TEACHER PERCEPTION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE CURRICULUM

The major objective of the study was to assess teacher perception of the implementation of agricultural science curriculum in senior secondary schools in Niger State. Four specific objectives were stated which included to; determine the influence of teachers‘ qualification/competencies, ascertain the influence of adequacy of infrastructure/instructional facilities and assess influence of adequacy of funding on implementation of agricultural science curriculum in senior secondary schools in Niger State. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were stated for the study.Population for the study comprised 332 agricultural science teachers, 216senior secondary schools in the seven Education Zones in Niger State. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. Sample size for the study was 69 agricultural science teachers. A40 item self-designed questionnaire was used for the study.The research questions were analyzed using descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean) and the null hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics(regression analysis at 0.05 level of significance). All the four null hypotheses tested were rejected. The findings of the study showed that;teachers‘ qualification/competencies, adequacy of infrastructure/instructional facilities and adequacy of funding had significant influence on implementation of agricultural science curriculum in senior secondary schools in Niger State. Based on the findings of the study,the researcher recommended that;only qualified teachers of agricultural science should be engaged in the teaching of the subject and adequate instructional facilities should be provided in schools. Better funding of practical in agricultural science from the government and school authority.
 
A curriculum is a comprehensive plan that includes objectives to be attained, specifications of resources required and stages of work to be performed (Asiabaka, 2002). According to Olatunji (2005), a curriculum is a collection of co-ordinated activities that are mutually directed towards the attainment of a definite goal and it usually comprises of several segments or projects which can be separately pursued as component of the whole curriculum.Curriculum assessment is defined by Huba and Freed (2000), Hutchings and Marchese (1990) and Palomba and Banta (1999) as the systematic and ongoing method of gathering, analyzing and using information from various sources about a curriculum and measuring outcomes in order to improve student learning.
Curriculum implementation entails putting into practice the officially prescribed courses of study, syllabuses and subjects (Chikumbi and Makamure, 2000). Putting the curriculum into operation requires an implementation agent. The teacher is identified as the agent in the curriculum implementation process. The concept of curriculum implies that a goal is in focus and several activities would be needed and co-ordinated to attain the goal (Iwuchukwu and Igbokwe, 2012). Curriculum implementation therefore refers to how the planned or officially designed course of study is translated by the teacher into syllabuses, scheme of work and lessons to be delivered to students.