ASSESSMENT OF KWARA STATE JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS PROFICIENCY

1.1 Introduction

Teacher of Agriculture as explained by Olaitan and Mama (2001) has the sole responsibility of impacting knowledge and skills to student in various areas of Agriculture such as crop production, animal production, forestry, agricultural management among others, stimulate student interest to participate in Agricultural activities in the school, reward positive responses of students to knowledge and skill, encourage students to promote the school through co-operation and club. Teachers teach curriculum in Agriculture to students at junior secondary school.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Proficiency in the view of Lesley (1993) is the quality of being proficient, expertness, skillful. The chambers (1993) defined proficiency as state or quality of being proficient or high degree of competency through training and practice. Proficient as defined by Hornby (2005) is the ability to do something well because of training and practice

It was observed by the researcher through focus discussion with some of the teachers of Agriculture that a lot of novel areas such as horticulture, forestry, Agriculture in stock exchange, export promotion in Agriculture among others were introduced into junior secondary Agriculture curriculum and that most of them are incompetent in teaching those areas. Some believe in reading them from text and delivering the knowledge as lifted from textbook without considering the practical areas where students could acquire skills. Also most students developed hatered because of the way the subject is taught and on going to senior secondary school refused continuing with Agriculture and may prefer other subjects. As a result of that, teachers of Agriculture require improvement which could be done through retraining so as to equip them with both knowledge and skills they require for their professional improvement.

A teacher is a person that had acquired knowledge and skills through training, and is capable of impacting such to students in order to change their behavior. A teacher in the view of Obanewa (1994) is someone who has undergone the necessary and recommended training in the preparatory programme and is charged with the full responsibility of managing the classroom in such a way as to enhance the learning behavior of the student. The author further stated that the following human qualities could make a teacher to stand out among other professionals Thus: the teacher needs to be physically fit, be committed to his job, must always exercise self control, and be a master of the subject he teaches among others. A teacher of Agriculture is one who is trained in pedagogy, knowledge and skills to enable him impact acquired competences to students in junior secondary school. Agriculture is the art, science and industry of growing crops and rearing animal for human use and production of raw material for our industry. Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (2007) stated that the overall objectives of agriculture at the nine year basic education should be to enable the students to:

• Develop interest in agriculture.
• Acquire basic knowledge and skills in agriculture.
• Apply the knowledge and skills acquired to meet societal need and
• Take advantage of the numerous career opportunities offered by agriculture and become prepared for further studies in agriculture

Improvement as defined by Hornby (2005) is the act of making something better; the process of something becoming better; something that is better than it was before. Free dictionary (2009) defined improvement as the act of improving or the state of being improved, the act of making something perfect, a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses. Improvement in the context of this study is the act of making teachers better or perfect as a result of retraining, which will enable Agriculture teachers to acquire appropriate knowledge and skills in all the novel areas of junior secondary school Agriculture.

According to Retallick (2010) agricultural education is a unique subject for schools as it demands the infusion of classroom theories into the real world through “the application of the concepts and principles learned in the agricultural education classroom in planned, real–life settings under the supervision of the agriculture teacher.” Gant et al. (2012) alluded to the fact that a comprehensive agricultural education program was imperative in schools or universities to prepare learners to develop some cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills. Knobloch, Ball and Allen (2007) advised that agriculture in schools curriculum has provided stuntedness, connectedness, and authenticity in education. Similarly, as stated in Hulela and Miller (2003) the curricular that infuses agriculture is beneficial in education because it balances learning, helping students plan their jobs and developing entrepreneur skills. This culture has prevailed in several education systems where practical and technical subjects have been part of the curriculum. In this ethnographic study the aim was to explore the context in which agriculture is taught in schools, processes that are in place to assess agricultural components and make meaning out of the context based on field notes gathered through interviews and interactions with selected schools in Kwara State.

Therefore, in Kwara State, Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Assessment of Kwara State Junior Secondary School Agricultural Students Proficiency in Some Agricultural Concepts and Terms.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Many people as well as scholars have stressed that proficiency in Agriculture is a criteria for secondary school student’s academic performance. The lack of Agriculture proficiency in various subjects among secondary school students across the country and in Sapele to be precise seems to fall greatly on the certain factors such as;

1. The ineffectiveness of subject teachers.
2. Lack of drive on the part of the students.
3. Environmental (class size) / Governmental (the curriculum) factors.
4. Difficulties in reading comprehension.
5. Home factor inclusive.

Some researchers have documented findings on the necessity of Agriculture proficiency among not just secondary school students but the teachers who have a mandate to impact sound knowledge in students and likewise be role models in different Nigerian institutes of learning. Based on the above listed factors, the researcher seeks to carry out research on the Proficiency in Agriculture being a determinant in Secondary school student’s academic performance.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Assessment of Kwara State Junior Secondary School Agricultural Students Proficiency in Some Agricultural Concepts and Terms. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

• To determine the competencies in instruction for which teachers are not proficient and require improvement in Kwara State Junior Secondary School
• To determine the competencies in Agriculture curriculum content for which teachers are not proficient and require improvement.
• To investigate junior secondary school students' interest in agriculture learning.
• To examine the acquired basic knowledge and skills in agriculture.
• To analyze the numerous career opportunities offered by agriculture and become prepared for further studies in agriculture

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does junior secondary school students' have interest in agriculture learning?
• Does the acquired basic knowledge and skills in agriculture enhance students’ academic performance?
• What are the numerous career opportunities offered by agriculture?
• What are the competencies in instruction for which teachers are not proficient and require improvement?
• What are the competencies in Agriculture curriculum content for which teachers are not proficient and require improvement?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant impact on the acquired basic knowledge and skills by junior secondary school agricultural students
• H1: There is significant impact on the acquired basic knowledge and skills by junior secondary school agricultural students

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no numerous career opportunities offered to proficient agricultural junior secondary school students
• H1: There is numerous career opportunities offered to proficient agricultural junior secondary school students

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1.7 Significance of Study

On completion of this study, it would have been determined through data analysis gathered that the independent variable considered in the research on Agriculture Proficiency determines the dependent variable.

This study is of great importance because its outcome/results would help pin point the correlation between proficiency in Agriculture as a determinant for success in the academics of students as far as the findings of various factors that may affect the academic performance of students have been recognized in this study. On the long run, proficiency in Agriculture is considered one of the prominent factors.

Throughout this study, it will be established that proficiency in Agriculture is a direct link to the performance of students in secondary schools. If Agriculture as stated is proven as a determining factor, then issues of poor teaching skills in handling Agriculture as a subject should be effectively looked into. This study would help in tackling issues pertaining to students overall performance in secondary schools, mapping out strategies to guide teaching curriculum which will in turn be of great aid to students guardians/parents including teachers.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Assessment of Kwara State Junior Secondary School Agricultural Students Proficiency in Some Agricultural Concepts and Terms.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Operational definition of terms

Proficiency: Proficiency is the ability an individual has in doing something.

Academic Performance: This ascertains how well a student does in their academics. It is the outcome of education the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals (Wiki; 2012)