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learning vocational agriculture in Nigeria
StuateS In Ec;A:Jcarional Evalusdon. Vol. 19. pp. 447-451. 1993 Printed in Gr&at Britain. AU rights l'999rved.
0191-491 XI93 $24.00
e 1993 Pergamon Press Ud
EFFECTIVENESS OF A COMMUNITY-ORIENTED APPROACH TO TEACHING/LEARNING VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE IN NIGERIA Sidney OJoko Centre for Continuing Education. Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Introduction The study, conducted during the Summer (Sandwich) Programmes at Rivers State University of Science and Technology (UNITECH) and the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), examined the effectiveness of community-oriented instruction in teaching and learning about vocational agriculture in Nigeria. The effectiveness of community-oriented instruction has been demonstrated in advanced societies, but such effectiveness has not been apparent in traditional societies and programmes. Adams (1978) highlighted the problems inherent in developing nations' relying exclusively on the findings of the developed nations without authenticating these findings in a local environment. He observed that what are considered panaceas for . educational problems in developing nations have often created as many problems as they have solved in Third World countries. Thus an urgent need exists in Third World classrooms to replicate, plan, implement, analyse and evaluate newer methods in instructional technology available to professionals with a pedagogical or andrological approach to teaching. Purpose of the Study In the light of the above observation, a four year, longitudinal study, between 1987 and 1990, was undertaken to conflrm the effectiveness of a community-oriented approach to learning and teaching vocational agriculture in subsistence farming in two universities in Rivers State, Nigeria. The ex-post facto, two-group design experiment, evaluated and compared the rate at which student teachers and their students chose vocational agriculture as a career after being taught with and without community-oriented instruction in vocational agriculture. Literature Review African agriculture has not met the food needs of its growing population, as the colonial educational system has virtually alienated youth from vocational agriculture. 447
448
S.Ojoko
African farmers are not known to favour their children's return to the farm after they have completed their education (ScanIon, 1964; Chang, 1966; Ayibanim, 1982). A new educational system has recently evolved, in which emphasis on application of knowledge, attituoe and competence to real-life situations is emphasised as a way toward selfemployment and self-sufficiency in food production. Cowan (1969) said no amount of teaching agriculture skill, either in our outside of the school, would prove of real value to the young farmer unless it could be demonstrated conclusively that he could make a better living in agriculture than his father did. It is this situation that has compelled teacher-educators to move into the arena of community-oriented (utilitarian) instruction, using communities to provide ultimate environments and resources for learning. Through this form of instruction the students can use field trips, role-playing, arts and crafts, resource persons, as formal classrooms do neither motivate nor serve the purpose of vocational agriculture. BabatundeFafunwa (1974) reviews the development of cultural education in Nigeria in which the use of field-trips was emphasized. He notes that the informal method of teaching agriculture was crude yet realistic, as many students who underwent the occupational experience with their parents continued in vocational agriculture. Sydney Ojoko (1979) found that vocational agriculture taught with supervised occupational experience in high and primary schools was related significantly to the career choice of agricultural officers (agents) in the Rivers State Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Methods and Materials The study was ex-post facto, using a two-group design method to investigate the effect of field-trips, and a supervised occupational experience method of teaching agricultural student teachers who studied with the author in the Summer/Sandwich Agricultural Science Methodology courses from 1987 to 1990 in the belief that the exposure to field-trips method would improve their teaching methods significantly so as to ensure that the student teachers and their high school students embark on fish farming, seed-yam, pig and plantain production as vocations. Eighty University of Port Harcourt (1987/88) Long Vacation (Sandwich) student teachers were taught (and applied) the use of supervised occupational experience (SOE) and field trips (FT) in an instructional process, while 80 Unitech students of the same year (1987/88) were not. During the following year's practice teaching, the author ensured that the new instructional technology was fully applied by the experimental group. The control group never used the new methods for duration of the study, as shown below. A number of assumptions were made: that the student teachers were not aware of the new methods before they enrolled in the summer programmes; that their intelligence quotient, mental and chronological age and socio-economic status were approximately similar. The number of female student teachers in the study was only 8 (5%) and therefore insignificant to show any gender variation. An attempt was made to ensure the students did not know that their responses to the end-of-course questionnaire, and their personal letters to the author-instructor after their bachelor's degree graduation, were being compiled for a longitudinal study.
