Perception of teaching competencies by administrators, faculty and students of Indian agricultural universities: an assessment of faculty training needs

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The study aims at finding out relevance and knowledge levels of selected teaching competencies as perceived by educational administrators, faculty and students, in order to assess the training needs of faculty of agricultural universities.

Methodology: Relevance and knowledge levels were tested through a teaching competency questionnaire developed and run on 292 respondents fitting into administrator, faculty and student groups. Needs Assessment Model by Borich [1980. “A Needs Assessment Model for Conducting Follow-up Studies.” Journal of Teacher Education 31 (3): 39–42] is used to identify training needs.

Findings: Results indicate differences in perceptions among groups towards teaching competencies. Prioritized training needs were identified which provide the content and direction for the development of faculty in-service educational programmes.

Practical implications: Faculty of agricultural universities need periodic in-service training programmes in order to improve their teaching competencies so that they become effective and competent teachers in the present educational environment.

Theoretical implications: The statistically validated methodological framework provides for capturing the perception of all stakeholders on the teaching competencies among the faculty members of Agricultural Universities in India, and offers a scope for scaling up the study for similar educational setting in the region.

Originality/value: The perception of students and administrators was also considered along with the self-perception of faculty about the relevance and knowledge levels of teaching competencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching competencies
• faculty development
• agricultural education
• teacher training needs
• in-service education
• training need assessment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

P. Ramesh is a Professor and Principal Scientist in Human Resource Management Division of ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad. He is a training facilitator and researcher in personality traits, emotional intelligence and professional competencies for Agricultural Research and Educational Organizations in India.

D. Thammi Raju is a Professor and Principal Scientist in Education Systems Management Division of ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad. He is a training facilitator and researcher in veterinary and agriculture education in India.

K. M. Reddy is a retired Professor and Principal Scientist in Education Systems Management Division of ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad. He is a training facilitator and researcher in veterinary and agriculture education in India.

P. Krishnan is a Principal Scientist in Agricultural Research Management and his areas of research and academic expertise include evidence based S&T governance, curriculum and content development for higher education, coastal bio-resource conservation and management, environmental policy and law.

Amit Biswas is a statistician by training and serves as a Professor in the Indian Statistical Institute. He offers courses in M. Stat programme and his core expertise is in applied statistics, mathematics and operational research. He is an expert in mathematical and statistical modelling.

Uma Maheswari, a Social Scientist with specialization in fisheries economics serves as a faculty in Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, Nagapattinam. She has been working in the fisheries sector with multi-disciplinary research interests in fishers livelihoods, community-based resource management, extension systems and socio-economic vulnerability assessment.