INFLUENCE OF PARENTS’ EDUCATION ON CHOICE OF AGRICULTURE SUBJECT AMONG PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS IN KEIYO NORTH SUB COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the vocational subjects taught in Kenyan secondary schools’ curriculum. Students acquire knowledge and skills that are essential for future education or employment in the agricultural sector. Despite its importance, the proportion of secondary school students who chose the subject in Keiyo North Sub County has been below 40% over the years. Parents’ education level has been cited among factors that influence choice of subjects. This paper examined the influence of parents’ level of education on choice of agriculture subject among secondary school students in public secondary schools in Keiyo North Sub-County, Kenya.  The study adopted the correlational research design and was guided by social learning theory. A sample of 415 form three students and 45 career guidance teachers were selected using stratified proportionate sampling techniques to participate in the study. Data was collected using a career guidance teachers’ and students’ questionnaires. The content and face validity of the two instruments were checked by experts from the Faculty of Education and Community Studies, Egerton University.  Data was analysed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Science.  The findings indicated that majority (58.3%) of parents had college or university level of education and agriculture subject was chosen by 45.3% of the students. The results also indicated that parents’ level of education was a significant predictor of students’ choice of agriculture subject, pseudo R² = .031, model coefficient χ² (4, N = 402) = 10.174, p = .038. It was concluded that parents’ education influences students’ choice of agriculture subject. The paper recommends that school managers and education policy makers be encouraged to involve parents in students’ subject choices in their endeavour to make agriculture subject attractive to learners.