Vocational Agriculture
Table 1: Students Using and Not Using Ff and SOE
Samples Uniport (80) Unitech (80)
1987/88
x
X
1988/89
x
X
1989f)O
1990f) 1
X X
X X
xx -Uniport Students treated with Ff and SOE - Unitech Students without Ff and SOE
Findings and Discussion
A number of interesting findings were recorded for this study: 1.
Responses from the Uniport (80) student teachers who taught the communityoriented methods were as follows: a) twenty teachers (25%) resigned from their appointment, secured various loans to establish seed-yam, pig and plantain farms on their own as private fanners; b) thirty-five teachers (44%) reported that they established seed-yam production in their various schools; c) the rest (31 %) encouraged the formation of young farmers' clubs, whose members would operate seed-yam, pig and plantain production enterprises in their homesteads.
2.
Responses from the other Unitech (80) student teachers who were not taught the community-oriented methods of teaching were: a) thirty teachers (38%) applied for the master's degree in agricultural education-related programmes throughout the country. The master's degree programmes, they believe, will make them administrators; neither teachers nor fanners; b) ten teachers (13%) resigned from teaching for better paid jobs in other agencies, including the commercial and merchant banks as credit officers; c) twenty Higher National Diploma holders (25%) in the group have applied to the Rivers State University for a bachelor's degree in both agricultural economics and agricultural education programmes, believing the degree will enhance their position as professional teachers, not farmers; d) the remaining teachers (24%) are dissatisfied with their jobs, and have written the author-instructor for advice on how "to get out of this depressing teaching job".
449
450
S.Ojoko
General Conclusions and Implications of the Study
It is noteworthy that the way and manner teacher education is organized in ThirdWorld countries has a merely academic bearing on the product of teacher education programmes. The teacher education programmes tend to encourage more paper qualifications than careers in vocational agriculture. The utilitarian approach in teaching, on the other hand, has a significant effect on the retention of staff in the teaching profession, and on the readiness of teachers, elementary and high school students, to become fanners in Nigeria. These outcomes are rather depressing, as most teacher education progranunes in the Third World do not use the community-oriented approach to teaching vocational agriculture to curb rural-urban migration, a widespread phenomenon in the Third World. Recommendations Teacher education programmes in Third-World countries should review their programmes and adopt the community-oriented instruction in vocational education. . A good number of research fmdings from advanced countries should be replicated, in the light of new developments, new trends and thinking in the Third-World countries, so as to stem the wave of migration from the countryside to non-existing jobs in the inner city slums. At every stage of instruction in the Third-World countries, community and student needs and environment should constitute the kernel of instruction - not borrowed, untested methods that are inapplicable to local needs and the cultural momentum.
References Adams. D. (1978). Process of educational technology - A tool for development, Education in National Developmelll. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Ayibanim. S.A. (1982). The declining standard of education. Nigerian Tide. Port Harcourt. Rivers State. July. 26. Chang. C.W. (1966). Increasing food production through education research and extension. FFHC Basic Study No.9. Rome: FAO (UN) Publication. Cowan. Fray. L. (1969). Primary education and agricultural development Rural Africana. 9. 37. Fafunwa, A.B. (1974). Traditional African education. History Of Education in Nigeria. London: George Allen and University Press. Ojoko, S.S. (1979). Assessment of the agricultural extension programrrn:s in Rivers State of Nigeria. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Parle, Pennsylvania.
Vocational Agriculture
451
Scanlon. G. David (1964). Traditions of African education. New York: Bureau of Publications. Teachers College. Columbia University.
The Author SIDNEY OJOKO is an administrator and senior lecturer in agricultural and extension education at Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria. He holds a B.Sc. (1977) and M.Ed. (1978) from Tuskegee Institute and a Ph.D. (1979) from Pennsylvania State University. He has been director of various agricultural and educational centres, and has edited and sat on the editorial board of various journals. He has published articles on instructional media, educational evaluation and statistics.
