Overcoming obstacles to collaborative learning practices: a study of student learning in higher education-based vocational education and training

ABSTRACT This study adopts exploratory qualitative research to explore the experiences of a vocational education and training (VET) teacher and 36 first-year VET undergraduate students in a Nigerian public university as they engaged in collaborative learning (CL) tasks for a period of 14 weeks academic semester. A thematic analysis of observations and interactions, field notes and semi-structured interviews revealed four main CL practices adopted by the VET teacher to overcome obstacles to effective student collaboration. Linked to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, these strategies include VET teacher’s responsibility in facilitating students’ learning, making tasks more challenging and participatory, learning to accept all ideas and co-work, and resistance to friendship groups. The findings of the present study have theoretical and practical implications for VET teachers, administrators and policymakers who may be working towards improving the CL practices in VET.