https://doi.org/10.31871/WJRR.13.4.3 World Journal of Research and Review (WJRR) ISSN: 2455-3956, Volume-13, Issue-4, October 2021 Pages 14-18 14 www.wjrr.org Abstract— A good teaching method in agriculture provide a basis for a student to gain useful knowledge, learn appropriate skills, and develop a positive attitude towards agriculture as a subject. This is eventually reflected in good performance in the subject by the students. Performance of agriculture subject at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) level has consistently be low in Bureti Sub-county and the country at large. The purpose of this study was to determine 1he influence of teaching experience on use of practical methods in teaching agriculture in secondary schools in Bureti Sub-county of Kericho County, Kenya. Ex-post facto research design was used. The target population was agriculture teachers of secondary schools in Bureti Sub County. Census sampling was used to select 66 agriculture teachers in 52 secondary schools in the Sub-county. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), and it involved simple regression analysis and descriptive statistics. The study showed that there is significant influence of teaching experience on use of practical methods in teaching agriculture in secondary schools in Bureti Sub-county. The study recommends that agriculture teachers should be exposed to more hands-on activities during training and be in-serviced more frequently to gain necessary experience so as to be able to conduct practical lessons. Index Terms— Performance, practical methods, secondary schools, teaching experience. I. INTRODUCTION Teaching experience has a significant effect on pupil performance in primary schools and at upper secondary level 9 . Experienced teachers have a richer background of experience to draw from and can contribute insight and ideas to the course of teaching and learning. Such teachers are open to correction and are less dictatorial in classroom. Furthermore, more experienced teachers are considered to be more able to concentrate on the most appropriate way to teach particular topics to students who differ in their abilities, prior knowledge and backgrounds 15 .The experience of the agriculture teacher is developed through the interaction of the teacher with his/her environment. This perspective views agriculture knowledge as emerging from an interaction with the physical and social agriculture environment. Individual teachers have different experiences arising from their training Amos Bett, Department of Agricultural Education and Extension, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536 – 20115 Egerton -Njoro Agnes Oywaya Nkurumwa, Department of Agricultural Education and Extension, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536 – 20115 Egerton -Njoro James Obara, Department of Agricultural Education and Extension, Egerton University, P.O .Box 536 – 20115 Egerton- Njoro programmes, in-service courses attended and the demands of implementing the curriculum. The teachers’ experience will greatly influence their behavior in teaching process. According to 5 teachers with agricultural experiences have more knowledge and more accurate perceptions of agriculture. Agriculture teachers who have been teaching for longer periods are more exposed to agricultural, activities through doing and seeing, making them more confident and knowledgeable. Studies on the effects of teacher experience on students learning have found a relationship between teacher’s effectiveness and their years of experience. According to 1 teacher play an important role in determining the students’ academic achievement. Agriculture subject emphasizes knowledge, skills and attitude required in all areas of agriculture for proficiency in agricultural production 13 . Hence, one of the principles of agriculture is learning by doing 13 . To be successful, teachers should select and use a wide variety of teaching strategies 2 . The author observed that, the most suitable methods for teaching practical oriented subject like agriculture are demonstration and discussion methods. Other modern approaches require combination of methods to achieve a purpose and include: assignment, project, field-trips and experiments 11 . Studies have found that teachers’ experience and educational qualifications significantly influenced students’ academic achievement 12 . As observed by 8 , teachers could implement the presentation of theory mixed with actual field practice. Practical classes are always organized to ensure that practical skills are imparted to students to enable them become self-reliant, resourceful and useful to the society 13 . This study was prompted by concern that the subject is not well performed in the County. The performance in the last five years, that is, from the year 2009 to 2014 indicate that the average mean grade for schools in the county was C+ (plus) KNEC reports, (2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015) which is considered as not good performance. Agriculture is offered as an optional subject in secondary schools where it is expected to be performed well since a learner chooses it because of his or her ability, interest and future benefits of the subject. However, performance has been poor as observed from the KNEC reports. This could be due to challenges faced by teachers that prevent proper implementation of the syllabus. Hence students will not effectively gain the intended knowledge, skills and attitude. This translates to poor performance in the agriculture subject at the KCSE examination, and may discourage students from Influence of Teaching Experience on Use of Practical Methods among Secondary School Agriculture Teachers in Bureti Sub County, Kenya Amos Bett, Agnes O. Nkurumwa, James Obara