0191-491 XI93 $24.00
e 1993 Pergamon Press Ud
EFFECTIVENESS OF A COMMUNITY-ORIENTED APPROACH TO TEACHING/LEARNING VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE IN NIGERIA Sidney OJoko Centre for Continuing Education. Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Introduction The study, conducted during the Summer (Sandwich) Programmes at Rivers State University of Science and Technology (UNITECH) and the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), examined the effectiveness of community-oriented instruction in teaching and learning about vocational agriculture in Nigeria. The effectiveness of community-oriented instruction has been demonstrated in advanced societies, but such effectiveness has not been apparent in traditional societies and programmes. Adams (1978) highlighted the problems inherent in developing nations' relying exclusively on the findings of the developed nations without authenticating these findings in a local environment. He observed that what are considered panaceas for . educational problems in developing nations have often created as many problems as they have solved in Third World countries. Thus an urgent need exists in Third World classrooms to replicate, plan, implement, analyse and evaluate newer methods in instructional technology available to professionals with a pedagogical or andrological approach to teaching. Purpose of the Study In the light of the above observation, a four year, longitudinal study, between 1987 and 1990, was undertaken to conflrm the effectiveness of a community-oriented approach to learning and teaching vocational agriculture in subsistence farming in two universities in Rivers State, Nigeria. The ex-post facto, two-group design experiment, evaluated and compared the rate at which student teachers and their students chose vocational agriculture as a career after being taught with and without community-oriented instruction in vocational agriculture. Literature Review African agriculture has not met the food needs of its growing population, as the colonial educational system has virtually alienated youth from vocational agriculture. 447
448
S.Ojoko
African farmers are not known to favour their children's return to the farm after they have completed their education (ScanIon, 1964; Chang, 1966; Ayibanim, 1982). A new educational system has recently evolved, in which emphasis on application of knowledge, attituoe and competence to real-life situations is emphasised as a way toward selfemployment and self-sufficiency in food production. Cowan (1969) said no amount of teaching agriculture skill, either in our outside of the school, would prove of real value to the young farmer unless it could be demonstrated conclusively that he could make a better living in agriculture than his father did. It is this situation that has compelled teacher-educators to move into the arena of community-oriented (utilitarian) instruction, using communities to provide ultimate environments and resources for learning. Through this form of instruction the students can use field trips, role-playing, arts and crafts, resource persons, as formal classrooms do neither motivate nor serve the purpose of vocational agriculture. BabatundeFafunwa (1974) reviews the development of cultural education in Nigeria in which the use of field-trips was emphasized. He notes that the informal method of teaching agriculture was crude yet realistic, as many students who underwent the occupational experience with their parents continued in vocational agriculture. Sydney Ojoko (1979) found that vocational agriculture taught with supervised occupational experience in high and primary schools was related significantly to the career choice of agricultural officers (agents) in the Rivers State Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Methods and Materials The study was ex-post facto, using a two-group design method to investigate the effect of field-trips, and a supervised occupational experience method of teaching agricultural student teachers who studied with the author in the Summer/Sandwich Agricultural Science Methodology courses from 1987 to 1990 in the belief that the exposure to field-trips method would improve their teaching methods significantly so as to ensure that the student teachers and their high school students embark on fish farming, seed-yam, pig and plantain production as vocations. Eighty University of Port Harcourt (1987/88) Long Vacation (Sandwich) student teachers were taught (and applied) the use of supervised occupational experience (SOE) and field trips (FT) in an instructional process, while 80 Unitech students of the same year (1987/88) were not. During the following year's practice teaching, the author ensured that the new instructional technology was fully applied by the experimental group. The control group never used the new methods for duration of the study, as shown below. A number of assumptions were made: that the student teachers were not aware of the new methods before they enrolled in the summer programmes; that their intelligence quotient, mental and chronological age and socio-economic status were approximately similar. The number of female student teachers in the study was only 8 (5%) and therefore insignificant to show any gender variation. An attempt was made to ensure the students did not know that their responses to the end-of-course questionnaire, and their personal letters to the author-instructor after their bachelor's degree graduation, were being compiled for a longitudinal study.
