FACTORS INFLUENCING TEACHING OF PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined factors influencing teaching of practical agriculture in secondary schools in Imo State, Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was utilized in selecting 190 respondents used for the study. From the study, eighty six percent of the teachers are professionally trained as they had educational qualifications and seventy two percent of them taught in government schools. Results revealed that majority of the instructional materials were available but were not all adequate for practical agricultural training, and that teachers were faced with problems like distant location of school farm from school premises, the structure of the curriculum does not allow for practical agricultural training, inadequate fund for agricultural science teachers, and needed support for them to effectively teach practical agriculture. From the binominal logit regression analysis, there was negative significant relationship between type of school, level of teaching, position of agricultural science teachers, problems faced by these teachers, availability of instructional materials and positive significant relationship between support needed by agricultural science teachers and their involvement in teaching practical agriculture. It was recommended that the necessary instructional materials needed should not only be made available but should be adequate as this will facilitate effective practical agricultural training. Government should assist secondary schools in tackling the various problems faced by agricultural science teachers.