ABSTRACT

The study determined the relationship between skills training and job performance of youths in snail production in South East Nigeria. Six specific purposes and 6 research questions were anwered. Six hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted correlational research design. The population of the study was 371 youths. There was no sampling as all members of the population were accessible and manageable by the researcher. Two instruments were used for data collection. They were titled: Level of Skill Training of Youths in Snail Production Questionnaire (LSTYSPQ) and a rating scale titled Observed Level of Job Performance in Snail Production Rating Scale (OLJPSPRS). The instruments contained parts A and B. Part A sought information on the respondents’ personal characteristics, part B sought answer in line with the research questions. The questionnaire had in a four point response options of very high level VHL-4points, high level HL-3points, low level LL-2points, and very low level VLL- 1point. The raking scale was also recorded in four points scale.  The part B of the two instruments was divided into 6 clusters in line with the research questions. The instruments were subjected to face validation by three lecturers in Agricultural Education and two from Measurement and Evaluation unit of Science Education Department, all in College of Education of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.88 obtained through Cronbalch alpha coefficient. 371 copies of the instrument were administered and 355 copies representing 96% of the instruments were retrieved and analyzed while 16 copies were lost. The data collected were analyzed using, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Simple Regression for research questions and for testing hypotheses respectively. It was found that; there is moderate positive relationship between skill training and job performance of youths in snail production planning; there is strong or very high level of positive relationship between skill training and job performance of youths in breeding management of snail foundation stock and in processing of snails; there is high level of positive relationship between skill training and job performance of youths in youths in feeding management of established stock of snails and in health management of matured stock of snail; there is weak or low positive relationships between skill training and job performance of youths in marketing of snails. It was also found that there is a significant positive relationship between youth’s level of skill training and job performance in all the clusters of snail production. It was concluded that increase in level of training leads to increase in performance.  Among the recommendations made are that; youths should acquire more skill training in snail production from planning to processing since training relates highly to job performance, Government and non-governmental organizations should establish more heliculture skill training institutions across the study area so that those did not attend the formal school program can attend job training to acquire skills in breeding management of snail since the training has been found to relate significantly to job performance.