ability of adults to self-direct their learning processes and to motivate themselves, as well as the flawed assumption proposing that all adults can ably apply experiences in their learning process. In reality, adults, including TVET students, have varying personalities and learning styles [25]. It follows, therefore, that any training program that blindly applies andragogic assumptions may prove to be fruitless.

The potential differences in the ability of adults to learn suggest that there may be a need to mix pedagogical and andragogical approaches when designing training programs for adults such as TVET students [24]. Even Knowles [23], the pioneer of andragogy, later admitted that pedagogy and andragogy should not be separated when training adults. Merriam [19] concurs with this position by arguing that adult education and training programmes such as TVET may work more effectively if designed as a continual learning process that ranges from ‘teacher-directed learning to student-directed learning.’ In turn, this can be enhanced only if training institutions work closely with employers when designing and delivering training programs. It is against this background that the education-employment nexus is what we discuss next.

2.2 Education-employment linkage

Although the effectiveness of training and vocational education and training (TVET) depends on the collective efforts between training institutions and employers, the same has hardly been prioritized [26]. Busemeyer and Schlicht-Schmälzle [27] provide for a better education-employment linkage (EEL) framework. However, their framework only manages to capture the involvement of employers at the macro level, hence, ignoring involvement at the school level, that is, participating in the modeling education process.

Renold et al. [26] provided what may be the best EEL framework yet, building on the theoretical framework advanced by Rageth and Renold [28]. They define EEL as the extent actors from the education sector, sharing power with actors from the employment sector at every stage of providing TVET. This includes a range of activities from partaking in designing the curriculum and delivering it to students to updating the curriculum based on market feedback.

Here, we argue that the human capital theory provides the rationale for EEL. This is because it provides for the linkage between education and training and organizational performance. In other words, it gives an elaborate link between training and the benefits that the trainee and their organizations can reap because of the acquisition of KSAs. Human capital theory (HCT) is the subject of the next discussion.

2.3 Education and training: the human resources development (HRD) perspective

Effective education and training can potentially improve the performance of both TVET students and their organizations. Indeed, the literature in the HRD field strongly suggests the existence of a possible link between the improved performance of TVET graduates and their organizational performance [15, 29]. Specifically, human capital theory (HCT) in the HRD field, which is hereby used, contends that organizations can create, maintain, and retain human capital (HC) if their workforce is exposed to relevant training programs, thereby improving the performance of both the workforce and that of the organizations in which they work [5, 15, 29, 30].

HCT suggests that exposing learners to effective training programs can (i) ‘create’ or equip TVET students with relevant KSAs, (ii) ‘maintain’ KSAs acquired by learners by constantly updating training programs to reflect the latest and most relevant KSAs, and (iii) help to ‘retain’ their jobs through improved individual performances.

One should note the subtle difference between the terms human resource (HR) and human capital (HC). According to Orton, Marcella, and Baxter [31], although all members of the workforce can collectively be referred to as HR, only the workforce with quality KSAs qualify as HC. This fact is further emphasized by Kramar et al. [29] who defined HC as the list of KSAs and other relevant human characteristics that an individual must have to perform a particular job. Subsequently, HR can be transformed into HC if they are equipped with KSAs that are relevant to the roles they ought to perform.

The logic behind HCT suggests that trainees who have been transformed into HC will perform at a vastly improved level, which in turn can potentially improve the performance of their organizations [29, 30, 32, 33]. Thus, it suggests that the acquisition of KSAs is beneficial to both trainees and their organizations.

2.4 Soft skills and unemployment

The International Labour Organization [34] posits that soft skills improve the employability of the youth and other job seekers. This argument is in line with the view of the World Economic Forum that soft skills such as critical thinking and analysis, problem-solving, and self-management skills are increasingly demanded by companies [35]. Moreover, soft skills such as team working, communication, and analytical and logical thinking are highly required by industries [34].

Moreover, Blundell [36] argues that soft skills can help youth access better jobs. While formal education still matters, Blundell points out that for those with lower or no formal education, soft skills could be used as an aid to reverse their poor job prospects. In other words, there will always be a need for soft skills in the workplace. Blundell [36] lists tasks in the workplace that will always need soft skills and they include problem sensitivity, coordination, taking responsibility for outcomes of other workers (management skills), working in groups or teams, and sensing the consequence of errors.

