Repositioning Human Resource Development in Nigerian Polytechnics for Future Skills and TVET Workforce Capability: An Integrative Conceptual Framework
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Rapid technological change, artificial intelligence, digitalisation, demographic shifts and the transition towards greener economies are changing the capabilities required in education and work. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions therefore need not only updated curricula and technologies but also staff who can continually learn, adapt and translate new knowledge into effective teaching, research, industry engagement and institutional practice. This paper develops an integrative conceptual framework for repositioning Human Resource Development (HRD) in Nigerian polytechnics around future skills and TVET workforce capability. The paper adopts an integrative conceptual-review approach. Relevant scholarly literature and authoritative policy and institutional documents were purposively identified through targeted searches of academic and institutional sources using combinations of terms relating to HRD, future skills, digital competence, TVET, polytechnics, workforce capability, lifelong learning and staff development. Sources were screened for relevance to the paper's constructs, Nigerian or comparable TVET context, and conceptual or policy significance; the selected evidence was thematically synthesised rather than statistically pooled. No primary data, respondents, statistical tests or empirical effect estimates are reported. The resulting framework links seven HRD domains—training and development, career development, leadership development, coaching and mentoring, digital-skills development, performance development and organisational development—to four future-skill domains: digital and technological capability; cognitive and problem-solving capability; interpersonal and leadership capability; and adaptability, creativity and lifelong learning. These capabilities are proposed to strengthen institutional workforce capability in teaching and learning, curriculum implementation, research and innovation, digital delivery, change leadership and industry engagement, which in turn may support relevant curricula, quality teaching and learning, industry responsiveness, employability orientation and institutional adaptability. Organisational conditions—including leadership support, resources, infrastructure, institutional culture and industry partnerships—are positioned as contextual factors that can strengthen or weaken these relationships. The paper contributes a testable conceptual model rather than a claim of demonstrated causality and identifies implications for polytechnic management, NBTE, policymakers and future empirical research.
Institution: Federal Polytechnic, Bida
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7221655481