INTEGRATING HIGH SCHOOL AGRICULTURE CURRICULA IN SWAZILAND

Abstract

Two high school agriculture curricula operate in Swaziland schools, one is the Swaziland General Certificate in Secondary Education (SGCSE) Agriculture and the other is Prevocational Agriculture. Competency-based approaches are now recommended for teaching Agriculture. Parents and other stakeholders question the concurrent offering of these two, especially that SGCSE Agriculture is certificated and Prevocational Agriculture is not, and therefore, graduates of the former can enter the tertiary level while the latter cannot. The purpose of the study was to describe the possibility of integrating the high school SGCSE and Prevocational Agriculture curricula. A descriptive study employing content analysis, survey questionnaire and focus group discussion were used to investigate the possibility of integrating the two high school agriculture curricula. The two agriculture curricula syllabi were analysed inductively to come up with the similarities and differences. A census of 48 SGCSE and Prevocational Agriculture teachers in schools where these two curricula run concurrently were used with the survey questionnaire. Eight participants were used in the focus group discussion. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the study. Findings from content analysis and focus group discussion revealed that several parts of both curricula could easily be integrated as they were similar. Survey means score revealed that teachers possessed competency-based skills for teaching, assessing and managing an integrated curriculum. Therefore, SGCSE and Prevocational Agriculture integration could proceed. A study on determining the challenges of implementing an integrated SGCSE and Prevocational Agriculture competency-based approach is recommended.

Keywords: curriculum integration, general certificate in secondary education, vocational agriculture,

                   competency-based approaches