THE COMPETENCY LEVEL OF THE AGRICULTURE INSTRUCTORS AMONG STATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES ( SUCS) IN CENTRAL VISAYAS, REGION VII: PROPOSED AGRI-TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION

Abstract

This study aimed to find out the relationship among the competency level of the agriculture instructors and the level of student’s performance in the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) of Central Visayas, Region VII for Academic Year 2007 - 2008 as basis for proposing an Agri – Technological Intervention. The profile of the agriculture instructors in terms of highest educational attainment, number of years in teaching experience, level and number of hours of relevant training, seminars, workshops attended, performance rating for the last three years and academic rank was also obtained. The extent in which the factors influenced student’s performance and the reinforcement activities that have been utilized by instructors in the teaching process were determined. The descriptive survey method was used in gathering the data. Correlation between the competency level of instructors and the students’ level of performance was obtained using the coefficient of contingency. The respondents were the faculty members handling agriculture major subjects in the different State Universities and Colleges offering agricultural programs in the provinces of Region VII, Central Visayas namely: Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental. Based on the data gathered, it was found out that Moderately Competent is the competency level of the agriculture instructors in all the three (3) areas of general competence, professional competence and technical competence. There is a significant correlation between the competency level of instructors and the level of performance of the agriculture students. The level of competencies of the agriculture instructors affects the performance level of the students. On the profile of the agriculture instructors, there were many who had masteral and doctoral units and only few were able to finish these degrees. Most instructors had a teaching experience of more than twenty five (25) years. More teachers had attended the national level of training, seminars and workshops compared with the international, regional and school level. Majority of them were having more than three hundred twenty (320) hours in their participation of the training. The performance rating of the agriculture instructors was very satisfactory and over one – half of the total respondents were having an academic rank of instructor and very few were associate professor and professor. Reinforcement activities had been moderately utilized by the agriculture instructors. The agriculture students from Region VII state universities and colleges were having a very good level of performance, while such performance was moderately influenced by home, school and peer factors.