English abstract
This study aimed at identifying the difficulties encountered in executing the practical skills included in geography textbooks for secondary as perceived by teachers. The difficulties were categorized in four dimensions: The curriculum, teacher, facilities, and the student. The research problem was examined according to the following four questions:
1- What are the difficulties encountered in executing the practical skills included in geography textbooks for secondary students as perceived by teachers? 2- Do the ratings of teachers for these difficulties differ as a function of their sex? 3. Do the ratings of teachers for these difficulties differ as a function of their teaching experience (one year /more than 5 years)? 4. Do the ratings of teachers for these difficulties differ as a function of the schools location (rural/urban)?
In order to answer the above research questions, a questionnaire was formulated including (25) items distributed among the recognized four dimensions of the research problem. Following the establishment of the reliability and validity of the questionnaire (0,82), a sample of (198) teachers representing the educational directorates of the Sultanate were employed in this investigation in the academic year( 2001/2002). The study revealed the following results:
• There are many difficulties which prevent the execution of practical skills included in geography textbooks for secondary schools. Nine of these difficulties were perceived as being of high degree, 15 were of moderate degree, and only one was of low degree.
In most dimensions of the difficulties investigated by the study, no significant differences (at the .05 level) were found between teachers? ratings of these difficulties which could be attributed to the variables of sex, teaching experience, and environmental location. However, significant differences in the ratings of the difficulties related to the student were observed between males and females, and between experienced and less experienced teachers. Moreover, a significant difference was found between rural and urban locations with regard to the dimension of facilities. In the light of the results, the researcher has come up with a set of recommendations.
