GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION STUDENTS IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated sex difference in students’ academic performance in agricultural education in Article History: th January, 2016 Colleges of Education in Nigeria. Kwara Sate College of Education, Oro was used as a case study. A Received 06 Received in revised form total of 241 students of 2005 - 2009 Agricultural education graduates were used for the study. The 14th February, 2016 moderated examination results of these students were used as research instrument. Data were Accepted 27th March, 2016 analyzed using arithmetic mean and T-test. The result revealed keen competition with no significant Published online 28th April, 2016 difference between the performances of both sexes.

Keywords:

Agricultural Education, Gender differences, Academic Performance, and Significant Difference.

INTRODUCTION

The development of any nation is directly related to her educational achievement. Education is the acquisition of knowledge and skills and the genesis of new ideas, which can lead to change in the future behaviour patterns of man. It is meant to give the population of a country those knowledge, skills and expertise necessary to efficiently exploit her physical resources and to organize her society into an orderly disciplined nation. In a bid to relate education to the type of change required in the society, the National Education Policy was revised in 1981 to now lay more emphasis on vocational and Technical education which relates education to productive work. Vocational and technical education according to Olanipekun et al (2014) involves acquisition of practical skills and knowledge relating to occupation in various sectors of the economics and social life. It empowers trainees with life sustenance and employability skills to become productive and active participant in the task for social economic and political development as well as national unity. Vocational and technical education consists of subjects such as Agricultural Education, Technical Drawing, Introductory technology and other related science subjects. These subjects are given prominence at all stages of Education Including Primary, secondary and tertiary levels in the revised edition of the National Education Policy.