There is empirical evidence supporting the link between soft skills and unemployment. For example, according to Deming [37], employers have always preferred teamwork and collaboration as well as oral and written soft skills as skills they demand from their prospective employees. In a survey conducted in 2017 by the National Association of Colleges and Employers [37], the ability to work as a team was the most preferred skill among new college graduates, followed by written and verbal communication skills. Surprisingly, the above-mentioned skills were placed well ahead of problem-solving skills, analytical/quantitative skills, and similar attributes that are overemphasized in formal educational settings (Ibid). Importantly though, however one looks at it, soft skills are crucial in abating unemployment among youth.

3. Method

Both quantitative and qualitative data have been collected using a questionnaire survey. Qualitative data were collected using open-ended questions in the questionnaire to reveal and compare the views of participants on the capacity of the TVET programme and the desires of employers.

Samples were drawn from the populations that included VET students, VET and non-VET graduates, employers, and VET college staff (mostly instructors: 97%). The sample sizes were 210 for VET students, 207 for graduates (157 being VET and 50 being non-VET graduates), 105 for VET college staff, and 49 for employers. Key informants were in Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Lindi, Mbeya, Morogoro, and Mwanza regions. These were the regions where the zonal headquarters of VET were in Tanzania.

A combination of purposive and convenience sampling techniques was employed to select the cases. The purposive sampling method means criteria are set and people who meet them are included in the sample [38]. The convenience sampling approach means people are selected because they are readily available to a researcher [38, 39]. These methods are easy, quick, and inexpensive [38]. Criteria for the selection of units of analysis included the availability of VET centres and colleges and the availability of businesses and factories, which employed either VET, non-VET graduates, or both.

In analyzing quantitative data, frequency, proportion, cross-tabulation, Chi-square, and Spearman Rho tests were employed. Measures of central tendency and dispersion such as the mean and standard deviation were also employed. Coding (the process of systematically categorizing extracts in qualitative data to identify themes and patterns) was also used to analyze qualitative data. Coding entails the identification and organization of topics, themes, and concepts emerging from the data and their relationship [38, 40, 41]. Themes and concepts were generated, and patterns were observed and embedded in the HCT to form a conceptual analysis.

4. Results

4.1 Sample characterization

As stated in the methodological section, this research comprises four data sources, namely, TVET students, TVET staff, VET and non-VET graduates, and employers. We analyze them below.

4.1.1 TVET staff

Participants belonged to both genders, but men were almost twice as many as women (64.8%; n = 68). The same pattern was revealed among the instructors, wherein about two thirds of the instructors were men (64.5%; n = 60). However, among senior instructors, the gender was much more balanced. Instructors had different ages whose range was 46 years. The minimum age was 24 years, whereas the maximum was 70 years. The average age of all TVET staff was 39 years (SD = 10.611). Additionally, according to the normal curve and the histogram, the age scores are not normally distributed. Of 105 staff, one third (n = 35) were youth. Additionally, around three quarters of staff (n = 80) had aged between 24 and 47 years. The group aged between 24 and 47 years had more women (81.1%; n = 30) than the other groups. Similarly, it had more men (73.5%; n = 50) than the other groups.

Two thirds of the participants (n = 70) were married, whereas slightly less than one third (n = 33) were single. The proportion of married men (71.4%; n = 50) was higher than married women (28.6%; n = 20). Additionally, there were almost as many single men (54.5%; n = 18) as single women (45.5%; n = 15). Only women lost their spouses. There were about three quarters of married men (n = 50), whereas single men were around one-third (n = 18). Married women were slightly more than single women (54.1%; n = 20).

