Contextual cognition of agricultural education peda-andragogical praxis in the South African higher education institutions: A systematic review

Abstract

Agricultural education in South Africa is defined entirely in the context of applied and natural sciences and has not yet positioned itself in the frame of educational sciences. Many agricultural graduates without an educational background pursue educational careers. The absence of dedicated agricultural education research centres perpetuates the dependency on applied and natural sciences alone. This dependency has allowed neglect of the rigorous teaching and learning research and development of agricultural education. This mispositioning has led to neglect in the investigation of pedagogic and andragogic praxis in higher education institutions. To understand the status quo of academia as it relates to agricultural education, a systemic analysis of the past decade’s agricultural education research conclusions was conducted. The study exposes the reality of teaching and learning from agricultural research in South African academia and how agricultural education has progressed over the past decade. This intellectual piece validates the need to rethink agricultural education as it relates to teaching and learning in basic education, higher education, and adult learning in research discourse. Consequently, it legitimises the need for agricultural educators and trainers who are grounded in the more current and humanised methods of teaching agriculture while understanding how children and adults learn.