The Assessment Methods Required for Future Higher Agricultural Education Curriculum on Graduates 21st Century Skills in Eswatini

Abstract

The 21^st century requires that education systems deliver educational experiences relevant in today’s world. This necessitates a shift from traditional to new learning domains characterised by transferable skills and competences needed by today's youth to thrive and participate fully in the economy. Any substantial educational change, therefore, must be followed by an alignment in areas of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Prior research identified a set of 21^st century skills needed by University of Eswatini graduates to flourish in today's economy, and how they may be taught. However, no methods of assessing the skills have been determined. The study determines assessment methods required for higher agriculture education curriculum on 21^st century skills. Study used a two-round modified Delphi Technique on Phase I to investigate concept dimension and sub-dimensions with agricultural education specialists in Eswatini. Phase II employed a survey to triangulate prior data collection method, population, and findings by using secondary agriculture teachers in Eswatini to establish assessment methods’ gaps and highly ranked assessment methods for 21^st century skills. Findings reveal that ten assessment methods primarily performance-based, diagnostic, summative, formative can be used to measure 21^st century skills. Thus, the University of Eswatini should incorporate these into the higher agricultural education curriculum and deliberately use them to assess the 21^st century skills in Eswatini's future agricultural education graduates. As a result, instructors from the Department of Agricultural Education and Extension would require sufficient training to effectively use the tools to assess potential graduates' 21^st century skills.