Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the UAE

Abstract

This study is of three-fold. The first provides a general overview of the history and importance of “Technical and Vocational Education and Train-ing” (TVET); the second compares TVET in The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom (as a pioneer country in the field) in order to explore points of similarity and differences and to make recommendations for TVET im-provement in UAE; and the third analyses the relationship between teacher train-ing programmes, accessibility to technical resources, teachers’ technology inte-gration, and the mission and vision of technical and vocational institutes in UAE. Data were collected from 175 teachers and administrators of Technical Vocational Colleges (TVCs) in the UAE. To ensure a comprehensive exploration of the top-ic, three separate research models were developed and tested. All models were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) through AMOS version 24. Results showed that there is a positive and significant rela-tionship between teachers’ technology integration, teacher training programmes and accessibility to technical resources/equipment, and the mission and vision of the technical and vocational institutes.