| dc.description.abstract | Recent years have witnessed a growing inclination in developing countries towards the
diversification of the primary school curriculum. Pre-vocational subjects have been
added to the traditional academic curriculum so that pupils are exposed to vocational
knowledge, skills and attitudes which will enable majority of them to become self
employed in the rural informal sector. Agriculture provides livelihood for about 80%
of the people in these countries. Hence Agricultural education is given prominence in
the curriculum. In Kenya the government has recognised the high status and priority .
Agriculture ought to occupy in the school curriculum. Official policy documents on
the 8-4-4 System of Education leave no doubt that Agriculture should be taught as a
subject in all primary schools to enable majority of the youth to appreciate the role of
agriculture in the nation building effort. However, the government's wishes have not
been accompanied by commitment to ensure that there are competent teachers to
implement the curriculum.
Teachers who were assigned to teach Agriculture were not sufficiently prepared to
handle the subject competently. Pre-service or initial teacher education was not
adequate to enable the teachers to cope with the demands of the new Agriculture
curriculum. The teachers needed in-service education and training (INSET) courses
that would enable them to understand the philosophy of the new agriculture
curriculum and its implementation strategies. However, existing INSET courses have
been haphazard, unsystematic and ad hoc without a well thought out curriculum. The
programmes lack relevance because they are usually structured on the basis of the
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observations of INSET providers and the requests of educational administrators. Very
seldom are structured surveys undertaken by the providers to identify the priority
INSET needs of their target groups. Yet psychology supports the notion that learning
is at its optimum when what is learned satisfies the need of the learner. Similarly,
INSET activities are most effective if participating teachers are ready for the topics
addressed and if they feel that these topics are high on their priority list of problems.
The purpose of this study was to find out the INSET needs of the teachers and to
suggest guidelines for future development, implementation and evaluation of the
INSET programmes in general and those related to the teaching of Agriculture in
particular.
The theoretical framework of the study was provided by the concept of "Needs
Assessment". Needs assessment describes an operation designed to identify those
areas of educational deficiency most worth of amelioration. In this study the Primary
School Agriculture curriculum, teachers' experiences of previous INSET courses they
attended and their current knowledge, skills and attitudes were used as sources from
which to decipher their INSET needs.
The sample for this study was 200 teachers of Agriculture. This figure represented
20% of all agriculture teachers in Vihiga District. The sample included only Primary
School Agriculture teachers who had had initial teacher education, attended INSET
course(s) on the teaching of the 8-4-4 primary school agriculture curriculum and
completed at least two years in the service since attending the INSET course(s). This
group of teachers was considered most likely to give an accurate assessment of INSET
programmes.
Data was collected in two phases. Phase one involved indepth study of 10 teachers
through participant observation, unstructured interviews and document analysis. The
second phase involved validation of the data collected in phase one, using a survey
questionnaire covering the 200 teachers of Agriculture.
Data collection and analysis was a concurrent process. Data analysis in the field was
done for the purpose of generating generic and specific competencies for inclusion in
the confirmation survey questionnaire. Data analysis at the end of field work focused
on the questionnaire, and was done by use of descriptive statistics.
The findings of the study showed that despite the official emphasis on INSET, its
planning, implementation and evaluation left a lot to be desired. Teachers rarely
attended INSET. The courses organised emphasised pedagogy at the expense of
subject matter. Teachers were regarded by course facilitators as mere recipients of
content, as they had little or no input. People with little or no experience of classroom
teaching were drafted as course facilitators. Most of the courses were organised at
zonal level, and Teacher Advisory Centres served as venues. Most of the courses
lasted one day. This duration was too short to enable teachers to study all the materials
in detail. This was worsened by the fact that courses were scheduled during school
hours, hence putting pressure on teachers' time as far as their official duties were
concerned. Course graduands were rarely given incentives for attending INSET. The
lecture method was predominantly used. Finally, it was noted that the courses were
rarely evaluated.
In the light of the above findings it is recommended that; teachers should attend in
service courses regularly, at least once in a year; INSET content should be balanced,
that is, it should emphasise both academic and methodology competences. INSET
courses should be organized at zonal, divisional and district level in line with the
centralized curriculum development model currently used in the country; as much as
possible courses should be held at venues with relevant facilities and materials;
courses should last at least one week to give teachers adequate time to study; the
courses should be organized during holidays when teachers have sufficient time; the
courses should be designed to provide teachers with new knowledge, skills and
attitudes as this tends to motivate them; andragogical methods should be emphasized
in INSET; a variety of media should be selected and used during the courses; follow
up evaluation should be undertaken after every course to provide feedback for
improving the courses. | en_US |
