Secondary school administrators agriculture teachers and students perception of secondary school agriculture a case of Meru Dictrict East Province

Abstract

Agriculture was held in low esteem during the colonial era, despite the emphasis of its importance by subsequent education reports. This was because of the perceived reasons behind its ;::roduction. The subject was introduced to all secondary schools to ensure zhat the youth is informed of the vital role agriculture plays. The success of this depends on how secondary school administrators, agriculture teachers and students perceive the usefulness of secondary school agriculture. The purpose of this study was therefore, to identify perceptions of secondary school administrators, agriculture teachers and students regarding the usefulness of secondary school agriculture. Proportional stratified sampling was used to select 20 secondary schools from Meru District. A questionnaire was developed to record the perceptions of all the participants. The questionnaire was administered to 400 agriculture students, 31 agriculture teachers and 31 secondary school administrators. All tests of significance were performed at d=0.05. Results indicated that the secondary school administrators, agriculture teachers and students perceived agriculture as a useful secondary school subject. There were perceptual differences among the three groups of respondents with. the agriculture teachers perceiving the subject better than the rest