Social Skills and Social Values in Malaysian Dual Training System Apprenticeship

The mismatch between the skills required by employers and the skills acquired by graduates is one of the major causes of unemployment among the graduates. The efforts to reinforce advanced technology skills training must be synchronized with the instilling of social skills and social values among the Malaysian Dual Training System apprentices. The purpose of the study was to identify the social skills and social values' problems faced by the Malaysian Dual Training System apprentices based on the perspective of the employers. The study is based on the elements of social skills and social values outlined in the Handbook on Social Skills and Social Values in Technical Education and Vocational Training by the Ministry of Human Resources. The qualitative approach applied in this study was focused group discussion (FGD). The respondents were employers from various fields of the manufacturing sector and altogether, five groups of FGD were carried out. The data were analyzed with the Atlas.ti software using the thematic analysis strategy, and a few themes were identified from the analysis. The findings illustrate that a majority of the employers provided positive feedbacks towards the technical skills of the apprentices. On the other hand, a few concerns were raised by the employers regarding the social skills and social values of the Malaysian Dual Training System apprentices.