Abstract:
This study was carried out to determine the skill improvement needs of teachers of Agricultural Education in soil conservation in Colleges of Education in South-eastern Nigeria. Four research questions were developed and answered while two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance and 100 degrees of freedom. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The entire population of 109 respondents consisting of 20 lecturers in the University and 89 teachers in Colleges of Education, in South-eastern Nigeria were used for the study. A 242 – item structured questionnaire, developed from the literature reviewed for the study was used to collect data from the respondents. Each questionnaire item was divided into two categories of required and performance. The required category had a 4 response options of Highly Required (HR), Averagely Required (AR), Slightly Required (SR) and Not Required. The performance category also had 4 response options of High Performance (HP), Average Performance (AP), Low Performance (LP) and No Performance (NP). The questionnaire items were face validated by five experts. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach alpha method and coefficients of 0.83 and 0.97 were obtained for professional and technical skill questionnaire respectively. The 109 copies of the questionnaire were admininstered on the respondents with the help of five research assistants. 102 copies of the questionnaire administered were retrieved and analysed. Weighted mean, standard deviation and Improvement Need Index (INI) were used to answer the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that 39 skill items in instruction and 203 skill items in soil conservation were required for effective teaching of students in Colleges of Education in the study area. It was also found out that, teachers of Agricultural Education need improvement in 38 out of 39 skill items in instruction and 152 out of 203 skills items in soil conservation. The findings on hypotheses revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the respondents (lecturers and teachers) on 35 out of 39 skill items in instruction, and 174 out of 203 skill items in soil conservation that were required for effective teaching of students in Colleges of Education in South-eastern Nigeria. It was therefore recommended that the teachers of Agricultural Education should utilize the identified skills in instruction and soil conservation to seek for sponsorship from their administrators to re-train themselves in the areas of their deficiency
