The role of cultural context in continuing vocational training: A study on auto repairmen in Turkey

Abstract

This study analysed how auto repairmen working in micro-enterprises undertake continuing vocational training in relation to cultural context. The study was conducted in Kirikkale, a city in central Anatolia in Turkey. To this end, the descriptive research technique of structured interview was used. Interviews with 33 auto repairmen were recorded and analysed. The results revealed the means used by auto repairmen to receive vocational training. It was found that the auto repairmen who participated in this study mostly consulted their co-workers as a means of vocational training. In addition, almost all of the craftsmen and foremen seemed to receive help from their co-workers when they encountered a problem which they could not solve on their own. The second most common means included computers and the Internet.. On the other hand, face-to-face education and printed materials were the least commonly used means for vocational training. These findings show that, although they are literate, auto repairmen, who mostly do not take full advantage of formal education and grow up in traditional cultural environments, prefer to use oral communication instead of printed materials as their information sources. These results should be taken into consideration while developing vocational training programs for auto repairmen and other similar groups that are not born into a written culture.