Half of the participants (52.4%; n = 55) had a college-level education. One fifth (n = 22) of the staff completed secondary education, whereas a few of them (14%; n = 15) had a bachelor’s degree. Additionally, TVTE graduates among instructors were very few (9.5%; n = 10). Instructors had worked with VET colleges and centres for a period between a few months and 38 years. The average working time for all staff was 7.5 (SD = 6.98) years. The duration of working with VET College and centres was not normally distributed as skewness was 1.594, whereas kurtosis was 3.356. Additionally, the normal curve and histogram illustrated that the scores were not normally distributed. About one third of the staff (n = 38) worked for a maximum of years between 1 and 5 years, whereas another one third of them (n = 31) worked for a period between 6 and 10 years. Furthermore, a few members of the staff (10.5%; n = 11) worked for a period between 0 and 4 years, whereas some (13.3%; n = 14) worked for a maximum of years between 11 and 15. They also held various job positions in VET colleges and centres. Most participants were instructors (97.1%; n = 102). Of 102 instructors, six were senior instructors. Additionally, a few instructors had administrative roles (2.9%; n = 3). Others were two managers and a deputy principal.

4.1.2 Graduates

On average, the age of participants was 26.8 (SD = 3.979) years. The mode was 24 years, whereas the median was 27 years. The age scores were not normally distributed as the skewness was 0.203, whereas the kurtosis was −0.747. Similarly, the values of mean, median, and mode were not the same. The minimum age was 19 years, whereas the maximum was 34 years. A quarter of graduates (26.7%; n = 56) were married, whereas about three quarters (72.9%; n = 153) were single. One graduate was divorced. Of married graduates, nearly three quarters (71.4%; n = 40) were males, whereas a quarter of them (28.6%; n = 16) were females. Moreover, many graduates were males, whereas slightly less than half were females. Additionally, among the women graduates, most of them were single (80.7%; n = 67). The graduate who was divorced was a man. Graduates aged 30 years and above were married (69%; n = 33), whereas most of the graduates aged between 20 and 24 years were single (99%; n = 67). Likewise, a simple majority of those aged between 25 and 29 years were single.

Three quarters were VET graduates (75.8%; n = 157), whereas non-VET graduates were 4 times fewer than VET graduates (24.2%; n = 50). In VET qualification, there were more men (62.4%; n = 98) than women; whereas in non-VET qualifications, there were as many men (52%; n = 26) as women (48%; n = 24). A 2 x 2 chi-square test for independence was conducted to examine the relationship between VET and non-VET qualifications and gender. The result indicated that there was no significant association between these variables, X² (1, N = 207) = 1.308, p = .253, Phi = .091. A third of VET graduates (33%; n = 52) completed Level III, another one third finished Level II (33%; n = 52), whereas about a quarter of VET graduates completed Level I (27%; n = 42). One graduate did an apprenticeship training, whereas another one completed Level IV. A handful of them (6%; n = 9) did not specify their levels. In Level III, female graduates were 4 times as few as their male counterparts; whereas in Level II, they were as many as males. In Level I, women were slightly less than men.

4.1.3 Employers

The sampled organizations had different ages. One firm aged less than a year, whereas one had 82 years. Nearly three quarters of these establishments existed for years between 0 and 29 years (73.5%; n = 36). The ones that existed between a few months and 9 years (32.7%; n = 16) were slightly more than those with years between 10 and 19 (26.5%; n = 13). The firms which fell in the group of 20–29 years were almost 2 times as small as those in the group of 10–19. The number of employees across the firms varies. For example, one company employed a minimum of three people, whereas another one employed a maximum of 2700 people. A Spearman Rho test was conducted to examine the relationship between the age of the organization and the size of staff employed. The results indicated that there was no significant association between variables: r_s = .153 and p = .293. The total number of people who were employed in the sampled firms was 13,843. Of these, 57.7% (n = 7988) were males, whereas 42.3% (n = 5855) were females. Slightly over two thirds of the organizations (69.4%, n = 34) hired women with VET qualifications, whereas one third of the firms (30.6%, n = 15) did not.

Firms were also different in terms of ownership. Non-state-owned companies were 4 times as many (80%; n = 39) as state-owned establishments (20%; n = 10). Non-state organizations were also divided further into sole proprietorship (51%; n = 25), partnership (general or limited; 4.1%; n = 2), corporation (C and S; 20.1%; n = 10), and limited liability company (LLC; 4.1%; n = 2). From a different perspective, this description indicates that individuals owned half of the organizations as they fell under sole proprietorship. Moreover, corporations were as many as state-owned entities, but each of these categories was almost 3 times less than a sole proprietorship. As Table 1 shows, employers fall under different sectors such as manufacturing and construction.

