In-Service Training Needs of Teachers for Effective Teaching of Agricultural Science in Secondary Schools in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study determined the in-service training needs of teachers for effective teaching of agricultural science in secondary schools in Benue state Nigeria. . Survey research designed was adopted for the study. Three objectives and three research questions were used for the study. The population of the study was 295 participants, comprising 193 old Agricultural service teachers and 102 new Agricultural service teachers. All the population was used because it was manageable for the researchers to handle. Questionnaire title: In-service Training Needs questionnaire (ITNQ) was the instrument which was face and content validated by three (3) experts, all from Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, it was trial tested on 30 respondents. Data was collected and analysed using Cronbach Alpha formula to determine the reliability coefficient of 0.94. The instruments were administered with the help of three trained research assistants. The instrument was an open-ended structure with a four-point rating scale response options of highly needed (HN), slightly needed (SN), not needed (NN), very high extent (VHE), high extent (HE), low extent (LE) and very low extent (VLE) with corresponding values of 4, 3, 2 and 1, respectively. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions. The benchmark was that any item with a mean value of 2.50 or above was regarded as needed, while any item with a mean value of less than 2.50 was regarded as not needed. It was concluded that   both old and new teachers need in-service training for effective teaching of Agricultural science in secondary schools in Benue state. It was therefore recommended among others that the government should make provision for training and retaining of teachers through seminars, workshops and conferences.