Attitudes towards agriculture in secondary schools: the case of teachers and students of Baringo North district, Kenya

Abstract

Attitudes of people engaged in the teaching and learning of any subject are central in influencing the teaching –learning process. The purpose of this study was to establish the attitudes towards Agriculture by teachers and students of selected secondary schools in Baringo North District. The study was both qualitative and quantitative in approach. A cross sectional survey design was used and a total of 12 teachers and 210 students selected from 5 schools were tested. The respondents were drawn from both the public and private secondary schools. A combination of stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to arrive at the sample of the 222 respondents. Questionnaire was utilized to collect data. The Questionnaire comprised of a five point likert-type scale questions meant to measure attitudes towards Agriculture. Data collection was preceded by a pilot study in the adjacent Baringo district mainly to determine the reliability of the instrument. Results of the analysis of data from the pilot study found the instrument to be reliable. Data collected during the main study was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Both the descriptive and inferential statistics were used to report the findings of the study. Frequency tables and percentages were the main descriptive statistics used while Chi-square analysis performed at 0.05 level of significance was the inferential statistic used to show relationships between the variables of the study. The main findings of the study indicated that teachers had positive attitudes while students had negative attitudes towards Agriculture. It was also established that teachers faced numerous challenges in implementing Agriculture curriculum ranging from wide content of topics to lack of resources for making Agriculture teaching practical oriented. The findings of the study were intended to improve the implementation and the content of the Agriculture curriculum in secondary schools. Accordingly, the study recommended that policy makers and curriculum developers should consider making Agriculture a core subject in the secondary school curriculum since the subject is vital for national development. Also, it is recommended that Agriculture syllabus be reviewed to reduce the workload in Agriculture that is viewed by teachers and students as a source of boredom especially the long topics, a suggestion that seemed to be a cause of poor attitudes towards Agriculture by students.