Effectiveness of teaching and learning agricultural science subject in selected secondary schools in Tanzania
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Teaching and learning of Agricultural science subject in secondary schools have
flourished over the past decades in many developing countries. The rationale for teaching
the subject and the basis for its popularity is to permit students a wider set of future career
options particularly farming and farming related careers than is offered by the usual
academic or general subjects. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the
effectiveness of teaching and learning Agricultural science subject in selected ordinary
level secondary schools in Tanzania. The specific objectives were to: assess the
availability and adequacy of resources of teaching and learning; determine the adequacy of
process used in teaching and learning; determine students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes
acquired and determine the potential for improving teaching and learning. Data were
collected from 100 student respondents, 20 Agricultural science teachers, 16 key
informants and various documentary sources using questionnaires, researcher’s diary and
checklists. Quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science
(SPSS) computer programme and qualitative data were analysed by using content analysis
technique. The study found that the process of implementing teaching and learning
Agricultural science subject was far from what was intended by the curriculum. It was
concluded that shortage of essential human and non-human resources lower teachers’
productivity and students’ achievement. It was therefore recommended that there is a need
to foster the potential for continuing teaching and learning Agricultural science subject
more effectively by revitalising Education for Self-Reliance (ESR) Policy which is still
relevant in the country. The study also suggested undertaking further studies on
effectiveness of teaching and learning Agricultural science subject in ordinary level
secondary schools in other regions in order to enable generalisation of the observations.
Description
MSc. Dissertation
Keywords
Teaching effectiveness, Learning effectiveness, Agricultural science subjects, Secondary schools, Tanzania