Influence of Selected Factors on the Choice of Agriculture Subject among Secondary School Students in Kisii and Nyamira Counties

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of selected factors on the choice of agriculture subject among secondary school students in Kisii and Nyamira Counties. With the objective of determining the influence of teachers on the choice of agriculture subject among students, to determine the influence of gender on the choice of agriculture subject among students, to explore the extent to which students attitude influence the choice of agriculture subject and finally to determine whether school finance influence the choice of agriculture subject among students in secondary schools. A survey methodology was employed to collect data from students and teachers with the help of a Questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The study targeted form four agriculture students and agriculture teachers. Simple random sampling method was used to sample 330 agriculture students and 22 agriculture teachers while stratified sampling was used to sample 22 schools. Data from the students and teachers was analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, means, as well as, standard deviation was used while inferential statistics which includes Pearson correlation and t-test was used to test the hypothesis, with levels of significance set at 0.05.Stastistical package for social sciences software version 20 was used for data analysis. The findings of this study show that agriculture teachers have got influence on student's choice of agriculture subject. The study revealed further that the gender of the student does not influence the choice of agriculture as a subject neither does the gender of a teacher influence student’s choice of agriculture. Additionally, the positive attitude exhibited by the students by studying agriculture often and quest to know more has an influence on choice of agriculture as a subject. Lastly, resources do not influence the choice of agriculture as a subject. The findings of the study might be useful to parents, teachers and the ministry of education. The study recommended that principals of schools to monitor syllabus delivery to ensure that the right content is taught, that career and guidance to be strengthened in schools for this will create awareness on career opportunities in the job market and finally ministry of education through the government to provide enough funds to schools to enable purchase of teaching learning resources.