| During a conference on Agricultural Education in 1981 the Directors of Education from the region by the University of the South Pacific (USP) cited the drastic shortage of valid instructional materials for teaching agriculture as one of the major constraints to effectively implement the region's schools agriculture programs. Subsequently, the newly established (1982) Department of Agricultural Education at the School of Agriculture, USP identified this problem as a priority research concern.;The study was a verification study using the pre-experimental one-shot case study research design. A total of eleven administrators of agriculture programs and 46 teachers of agriculture from eight countries in the region constituted the sample of respondents for the study. Field observations and personal interviews, using a structured interview schedule were conducted to gather data from the respondents. Descriptive statistics were used to describe, summarize and interpret the findings. Data was analyzed manually and by use of the SCSS program of the computer facilities at Cornell University.;The study concluded that: (i) the number of materials available for teaching agriculture varied significantly among the countries and a lack of coordinated effort to utilize regional material resources efficiently; (ii) on a regional basis, there is a need to develop instructional materials for farm management, agricultural economics, pigs, poultry, coconuts, cattle, taro, bananas, citrus and cocoa in this priority order; (iii) in instructional materials development, the preferred characteristics of content validity, human interest, grade level, format, illustration, availability, length, cost and physical aspects need to be emphasized in this order; and (iv) the basic steps of needs assessment, determination of desired characteristics, search for existing materials, identification and orientation of writers, writing a draft, evaluation of the draft, revision and development of final copy, publication and distribution of the materials are essential for instructional materials development in the USP region.;The purpose of this study was to investigate the existing situation concerning instructional materials that were used for the teaching of agriculture at the high school level in the region served by the USP. Specifically, it sought to identify from administrators of agriculture programs and teachers of agriculture the need for instructional materials relevant for their school systems and also solicit judgments as to the best alternatives for instructional materials development in the region. |
