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Students Perception Of Practical Agricultural Science In Senior Secondary Schools In Ilorin West L.g.a. Kwara State
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Objectives and Contents of Agricultural Science Curriculum
In the National Policy on Education, (NPE 2014 )Agriculture is one of the subjects offered in Junior and Senior Secondary Schools, as a pre-vocational elective and vocational elective respectively (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2013). The curriculum content of the senior school level was structured to focus on three major areas: production (food production), production (agronomy and forestry) and economics (agricultural economics and farm management). ‘Guided Discovery’ a method that lays emphasis on learning by doing was recommended in the curriculum to enable the students explore and harness the agricultural resources within their local environment. This will help students in food production and other agricultural products for themselves and their community (Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, 2012). The overall objective of the revised curriculum is to provide students with adequate knowledge and skills that will enable them to discover their talents and enrich agricultural science education in Nigeria (NERDC, 2012). Specifically, the objective of senior secondary Agricultural education are to:
1. stimulate and sustain students interest in Agriculture;
2. impart functional knowledge and practical skills in agriculture to students;
3. prepare students for further studies in area of agriculture; and
4. prepare students for profession in Agriculture (NERDC, 2012).
Ikeoji, (2007) maintained that the basic goal of the National Policy on Education is to make education both practical and useful. It has also been observed that vocational education originated out of the need for the system to make its products useful to themselves and to the society.
Teaching of agricultural science at the secondary level requires a solid foundation in theory and practical aspects by the teacher of agriculture. The 6-3-3-4 system of education requires that agricultural science be taught as a prevocational subject at the junior secondary schools and as a vocational subject at the senior secondary school level (FRN, 2004). Surprisingly, the 2007 Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme in contrary resolved that agricultural science be made an elective course but an attempt is on the top gear by serious-minded and thought provoking experts/educationists to revert it to its compulsory course status considering its national relevance (Egwu, 2009). Even though agriculture is a vocational elective at senior secondary, the performance of students in the subject and the sector has not improved. Ikeoji and Agwubike (2006) noted that graduates of vocational agriculture in senior secondary schools in Nigeria have often not been able to take up their responsibility in paid jobs at the completion of their secondary education, thus, defeating the goals of changing agriculture to a vocational subject at secondary school level in Nigeria. The continued emphasis of agriculture in the curriculum is a response to tailor the curriculum to prepare the students for the kinds of existing jobs both in rural and urban set up ( Bird, 2002 and World Bank, 2000). This was aimed at redefining and restructuring the curriculum to correspond to the needs of new economic reality. These views gain the support from UUNESCO (2012) which focuses on qualitative education in which the youths acquire skills for reducing unemployment, poverty and promoting rural economic. In view of the importance of agriculture to a nation, Nigeria adopted the teaching and learning of the subject at all levels of education. As provided in the National Curriculum for senior secondary school ,Federal Ministry of Education (FME, 2008), Agricultural Education is designed to lay a solid foundation for vocational agriculture that is proposed to train individuals to acquire relevant occupation skills, that will make them to be productive farmers. The teaching of Agricultural Science education in Nigeria secondary schools was first initiated in 1967. The curriculum in agriculture was jointly developed by the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council (NERDC) and West Africa Examination Council (WAEC). The main objectives of introducing the teaching of agricultural science include:
1. Encouragement of students in the use of their hands;
2. The appreciation for the dignity of labour;
3. Familiarity with biological processes and thereby instilling rationality in the students;
4. Increasing self-sufficiency and self-reliance in food production students to produce part of their food needs and improve their diet and thus minimize the cost of feeding in their secondary schools.
Agricultural Science as one of the west African examination council subject which is taught theoretically and practically. The school farm or garden is often used as a means of providing practical experience for the students. The relevance of the current senior secondary vocational agriculture curriculum has raised divergent views from different stakeholders. For instance, Ochu and Umunnagbu (2005) in a study titled: Relevance of the Practical Content of the Senior Secondary Vocational Agriculture Programme†opined that the programmes are suitable for developing the right caliber of middle level manpower for the agricultural subsector of the economy. This finding however indicated an improvement over findings in the earlier reports made by Ivowi (1983) and Zahradeen (1990) who variously reported skills content deficiency. Ochu and Umunnaegbu therefore concluded that given the right environment, the existing content will guarantee the acquisition of relevant occupational skills. Granted that the curriculum is suitable and appropriate all that remains would be an enabling environment for full expression of intended objectives (Amadi, Orikpe & Osinem, 2007).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTThe study investigate students perception of practical agricultural science in senior secondary in Ilorin west LGA, Kwara StateThe population for this study is made up of all Agricultural science students. The instrument used for this study was research design questionnaire and responses were elicited for the research, random sampling method was used to sample students offering agricultural science from each of the four schools involved in the study. Four research question and hypotheses ... Continue reading---
QUESTIONNAIRE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE EDUCATION QUESTIONNAIRE Students perception of practical agricultural science in senior secondary school in Ilorin west L.G.A kwara state.Dear respondent, This questionnaire is designed to help the researcher to have insight into secondary school students perception of practical agricultural science.The researcher will be highly delighted if you can tick (√) the correct information applicable to you, so as to enable him a ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSTitle Page Certification DedicationAcknowledgements Abstract Table of Contents CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTIONBackground to the problem Statements of Problem Purpose of the Study Research Questions Research Hypotheses Scope of the Study Clarification of Major Terms and Variables Significance of the Study CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEWConcept of Agricultural Education Objectives and Contents of Agricultural Science Curriculum Empirical studies on stu ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER ONE - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]Statements of ProblemThe role of Agriculture to a nation cannot be underestimate ranging from availability of crops and animals in market to food security among other. Agricultural science is a practical oriented subject, the approach to teaching of agricultural science in most secondary school is taught theoretically and has failed to make an impression on the society (Sekamu,2009). FRN (2009) pointed out that Nigeria schools should teach practical skills, knowledge and value which will help sc ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGYThis chapter explained the procedure employed in carrying out the study. The methodology was discussed under the following subheadings:. Research Design Population of the Study, Sampling and Sampling Techniques Research Instrument, Validation of Instrument, Procedure for Data Collection and Data Analysis Techniques Research Design The research design used for this work is survey research. It is used in investigating the perception of secondary students towards ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 7 ]Research Question 3Does gender perception of practical agricultural science influence their choice of agricultural science as a career.From Table 3 ,35( 85%) of male and33( 82.5%) of female student agreed that their perception of practical agricultural science make them to aspire to read agricultural science and related courses in higher institution while 5(15%) and 7(17%) of male and female respectively disagreed with the statement, which is a indication that the way the student view agricult ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]Conclusion Based on the findings of the study, the following are the major conclusion 1 Students in the study area have a positive perception towards practical agricultural science and that there was no significant difference between the perception of students toward practical agricultural science. ,2 Student positive perception towards practical agricultural science influence there aspiration to study agricultural science or it related field as a career after their secondary school education. ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]Taylor, C. (2009). A good school for every child: How to improve our schools. Oxon: Routledge.Itodo, S. A. 2004. Practical Agriculture. Ibadan, Abbey CityPrinting Press.Ikoji,. C. N and Agwubike, C. C. (2006) problem facing new agricultural science teachers in Delta State. European Journal of Science Research. 18 (2): 229-237. Ikoji, C. N and Agwubike, C. C. (2007). Perception of head agricultural science teacher regarding problem and challenges of vocational agriculture delivery in secondary ... Continue reading---
