Planned use of subject matter content by final year Swaziland secondary agriculture students

Purpose. The major purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which students used the subject matter content taught in the O'Level Agricultural education program in Swaziland.;Methodology. The research design implemented in the study was classified as descriptive correlation. The population of the study consisted of all completing students enrolled in the O'Level Agriculture program in 16 schools offering agriculture in Swaziland during the period April to June 1988. A validated list of schools and enrollment figures was obtained from the Senior Inspector's office, to control for frame error. Sampling error was not a threat in this study since the study involved all schools and students involved in the program. The target and accessible population were 493 O'Level Agriculture students enrolled in the program. The method of data collection was a self-administered questionnaire. Copies of the instrument were left with the agriculture teacher for students who were not in on the day the instrument was administered. This controlled for non-response error. Content validity was determined by using a panel of experts. The instrument was field-tested with first-year students enrolled in the two-year program in agricultural education, University of Swaziland. This established internal consistency.;Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, measures of central tendency and variability) were used to organize and summarize the data. Correlations between variables were established by using Chi-squares, Cramer's V, and Phi coefficients to determine the nature and strength of relationships.;Findings and conclusions. Students in the O'Level Agriculture program in all four areas of the syllabus reported they rarely used the skills and knowledge taught in the program. The majority of students stated that they did not intend to use the skills and knowledge taught in all four areas of the program. Selected students' personal characteristics and the current use and/or intent to use subject matter content taught in the high school agriculture program revealed a negligible to a moderate degree of relationship.