School Type, Instructional Strategies and Agripreneurial Skills Acquisition Among Senior Secondary School Students in Delta State

This study examined the influence of school type and instructional strategies on agripreneurial skills acquisition among senior secondary school students in Delta State, Nigeria. Anchored on Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964) and Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984), the research adopted a descriptive survey design. The population comprised 117,196 senior secondary students and 223 Agricultural Science teachers in Delta State. A sample of 387 students and 104 teachers was drawn using multistage purposive sampling technique across public, private, and technical/vocational schools. Data were collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire, validated by experts and pilot-tested for reliability (Pearson product-moment correlation, r= 0.817). Data was analysed using inferential statistics (Pearson product-moment correlation) at the 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed school type had a weak but significant relationship with skill acquisition (r = 0.186, p < 0.05), while instructional strategies had a significant positive relationship with agripreneurial skill acquisition (r = 0.742, p < 0.05). Institutional/systemic factors demonstrated a weak and non-significant relationship with effective agripreneurship education (r = 0.118, p > 0.05). Teacher qualifications (r = 0.214, p < 0.05) also showed a moderate positive relationship with student skill acquisition. In a nutshell, the findings indicate that instructional strategies - not school type - are the primary drivers of agripreneurial skill acquisition. The study concludes that strengthening experiential and entrepreneurship-focused teaching approaches can significantly improve