Development of Self-instructional Manual in Teaching Pad-stitching Tailoring Technique to Home Economics Students in Universities of North Central Nigeria

This study developed a self-instructional manual for teaching the application of pad-stitching technique in garment construction to Home Economics students in three Universities in order to solve the problem of lack of teachers, insufficient time for practical and expensive tailoring textbooks. Three specific objectives and a null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The study adopted Research and Development (R&D) design. Sample for the study was 120 people comprising of Home Economics lecturers and final year students in three sampled Universities totalling 98 people and 22 purposively sampled tailors. Four sets of instruments were used for data collection. Major findings of the study include: Out of 49 items presented as the consumable materials, tools and equipment for learning pad-stitching techniques in universities, 45 items were required while 4 items were not required. 10 items out of the 15 items presented on the criteria for self-evaluation of pad-stitching processes had their means between 3.50 and 4.00 and they were referred to as most suitable, while 2 items were said to be suitable with the mean of 3.06 and 2 items returned averagely suitable between 1.50-2.49 and 1 item with mean range of 1.56 was returned not suitable. Based on the result, the study concludes that self-instructional manual is very effective in teaching pad stitching tailoring techniques. It was therefore recommended that interventions are needed from stakeholders (government and proprietors of schools) in providing the necessary materials.