Industry	Count	%
Manufacturing	9	19
Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply	2	4
Water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities	3	6
Construction	1	2
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor	6	12
Transportation and storage	1	2
Accommodation and food services	6	12
Information and communication	1	2
Education	5	10
Other services	2	4
Unreported (missing data)	13	27
Total	49	100

Table 1.

The industry of the establishments.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

Firms employed people with various education qualifications attained from different educational institutions such as universities. Of 13,232 employees, 19.9% (2633) had university qualifications, 20.8% (2751) possessed VET qualifications, and 1.5% (204) had Folk Development College (FDC) qualifications. Some workers (57.8%, n = 7644) had other qualifications apart from University, VET, and FDC qualifications.

As Table 2 depicts, two thirds of the employers had staff with different types of qualifications like university, VET, and other qualifications apart from FDC qualifications. A few employers had staff with FDC qualifications. Again, of these employers, most employed people with VET qualifications (see Table 2). The results indicated that the association between the variables was not significant: X² (4, N = 49) = 3.981, p = .409, and V = .409.

Qualification	Count	%
UVFO	6	12.2
UVF	3	6.1
UV	6	12.2
U	1	2.0
VF	1	2.0
V	2	4.1
UVO	21	42.9
VO	9	18.4

Table 2.

Employers with staff with different types of qualifications.

Note. U stands for University qualifications, V for VET, F for FDC, and O for other qualifications.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

4.1.4 VET students

The participants had both female and male gender, but the number of females (54.8%; n = 115) was slightly higher than that of males (45.2%; n = 95). Participants were aged between 16 and 34 years. Their mean was 21.8 (SD = 3.157), the mode was 20, and the median was 21. The age scores were close to a normal distribution as the measures of central tendency were equal, but the skewness was 1.202 and the kurtosis was 2.086. Only four participants got married, whereas the rest were single (98.1%; n = 206). Of these four, three were males, whereas one was a female. Additionally, the youths who got married were already adults. Most students (90%; n = 189) completed their secondary education, whereas a few of them (5.7%; n = 12) completed their primary education. Moreover, four students completed their TVTE and three finished their tertiary education. The ones who were married completed their secondary education.

Students were learning in three categories of VET colleges, namely, faith-based organizations (FBO; 33.3%; n = 70), private individuals (33.3%; n = 70), and VETA (33.3%; n = 70). Of those who were married, three were students at VETA colleges, whereas one studied at FBO-VET College. Very few students (1.4%; n = 3) were employed. Only one of the four married students was employed, whereas the other two employed students were single.

4.2 TVET programmes in Tanzania

TVET colleges and centres are very critical in building and improving skills. Increasingly, over time, public and private sectors have established VET colleges and centres (see Table 3). The large share of colleges was owned by the government (37%; n = 39) and FBOs (40%; n = 42). There were few colleges which were owned by the private sector (23%; n = 24). Most students (71%; n = 149) enrolled in courses to improve their KSAs to become competitive in the labour market. A few students (5%; n = 11) joined colleges as an alternative route to a university education.

Start year	VETA	Central government	Private company	Private individual	FBO	Total
1969–1978	7	2	1	4	7	21
1979–1988	7	5	0	0	12	24
1989–1998	4	3	0	2	12	21
1999–2008	0	2	1	6	7	16
2009–2017	7	2	0	10	4	23
Total	25	14	2	22	42	105

Table 3.

Time of VET colleges/ centres commencement.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

As Table 4 indicates, the colleges and centres enrolled students for short- and long-term training. According to World Bank [42], short-term training does not exceed 6 months, whereas a long one lasts for more than 6 months. Students who followed short courses were almost as many as those who pursued long courses, but they had a different level of education when they joined such courses. Also, a gender gap persisted in enrolled students and course duration. For example, in long-term courses, men were about twice as many as women. However, in short courses, the gender gap was relatively small (see again Table 4).

