A SURVEY OF FACILITY MANAGEMENT GREEN SKILLS COMPETENCY AMONG TVET EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS IN A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN MALAYSIA
Abstract
Green skills are sometimes referred to as sustainable development skills because they are associated with technical skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes required in the workforce to produce and promote sustainable, social, economic, and environmental results in business, industries, and the community. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) plays an important role in promoting the development of a sustainable workforce by educating and training students through a more valuable sustainability-related curriculum, as well as contributing to the development of the Facility Management (FM) industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the green skills competency of third- and final-year TVET undergraduate students and educators from a public university in Malaysia. Based on Pavlova's green skills competency and ecological modernization theory by Howes et al., this study constructs a conceptual framework. This study includes 40 Faculty of Technical and Vocational educators and 81 third- and final-year students from Engineering Technology, Agriculture, and Family and Consumer Science programmes. The data were collected using an online Google form. In this study, descriptive statistics such as frequency (ƒ) and percentage (%) were used. Thematic analysis was also employed to categorise open-ended items. This study emphasises qualitative analysis findings to relate green skills competency of the respondents. The findings of this study reveal that the respondents’ claims that they understood the green concept. They thought green skills as sustainability, green technology, recycling activities, and renewable energy. Most of the participants agreed that they possessed green knowledge and skills. They also stated the benefits of green technology which included creating sustainable environment, providing renewable energy, promoting recycling activities, saving operational costs, improving wellbeing, enhancing energy saving, providing more green jobs opportunities and encouraging the use of green materials. However, the most challenging barrier is inadequate facilities to support green skills related activities. Next, educators also highlighted the lack of proper green curriculum and the lecturers lack of motivation as the other barriers faced while teaching green skills. Finally, the respondents made suggestions to their institution on how to enhance green skills competency among TVET educators and students. They stated that educators should conduct seminar and training related to green skills to their students. Followed by need to restructure green curriculum, ensuring adequate resources are available, cultivating green attitude and ensuring policy is implemented at the institutional and national levels.
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