Vocational Agriculture
Table 1: Students Using and Not Using Ff and SOE
Samples Uniport (80) Unitech (80)
1987/88
x
X
1988/89
x
X
1989f)O
1990f) 1
X X
X X
xx -Uniport Students treated with Ff and SOE - Unitech Students without Ff and SOE
Findings and Discussion
A number of interesting findings were recorded for this study: 1.
Responses from the Uniport (80) student teachers who taught the communityoriented methods were as follows: a) twenty teachers (25%) resigned from their appointment, secured various loans to establish seed-yam, pig and plantain farms on their own as private fanners; b) thirty-five teachers (44%) reported that they established seed-yam production in their various schools; c) the rest (31 %) encouraged the formation of young farmers' clubs, whose members would operate seed-yam, pig and plantain production enterprises in their homesteads.
2.
Responses from the other Unitech (80) student teachers who were not taught the community-oriented methods of teaching were: a) thirty teachers (38%) applied for the master's degree in agricultural education-related programmes throughout the country. The master's degree programmes, they believe, will make them administrators; neither teachers nor fanners; b) ten teachers (13%) resigned from teaching for better paid jobs in other agencies, including the commercial and merchant banks as credit officers; c) twenty Higher National Diploma holders (25%) in the group have applied to the Rivers State University for a bachelor's degree in both agricultural economics and agricultural education programmes, believing the degree will enhance their position as professional teachers, not farmers; d) the remaining teachers (24%) are dissatisfied with their jobs, and have written the author-instructor for advice on how "to get out of this depressing teaching job".
449
450
S.Ojoko
General Conclusions and Implications of the Study
It is noteworthy that the way and manner teacher education is organized in ThirdWorld countries has a merely academic bearing on the product of teacher education programmes. The teacher education programmes tend to encourage more paper qualifications than careers in vocational agriculture. The utilitarian approach in teaching, on the other hand, has a significant effect on the retention of staff in the teaching profession, and on the readiness of teachers, elementary and high school students, to become fanners in Nigeria. These outcomes are rather depressing, as most teacher education progranunes in the Third World do not use the community-oriented approach to teaching vocational agriculture to curb rural-urban migration, a widespread phenomenon in the Third World. Recommendations Teacher education programmes in Third-World countries should review their programmes and adopt the community-oriented instruction in vocational education. . A good number of research fmdings from advanced countries should be replicated, in the light of new developments, new trends and thinking in the Third-World countries, so as to stem the wave of migration from the countryside to non-existing jobs in the inner city slums. At every stage of instruction in the Third-World countries, community and student needs and environment should constitute the kernel of instruction - not borrowed, untested methods that are inapplicable to local needs and the cultural momentum.
References Adams. D. (1978). Process of educational technology - A tool for development, Education in National Developmelll. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Ayibanim. S.A. (1982). The declining standard of education. Nigerian Tide. Port Harcourt. Rivers State. July. 26. Chang. C.W. (1966). Increasing food production through education research and extension. FFHC Basic Study No.9. Rome: FAO (UN) Publication. Cowan. Fray. L. (1969). Primary education and agricultural development Rural Africana. 9. 37. Fafunwa, A.B. (1974). Traditional African education. History Of Education in Nigeria. London: George Allen and University Press. Ojoko, S.S. (1979). Assessment of the agricultural extension programrrn:s in Rivers State of Nigeria. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Parle, Pennsylvania.
Vocational Agriculture
451
Scanlon. G. David (1964). Traditions of African education. New York: Bureau of Publications. Teachers College. Columbia University.
The Author SIDNEY OJOKO is an administrator and senior lecturer in agricultural and extension education at Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria. He holds a B.Sc. (1977) and M.Ed. (1978) from Tuskegee Institute and a Ph.D. (1979) from Pennsylvania State University. He has been director of various agricultural and educational centres, and has edited and sat on the editorial board of various journals. He has published articles on instructional media, educational evaluation and statistics.