Course duration	Gender
	Female	Male
Long courses	38% (10,615)	53.3% (23,608)
Short courses	62% (17,271)	46.7% (20,666)
Total	100% (27,886)	100% (44,274)

Table 4.

Students enrolment within gender categories.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

VET colleges offer a range of courses such as accountancy, agriculture, and bricklaying. Most instructors (97.1%; n = 102) taught and trained their students based on approved teaching guides, but there were different editions of such guides. Due to the variation of editions, someone may wonder whether the difference is related to courses or currency or both courses and timeliness.

VET programmes are delivered theoretically, practically, and through fieldwork attachments, but subjects such as the English language did not have formal practical and fieldwork attachments. The findings showed that theory and practical were combined, but as Table 5 shows, high priority was given to practical training. For example, instructors allocated more time for practical training than lecturing. The same pattern was also featured in assessing students learning through assignments and examinations (see Table 6).

Weight (%)	Teaching
	Theory	Practical
10–19	1% (1)	7.6% (8)
20–39	45.7% (48)	1.9% (2)
40–50	37.1% (39)	11.4% (12)
Above 50	16.2% (17)	79% (83)
Total	100.0% (105)	100.0% (105)

Table 5.

Proportions of theory and practical weight in teaching.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

Measures	Theory	Practical	Fieldwork
Mean	39.42	46.23	13.99
Median	40	50	10
Mode	40	50	10
Standard deviation	17.280	17.094	13.037
Skewness	1.711	−1.295	.951
Kurtosis	4.363	1.666	.516
Minimum	0	0	0
Maximum	100	80	50

Table 6.

Theory, practical and fieldwork weight in the examinations.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

Note, however, that practical training requires the availability of excellent infrastructure, particularly modern laboratories, and workshops. Findings from this present study indicate that some VET colleges and centres lacked adequate training facilities. Worse still, those available facilities were mostly outdated.

VET students participated in fieldwork attachments, and their instructors supervised them (see Table 7). During the supervision visits, instructors focused on some aspects of learning, and they assessed their students to find out whether they were learning. The instructors also focused on the application of KSAs, which they taught before fieldwork attachments. In their fieldwork assessment, they also considered soft skills such as teamwork, creativity, customer care, and diligence. They also observed the dimensions of punctuality, morale, ability, efficiency, and new learning.

Supervision visits	Count	%
Once a week	32	30.5
Once a month	30	28.6
Once in 3 months	16	15.2
Once in 4 months	1	1.0
Once in 6 months	11	10.5
Never	15	14.3
Total	105	100.0

Table 7.

Frequency of fieldwork supervision visits.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

Instructors also play a significant role in developing skills sets [42, 43, 44, 45, 46]. The findings indicated that most students (86.7%; n = 182) found that their instructors were excellent, and many students (85.2%; n = 179) also found them devoting sufficient time to teaching. However, these instructors had some competence and commitment issues; as on average, some students (6.7%; n = 14) doubted the capacity of their instructors. This is what some of the students had to say on the matter.

“Instructors should undergo more training to cope with the current developments” (Student 04).

“They should hire not only better instructors but also those with experience” (Student 06)

“There also should be instructors with high capacity and experience” (Student 07).

“There should include sufficient instructors with good knowledge and specialised in different fields to meet the needs of students. Moreover, when there are good, specialised instructors, there must be many graduates with good knowledge and skills” (Student 148).

The results also showed that instructors were not sufficient, as one in four instructors exceeded working hours in a week. Yet according to the Employment and Labour Relations Act of 2004, the maximum number of working hours a day is nine, whereas in a week is 45 hr. Students noticed the burden that their instructors faced, and these are some of their recommendations.

“In my view, to improve teaching and training in our centre, more instructors should be recruited” (Student 11).

“More instructors should be recruited because you find one instructor teaches two to three courses the thing which is difficult” (Student 120).

“Instructors should have adequate knowledge and skills, not only those with certificate level. More instructors should be recruited” (Student 14).

As part of the continuous professional development, colleges and centres evaluated the performance of their instructors and trained them. Soft skills were also included in the on-the-job training of instructors. The courses that were offered were academic counseling, car driving, computer, construction, disaster management, electricity, entrepreneurship, food production or making, health and safety, and housekeeping. Other courses were labour markets, language, management and leadership, marketing and sales, mechanical, social life skills, tailoring and embroidering, and teaching.

