An Assessment of the Practical Relevanceof Secondary School Agriculture Curriculum to School Leavers in Mabvuku-Tafara and Epworth Areas of Harare, Zimbabwe

Type Thesis or Dissertation - Thesis
Title An Assessment of the Practical Relevanceof Secondary School Agriculture Curriculum to School Leavers in Mabvuku-Tafara and Epworth Areas of Harare, Zimbabwe
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2015
URL http://digilib.buse.ac.zw/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11196/1160/Chitamba - PGDE.pdf?sequence=1
Abstract
The study was carried out to assess the practical relevance of secondary school Agriculture curriculum to school leavers in Mabvuku-Tafara and Epworth areas of Harare. The main objectives of the study were to assess the relevance of the current secondary school Agriculture curriculum on school leavers’ practical proficiency from a teacher’s perspective, a school leaver’s perspective and a parent/guardian’s perspective. The practical proficiency in crop production, animal production, farm machinery and agricultural economics were measured during the assessment of the practical relevance of the secondary school Agriculture curriculum. The research adopted a quantitative paradigm approach and used an ex-post survey design in which questionnaires and interview checklists were used as data collection instruments. Questionnaires were distributed to 15 secondary school Agriculture teachers and 30 school leavers while interview checklists were administered to the parents/guardians of the school leavers in Mabvuku-Tafara and Epworth areas. A total of 75 respondents were used in the study (15 Agriculture teachers, 30 school leavers and 30 parents/guardians) and purposive sampling technique was used to sample the respondents. From the teacher’s perspective, the research found out that the current secondary school Agriculture curriculum is relevant in equipping school leavers with practical skills in crop and animal production, farm machinery as well as agricultural economics. It was also concluded that school leavers gained practical crop production as well as agri-business (agricultural economics) skills but the majority (69%) did not acquire practical animal and farm machinery skills. From the parents/guardians’ perspective, the current secondary school Agriculture curriculum was considered practically relevant in equipping school leavers with crop production and agri-business skills while not practically relevant in equipping animal production and farm machinery skills. The following recommendations were made: entrepreneurship should be included in the current secondary school Agriculture curriculum, educational tours should also be emphasised, government and the respective School Development Committees (SDCs) should provide proper funding to provide good facilities and resources for practical learning of Agriculture to be possible, and political leaders and local council authorities should empower school leavers in Mabvuku-Tafara and Epworth through provision of inputs and/or capital to start agricultural projects for a living thus reducing youth unemployment and delinquency.

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