Psychometric Properties of an Agriculture Teacher Efficacy Scale for Senior Secondary Schools in Eswatini

Teacher efficacy is an important motivational attribute influencing teacher performance and student learning outcomes. Teacher efficacy is multidimensional yet inconsistencies exist on the nature of construct that best measure teacher efficacy across different subjects and contexts. The purpose of the study was to explore the psychometric properties of the agriculture teacher efficacy scale adapted from the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) of Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001). Data were collected from 161 beginning agriculture teachers at senior secondary schools in Eswatini. Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal component and verimax rotation were used to analyse the data. The findings indicate that the agriculture teacher efficacy scale was reliable (.92) with inter-item correlation value of .41 to .67 and items discrimination index of ≥ .40). EFA revealed that the agriculture teacher efficacy scale had four factors explaining 47.7% of variance among the items which were instructional strategies, student engagement, classroom management, and practical work management. Conclusion was, the scale is valid to assess agriculture teacher efficacy. Recommendation was, further testing the agriculture teacher efficacy scale across school levels in teaching agriculture.

Perceived Influencers of the Decline on Performance of Students in Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education’s Agriculture Examination Results

<p>The purpose of the study was to investigate factors perceived to contribute to the decline of students’ performance in the Botswana’s General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) agriculture results. Ninety-one agriculture examiners were randomly sampled out of 100 teachers who were invited to mark the 2012 end of year examination scripts. A questionnaire was mailed by post and partly hand delivered to gather quantitative data. The SPSS software was used for statistical analysis. The results showed that majority (57%) of the agriculture teacher examiners were male, 66% were in the age range of 31-35 years old. A large proportion (66%) of them had taught for a period of 6 to 15 years. The study revealed positive perceptions of teachers on three constructs influencing the decline on the students’ performance in agriculture. The study revealed that under the construct,<em> Students’ behaviors, social and economic related factors, students attitudes towards the subject </em>yielded high mean (x̅)‘= 4.45<em>,</em> STD (σ) ’ = .81;<em> on Factors related to curriculum issues, </em>the study sho<em>we</em>d<em> </em><em>“</em><em>interpretation of examination items</em><em>”</em><em> </em>had high mean<em> </em>(x̅) ‘= 4.39<em>,</em> STD (σ) = .75 and under the construct on <em>Factors related to resources and infrastructure </em>the mean (x̅) was = 4.79<em>,</em> STD (σ) = <em>.53 </em>was high on the <em>student teacher ratio. </em>The study concluded that the three constructs studied had influence towards students’ performance in agriculture. However, based on interpretational correlations the results did not find any strong relationship among the demographic variables studied.</p>