Factors influencing teachers’ use of school gardens in secondary school teaching: a case of central region schools, Malawi
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Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
The study was conducted to investigate Factors influencing Teachers’ use of school gardens in teaching in secondary schools in central region of Malawi. Data were collected
using a cross-section resesarch design using a self-administered questionnaire, key
informant interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Through a census, 64 respondents
who comprised teachers from 7 secondary schools were involved in the study. Checklists
of questions were used to collect information from Key informants, 7 school
administrators, and 7 secondary school students. Data analysis used descriptive statistics
with the aid of a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Data from key
informant interviews and focus group discussion were analysed using thematic analysis.
The study findings revealed that the type of subject one taught, attitudes of teachers, size
of class, training in garden use, time for practical lessons and availability of resources for
garden use were some of the factors that influenced teachers’ use of the school garden for
teaching. Availability of resources (inputs) and training, which were significant at 0.001
and 0.05, respectively, were the major factors that influenced teachers’ use of school
gardens. Agriculture and Biology were the subjects that most secondary school teachers
in the study schools used the gardens for teaching. There is need for provision of proper
training to teachers so that they are able to use the gardens properly in teaching.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Teachers, School gardens, Secondary school teaching, Central region, Malawi