Agricultural Science Curriculum Content and Secondary School Leavers’ Job Performance in Agro-Based Industry in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which Agricultural Science Curriculum Content predicts Secondary School Leavers’ Job Performance in Agro-based Industry in Akwa Ibom State. Correlational research design was used for the study. The population of the study consisted of 532 Secondary School Leavers which was also used as the sample purposively because of the small size of Secondary School leavers in the thirty two registered Agro-Based Firms in three Senatorial Districts of Akwa Ibom State. Four research objectives and questions were raised while four null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Two research instruments were developed for data collection, tagged “Agricultural Science Curriculum Content Questionnaire (ASCCQ) and Secondary School Leavers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (SSLJPQ). The Agricultural Science Curriculum Content Questionnaire (ASCCQ) was divided into two parts: I and II. Part I collected demographic data, while part II collected data on curriculum content exposure. The secondary school leavers’ job performance Questionnaire had 20 items.  The instruments were validated by experts and their reliability was ascertained using internal consistency method which yielded the reliability coefficient of 0.83 and 0.90 respectively. Data obtained were analyzed using mean to answer the research questions and simple linear regression to test the null hypotheses. The results showed that Agricultural Science curriculum content predicts secondary school leavers job performance in Agro-based Industry in Akwa Ibom State. Based on the findings, it has been concluded that Agricultural Science curriculum content can enhance the job performance of secondary school leavers in agro-based industry and the inclusion of these Agricultural content (crop cultivation content, livestock management content, feed formulation content and marketing content) in the Agricultural Science Curriculum will enhance job task of secondary school leavers. It is recommended, among others, that Agricultural Science should be made a core subject at the senior secondary school level, government should establish vocational centers for secondary school leavers’ who might not want to further their education and all secondary school should have school farms for plants and animals.