The English language is used as the medium of instruction. However, this medium of instruction posed learning challenges to some students, especially those who joined colleges after completing their primary education where Kiswahili is the medium of instruction. Most secondary school leavers did not have that problem because the medium of instruction in post-primary education is English. Both students and instructors agreed to the challenges brought about by the use of English as a medium of instruction, and this is what some of them had to say about it.

“We need to be taught in Kiswahili because most of us are standard seven leavers who do not know the English language”. (Student 126)

“I suggest instructors of technical subjects use Kiswahili rather than the English language for the majority of us to understand well. Most of us are not fluent in English because we have completed primary education”. (Student 127)

“The English language has become a challenge for students to understand lessons quickly when I give them language assignments”. (Staff 104)

“English language, which is a medium of instruction poses a big challenge to students as they are not good at that language”. (Staff 24)

In summary, results indicated that TVET programmes comprise technical and soft skills. However, the delivery sounds challenging because of the language of instruction and the capacity of instructors.

4.3 Perceived missing/ inadequate soft skills

More VET graduates enter the labour market immediately after completing their courses successfully. However, a few of them (11%; n = 23) started to search for jobs while they were still pursuing their courses. As Table 8 depicts, between 2001 and 2018, for each class, graduates increased from 69 to 2962, respectively. Except for 2003–2004, there were more male graduates than their female counterparts (see again Table 8).

Years	Male		Female		Total
	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%
2001–2002	38	0.8	31	1.1	69	0.9
2003–2004	52	1.0	61	2.2	113	1.4
2005–2006	102	2.0	50	1.8	152	1.9
2007–2008	191	3.8	144	5.2	335	4.3
2009–2010	224	4.4	129	4.7	353	4.5
2011–2012	464	9.2	277	10	741	9.5
2013–2014	680	13.4	267	9.6	947	12.1
2015–2016	1447	28.5	722	26.1	2169	27.7
2016–2018	1874	37.0	1088	39.3	2962	37.8
Total	5072	100.0	2769	100.0	7841	100.0

Table 8.

Number of graduates in the period between 2001 and 2018.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

Graduates spent between weeks and years getting a job. For instance, many graduates (67%; n = 95) were employed within around 11 months after completing their studies, whereas some of them (30%; n = 43) got jobs after a year of their graduation. Moreover, findings indicated that as graduates delayed getting a job after their graduation year, the probability of securing employment decreased. However, some factors prevented them from securing jobs. These included few job opportunities, favoritism, skills shortage, and skills mismatch.

Employers also had different views about the soft skills VET graduates possess. The findings indicated that the degree of possessing those skills varied across VET graduates and between VET and non-VET graduates. The soft skills in question here are teamwork, independence, innovation, punctuality, attention, obedience, confidence, self-control, self-awareness, trustworthiness, integrity, hard work, spirit, smart dressing, cleanliness, diligence, curiosity, English language skills, and communication skills. Although employers depicted mixed perceptions towards graduates’ soft skills, they mostly appreciated VET graduates as shown by some of them below.

“VET graduates are good at team working.” (Employer 32, non-manufacturing sector)

“VET graduates work very hard/diligently knowing that we employ the good performers.” (Employer 21, manufacturing sector)

“VET graduates are trustworthy.” (Employer 18, non-manufacturing sector)

“VET graduates are not punctual.” (Employer 19, non-manufacturing sector)

“VET graduates are punctual.” (Employer 31, non-manufacturing sector)

“VET graduates are working very hard possibly it is because of going to colleges, so they are very eager to work.” (Employer 25, non-manufacturing sector)

“Although they are warned about phone addiction, they could be warned before completing their courses.” (Employer 03, non-manufacturing sector)

“I have only one problem with them, which is the way they dress. They do not have good/decent clothes.” (Employer 24, non-manufacturing sector)

“They dare to perform new tasks without being asked to do them.” (Employer 15, non-manufacturing sector)

“To be honest, I like their discipline so much.” (Employer 28, non-manufacturing sector)

“They are innovative, for example, in installing electric cables.” (Employer 26, non-manufacturing sector)

“Generally, they do not have sufficient communication skills. They also lack leadership skills.” (Employer 02, manufacturing sector)

“They have a language problem. They are faced with communication barriers. This is the primary weakness of VETA graduates since English is the official language in most companies, so communication becomes difficult.” (Employer 22, non-manufacturing sector)

The views of the employers indicated that VET graduates had a higher level of soft skills than non-VET graduates, but the findings within VET graduates were conflicting. On the other hand, findings of the perception of employers on the availability of soft skills in the labour markets revealed that such skills as teamwork and communication were inadequate.

