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Teaching Competency Needs of Vocational Agriculture Teachers as Perceived by Vocational Agriculture Teachers and Administrators in Thailand
Dissertation Abstract:
The study determined the teaching competency needs of vocational agriculture teachers on the agricultural college level to gather inputs for program planning of agricultural education in Thailand.
Data were gathered from 304 vocational agriculture teachers and 180 administrators of 43 agricultural colleges in Thailand. Two instruments were constructed to gather the data: an eight-item questionnaire on the teachers' and administrators' personal characteristics background and a 76-item inventory of vocational agriculture teachers' teaching competencies covering five areas.
Data collected from the inventory were analyzed to determine inservice program need priorities. The respondents were requested to rate the competencies on a five-point Likert-type scale for the level of importance and attainment. To determine need priorities, a need indicator score was calculated for each item by dividing the square of the importance rating by the attainment rating. For the ratings of importance and attainment, the need indicator score was arranged in rank and order for both the respondent groups according to items and competence areas. Spearman's coefficient or correlation was used to calculate the level of agreement between th e group's rank order. In addition, correlational analysis was carried out to determine the relationships between some selected personal characteri stics of the teache rs and their teaching competency needs. The major findings of the study were as follows:
1. There was a strong agreement in th e groups' importance and attainment ratings on the inventory of teaching competencies.
2. All the 76 teaching competencies were important in order for the vocational agriculture teachers to teach effectively at agricultural colleges in Thailand.
3. Only eight competencies (four in the area of planning, three in execution, and one in evaluation of instruction) were considered high need priorities for the vocational agriculture teachers.
4. There was a significant relationship between sex and the vocational agriculture teachers ' teaching competency needs.
Based on the interpretation of the findings, the study recommended that focus during program planning should be placed on the eight competencies for which the teachers had high need, for the improvement of vocational education in Thailand.