| The purpose in this descriptive correlational study was to identify and describe the perceptions of educational administrators, home economics teachers and home economics college students regarding the relevance of home economics to the individual, family, community and national development needs of Botswana. The study also attempted to determine if any relationship existed between the variables of gender, age, marital status, nationality, type of curriculum, attitude, educational level and group and perceptions of development goals relevance, degree of emphasis, and what home economics is and should be doing in Botswana.;Fishbein's Attitude model and Borich Model of Needs Assessment were utilized to determine respondents attitude towards home economics and their perceptions of home economics relevance. Respondents were 231 Botswana headmasters, home economics teachers and home economics college students. Data were collected by mailed and hand distributed questionnaires. The survey instrument included likert-type and rating scales for (1) home economics expectancy (should be doing); (2) home economics behavior (is doing); (3) home economics relevance; and (4) degree of emphasis.;Headmasters, teachers and students agreed that each of the thirteen development goals should be addressed in home economics; however, respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that home economics is currently addressing the development goals. The comparison of ratings about what home economics should be doing (expectation) and what home economics is doing (behavior) indicated the existence of a gap between what home economics is doing in Botswana and what respondents perceived home economics should be doing relative to development. Findings also indicated that respondents did not see much relevance of the development goals to individual, family, community and national development, yet they perceived the need for home economics to be addressing the development goals.;A moderately positive correlation (r =.36, p =.04) was found between age and home economics college students' perceptions of the relevance of the development goals to community and national development. The gender of headmasters had a significantly positive correlation (r =.30, p =.00) with perceptions of what home economics should be doing in Botswana. A point biserial correlation of r =.25, p =.02; r =.26, p =.03; r =.25, p =.02; and r =.24, p =.03 indicated that Batswana teachers had a more positive attitude towards home economics, perceived the 13 development goals to be more relevant to individual, family, community and national development, and had a higher level of agreement that home economics should be addressing the 13 development goals in Botswana than non-Batswana teachers.;Overall, the degree of emphasis placed on the development goals in home economics classroom teaching, gender and educational level were found to explain the greatest amount of variance in the perception of home economics relevance to individual, family, community, and national development. |