4.4 Employers’ coping strategies

Employers have continued to employ VET graduates even though they appear to have inadequate soft skills. What seems to be their main coping strategy is to retrain them and extend the probationary period. This is how some of the employers explained it.

“When they join us, we see the need to re-train them as they lack workplace experience”. (Employer 02, manufacturing sector)

“It is critical to improve the capacity of staff to improve the quality of our industry for the sustainability of our industry. For example, when we install new equipment, we train workers to improve productivity”. (Employer 15, non-manufacturing sector)

In a way, the dearth of soft skills among graduates seems to emanate from a technical-loaded curriculum that VET has as Table 9 shows.

Skills
Technical	Soft
Awarding apprentices	Self-awareness and -evaluation
Computer	Customer care
Disaster management	Tackling the work
Electricity	leadership
Domestic
Electric meter
Power substation
Entrepreneurship
Health and safety
Induction/orientation
Lining maintenance
Mechanical

Table 9.

Training courses offered to employees.

Source: Fieldwork data, 2018.

As stated above, employers prolonged the period of probation for their new employees who had inadequate skills. A probationary period is a time when a new employee to a position is assessed to see whether they have the right knowledge, skills, and ability to perform duties [47, 48]. The practice was well captured by one of the interviewed employers.

“We sometimes extend their probationary period up to one year”. (Employer 02, manufacturing sector)

The results from this section are straightforward. Indeed, they clearly indicate that staff re-training and the extension of a probationary period are the two strategies used to improve the KSAs of graduates at the workplace.

5. Discussion

This study examines perceived inadequate soft skills and coping strategies of employers in Tanzania. To do so, it was guided by the following key research questions: i) Do TVET programmes inculcate soft skills?, ii) Which soft skills are inadequate according to employers?, and iii) What are their coping strategies to address shortages of soft skills? This is how they were answered over the course of the analysis.

Concerning research Question 1, the findings indicated that TVET programmes comprise socio-emotional skills because TVET instructors participated in social life skills training workshops; and during the field attachments, social life skills were evaluated. The fieldwork attachment assessment covered social skills such as teamwork and punctuality. Despite the delivery of socio-emotional skills, there are four challenges that also influence the delivery of such programmes. First, English, which is the medium of exchange, seems to be a huge problem. This is because most TVET students are primary school leavers whose language of instruction is Kiswahili. This seems to be a problem even on the side of instructors themselves. Second, instructors seem to be few, forcing them to work over and above the average working hours. Relatedly, the competence of instructors to transfer KSAs to students has been put into question by some students. Finally, most VETs seem to lack modern equipment in their laboratories, and those with a few are the outdated ones. All these challenges have a bearing on the probability of quality KSAs transfer to trainees.

Findings on the challenges facing TVET programmes in Tanzania are consistent with several other past studies [3, 4, 11, 43, 45]. Indeed, these studies discovered that the TVET programme requires improvement; for instance, to upgrade physical infrastructure including laboratories and workshops.

As for research Question 2, although the findings of the availability of soft skills in the labour market are mixed, it was found that some VET graduates do not possess adequate soft skills. The results showed that some VET graduates did not demonstrate teamwork, independence, punctuality, paying attention to work, obedience, confidence, self-control, self-awareness, and trustworthiness. Other social skills that the graduates did not possess included integrity, smartness, cleanliness, diligence, curiosity, and communication skills (English language skills). Findings have revealed that the reason behind this problem is the fact that the curriculum is loaded with technical courses, thereby neglecting the soft skills side of the courses.

