COMPETENCY IMPROVEMENT NEEDS OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE TEACHERS IN TEACHING VEGETABLE PRODUCTION ENTERPRISE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTHS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA. by Mohammed D. Ibrahim and Garba I. Ayinde & Abdullahi N. Abbas

COMPETENCY IMPROVEMENT NEEDS OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE TEACHERS IN TEACHING VEGETABLE PRODUCTION ENTERPRISE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTHS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA.

 

Mohammed D. Ibrahim Ph.D

Garba I. Ayinde & Abdullahi N. Abbas

Department of Agricultural Education

Kwara State College of Education (Technical). Lafiagi.

 

Abstract

This study focused on competency improvement needs of agricultural science teachers in teaching vegetable production enterprise for sustainable development of youths in Kwara State, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The study adopted survey research design. The study was carried out in Kwara State with a population of 275 made up of 235 secondary school students and 40 agricultural extension agents. Sample for the study was 111 made up of 71 secondary school students and 40 agricultural extension agents. The sample for the study was obtained through proportionate 30% stratified random sampling technique while there was no sampling for agricultural extension agents because of its manageable size. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire. The questionnaire had two types of response scale of needed and performance and face validated by experts: two from the Department of Industrial Technical Education Federal University of Technology, Minna and one from the Department of Crop Science University of Ilorin, Ilorin. Cronbach alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire items and a co-efficient of 0.89 was obtained. One-hundred and eleven (111) copies of the questionnaire were administered to the respondent with the help of two research assistants. The complete copies of the questionnaire were retrieved and analyzed using weighted mean and improvement need index (INI) to answer the research questions. It was found out by the study that agricultural science teachers needed all the competencies identified by the study. It was therefore, recommended that all the findings of this study be packaged into a programme by the Kwara State Government and utilized to organize training and re-training programmes in form of seminar and workshop on short duration courses for agricultural science teachers to enable them in teaching vegetable production effectively.

 

Key Words: competency improvement needs, agricultural science teachers, teaching, vegetable production, youth, sustainable development.