Author : Ducusin, Dionisio G.

Summary : This study was conducted to: (1) determine the educational philosophies of the MATEA program; (2) determine the extent of available manpower, physical resources and educationl practices, and conditions and activities designed to achieve the educational objectives of the program; (3) make comparative analysis of the results of evaluation made by different respondents of the program; and (4) derive some policy guidelines for the renovation or reorientation of the MATEA program and for the development of similar programs. Eighteen training centers in six school divisions under three accrediting institutions in Regions II, VI, and XI in the Phil. were involved in the study. There were 306 respondents, composed of 234 students, 39 instructors, and 33 administrators of the MATEA program. The data were collected with the use of an interview schedule. The results showed that two of the three accrediting institutions were offering bachelor's degrees in agriculture and agricultural education, and two of them also had graduate course aside from the MATEA. On the average, there were three classes held per center, with two instructors employed. The majority of the classes (82 percent) were in vocational agriculture. Only one-sixth of the centers (16.7 percent) had books on technical agriculture in their libraries prior to their being selected as centers. Also, the majority of the centers (72.2 percent) did not purchase any book for use by MATEA students and only one-third of them (33.3 percent) claimed to have purchased periodicals using MATEA funds. Teaching modules were produced and sold to the centers by one of the accrediting institutions but only 12.2 percent of them purchased such modules. Slightly more than one-half of the income (50.44 percent) derived from tuition of a center was left for the honoraria of its staff, facilities, and projects; the rest were remitted to the accrediting institution. Uncollected fees from the centers ranged from 3 to 100 percent, four months after the semester had elapsed.