19/02/2019
While preparing for my ASE and Red seal examinations (these are professional exams required to function as an automobile service technician in America while IMI is for Europe), I discovered that there is a fundamental part missing in the Mentorship and Apprenticeship training programs in Nigeria. Mentorship and Apprenticeship have almost the same standards all around the world with peculiarities in some parts of the world due to geopolitical location.
Mentorship and Apprenticeship globally involves hands-on learning, theory, researching simultaneously. However, this is at variance with the known practice in Nigeria which is more of just looking and copying. The “na so my Oga dey do am” mentality in the Nigerian context which indirectly means “what you have not seen your Oga do, cannot be done, taught or learnt”. This is in contrary to global standards where the program is designed to produce a complete automobile service technician with the ability to train others.
Apprenticeship involves On-the-job training often accompanying classroom teaching and research for the new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession. In some cases, the apprentice earns while learning the skills required for performing the specialized job. Those who successfully complete an apprenticeship program reach the professional certification level of competence.
By standards, the apprenticeship training is given to the technical staff such as mechanics, electricians, craftsmen, welders who work under the experts of each field for a longer period. The apprenticeship training program lasts for 4-5 years, until the apprentice becomes an expert in his field. This training program tends more towards the education than vocational training. A training contract is signed between the trainer and the apprentice where the apprentice is certified by his supervisor on his readiness to work as an expert in the field.
Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger in age than the person being mentored, but he or she must have a certain degree of expertise. It can also be described as a learning and developing partnership between someone with vast experience and another who wants to learn. Mentorship experience and relationship structure affects the "amount of psychosocial support, career guidance, role modeling and communication that occurs in the mentoring relationships in which the proteges and mentors engaged”.
The Mentoring process always involves communication and is relationship-based. Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development. It involves informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge or experience (the mentor) and a person in receipt of mentorship may be referred to as a protege (male), a protegee(female), an apprentice or a mentee as referred in the 21st century.
Mentoring and Apprenticeship involves opening your wealth of knowledge and available resource materials to your apprentice or mentee. This is a sharp contrast with the practice in this part of the world (Nigeria) where the mentor sees the mentee as a potential competitor in his field of influence. This negative mindset limits proper transfer of knowledge and can ultimately hinder the growth of the industry.
It is imperative that every skilled center (automobile workshop inclusive) should have a mentor. This is an individual whom the staff look up to when they run out of ideas while carrying out a task. Mentorship and Apprenticeship does not in anyway mean slavery but a conscious effort by the trainee to develop certain skills and gain experience from his/her trainer. The trainee has a responsibility to ensure that he develops himself into a trainer so that he can also transfer the knowledge and skills gained.
The trainer on the other hand, is responsible for ensuring trainees get the best training per time. It will be a great disservice to humanity to be a mediocre trainer due to fear of competition from your trainee in the long run. This can only happen where there is a drop-in standard of operation or failure on the part of the trainer to keep abreast with the changing trends of the trade.
Sharing my personal experience years back before I started off as an automobile technician, a friend of mine imported a Lexus ES 350 full option. The car failed to start so we had to look for someone who could fix it. We were referred to a mechanic whom we were told was very good on the job. When he showed up to work on the vehicle, he insisted that phones should be turned off and no one should come close. I did not realize his reason for doing that until I began training others. He did not want anyone to see what he was doing or know the brand of scan tool he was using. This in my opinion was a show of insecurity on the job.
Any technician that can not explain in clear terms what is wrong with your vehicle and how he intends to fix it should not be your mechanic.
In conclusion, Les Brown says it all; “The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared...”
Ensuring that the baton is passed on is a major prerequisite for the development on any industry.
Dont be a mediocre trainer, trainee, apprentice or mentee!!!
I'm very proud of what I do.
I am a Mechanic.
