Abstract:
Teaching effectiveness is the extent to which teaching leads to increased learning. The purpose of this study was to determine factors related to the effectiveness of primary school agriculture teachers in Swaziland. The pupils’ performance in the Grade 7 examinations in Swaziland Primary Agriculture Examinations was used as a measure for teachers’ performance. The design of the study was a descriptive correlational survey. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The target population was 384 primary school agriculture teachers that offered agriculture as a subject during 2011. A stratified random representative sample of 186 agriculture teachers was used in the study. A response rate of 72% was achieved after134 respondents provided usable data. Descriptive statistics of frequencies, means, percentages and standard deviations were used to describe data and correlations were used to describe relationships between variables. Regression analysis was used to determine explanatory and predictor variables for teaching effectiveness. The findings revealed that the explanatory and predictor variables for teacher effectiveness were the number of agriculture in-service workshops attended by the teacher and school type (religious or government). The research hypothesis that teachers’ perception regarding their college preparation program should explain the greatest variance in teacher effectiveness was rejected. The conclusion from the study was that primary school agriculture teachers were not effective. The major recommendation was that effective, relevant and regular workshops have to be conducted to enhance effective teaching of agriculture in primary schools.
 12 Sibanda NACTA Journal Mar14.pdf | [ ] | 404 kB |
