Educational Practices for Optimization of Pre-service Training of Quality Agricultural Teachers in Nigeria

This study was aimed at determining the trainers’ perception on the educational practices for optimization of pre-service training of quality agricultural teachers in Nigeria. Two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The target population for this study was 2040 respondents comprising 1800 lecturers from universities and 260 from colleges of education. A total of 204 university lecturers and 26 college lecturers were selected for the study using simple random sampling technique. Educational Practices for optimization of pre-service Teacher Education Questionnaire (EPOPTEQ) was the structured instrument used to elicit the needed information from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and independent t-test statistical tools to test the hypotheses of the study. From the analyses, it was found out that educational practice that could optimize pre-service training of quality agricultural teachers in Nigeria included among others the adoption of quality content and methodology, efficient administrative and management control. These however were not effectively utilized in pre-service teacher education training programme in Nigerian Universities and Colleges of Education in Nigeria. Based on these findings, it was recommended that all these educational practices should be fully integrated into pre-service training programmes of agricultural teachers in Nigeria for optimum productivity.