Some of these findings are in line with the results of previous studies on this topic. For example, Munishi [3] also discovered that many VET graduates in Tanzania had difficulties in communication including the English language. Sudan et al. [49] as cited in World Bank [2] also found that businesses in India demanded English language skills as well. For instance, information technology (IT) and IT-related services increased the demand for technicians with good English language skills by about 500,000 annually (ref. [49] as cited in ref. [2]). Moreover, Oster and Millett [50], as cited in World Bank [2], found a positive association between the establishment of new call centres and an increase in enrolments in English language schools located nearby such centres by 6%. The 2008 Indonesia and Philippines employer surveys indicated communication skills were one of the three soft skills that were highly demanded by employers ([2], p. 13).

Moreover, the findings of the 2009 Vietnam employer survey were consistent with the result of this research about punctuality. The study revealed that punctuality was a top behavioral competency in the priorities of employers ([2], p. 13).

Finally, on Question 3, the results show that employers try to address the issue of the soft skills gap by re-training their staff and extending their probationary period. The finding on staff re-training is partly consistent with the results of ATE [11]. However, it departs from ATE [11] by showing that rather than hiring foreigners in the quest for quality KSAs, employers in Tanzania opt to extend the probation period of new employees as a coping strategy. Again, contrary to ATE findings, this research did not reveal whether temporary employment was one of the coping strategies, although many employees had temporary contracts. We believe that the findings in our study are more reliable and valid because while the ATE study focused on manufacturing, tourism sectors, and businesses that were located in Dar es Salaam, this presented study covered more sectors and regions, making it more representative in nature.

6. Conclusions

The need to equip the workforce with relevant KSAs to enhance economic development has gained momentum, particularly in developing and emerging economies. Expectedly, countries worldwide have designed policies geared towards improving KSAs because they contribute to high-quality productivity and standard of living.

In line with this move, Tanzania established the Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DTVET) responsible for managing NACTE and TVET, two bodies that oversee technical education and training and vocational education and training. Even then, the problem of skills mismatch in Tanzania continues to linger, particularly that involving soft skills. This study was set out to examine whether TVET colleges and centres train soft skills adequately. Furthermore, it attempted to identify soft skills that are inadequate in Tanzania and highlight coping mechanisms that employers have been using to surmount the challenge.

The analysis revealed that over time, more TVET colleges and centres have been opened. These institutions were owned by different sectors like the public and private. Furthermore, the public and FBOs had a large share of ownership. They enrolled men and women in their long- and short-term courses, but long-term courses had more men than women; whereas in the short-term courses, the gender was somewhat balanced. The programmes were delivered theoretically, practically, and through attachments. Additionally, most institutions prioritized the practical approach to teaching and training. Despite these initiatives, the infrastructure was inadequate and outdated, and some instructors did not have enough of the latest knowledge and skills. Moreover, some teaching guides appeared to be outdated because they were published in the distant past.

Results also showed that despite TVET colleges and centres’ efforts, there are soft skills that are lacking among VET and non-VET graduates. The most critical insufficient skills are teamwork, communication skills, and language fluency. The reason behind the lack of transfer of soft skills in Tanzania is attributed to, as indicated above, the use of English that is not universally understood by both students and instructors. Other reasons include the adequate number of instructors, lack of proper KSAs among instructors, lack of training facilities, and outdated ones in relation to the modern labour market. Nevertheless, employers seem to perceive that VET graduates have superior soft skills compared with their non-VET counterparts.

Unlike results from the ATE study, which suggested that employers cope with the mismatch of skills by hiring foreigners and offering temporary employment to new employers, this study reveals that employers in Tanzania opt to not only re-train but also prolong the probation period to equip new employees with relevant KSAs. This of course has a cost implication for employers.

We thus recommend that the ministry responsible for education should fully adopt the EEL framework that requires the total participation of both educationists and employers in designing and delivering as well as updating the curriculum. Moreover, because this study has shown that employers are coping through re-training new employees and lengthening probation periods, we recommend that the government must either reduce the skills development levy and/or reward employers who re-train their new employees and prolong probation periods as both options do add costs to their business ventures.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Irish Embassy, Dar Es Salaam for funding the project and REPOA for collecting the data.