Effectiveness of field practical training for competence acquisition among students of Botswana College of Agriculture

Abstract

Field practical training is a requirement for all students who enrol in any program in the Botswana
College of Agriculture, as it has been discovered that, experiential learning complements theoretical
classroom teaching. The effectiveness of Field Practical Training (FPT) for competence acquisition
among students was examined through a descriptive survey. A simple random sampling technique was
used to select 71 students out of those that participated in FPT in 2008 and data on their personal
characteristics and their perceived competence of agricultural tasks before and after FPT were
collected with a structured questionnaire and analysed using frequency counts percentages and t-test
statistics. Results showed that a majority of the respondents were males, between the ages of 20 to 24
years and were pre-service students. The level of competence among students changed from not
competent to competent in 31 out of the 47 tasks. Students also reported that they were competent
before undergoing the FPT programme in 12 tasks and the rating was retained as well after FPT. On the
other hand, students reported that they were not competent before and even after undergoing the FPT
programme in four of the agricultural practical skills examined. The results of paired t-test showing
comparison before and after FPT among students showed that, significant differences were found
among 32 tasks with students having higher competence mean score after the FPT training than the
score before the training. The study recommends that, established farms should be used for the
programme and students should be posted to farms that will enhance their skill development for the
area of the academic programme specialisation.