Students' perception of relevane of ministerial training :a study of East Africa School of Theology

Abstract

This research sought to find out students' perception of relevance of the ministerial training at the Higher Diploma program at the East Africa School of Theology in relation to their anticipated future ministries. The study adopted a crosssectional study design and a combination of descriptive and explanatory research approaches. The research questions guided the researcher in finding out whether the trainees found the courses relevant in relation to their anticipated future ministries and whether certain factors such as the previous ministerial experience and areas of calling affected the perception of relevance of the students. The data collected for this research involved a combination of the use of both closed-ended and open-ended questionnaire. The researcher also requested the students to suggest areas for possible improvement of the Higher Diploma program and ways for increasing the impact of the graduates of the Higher Diploma program in the church and the wider community. The researcher distributed the questionnaire personally to 27 students. The Likert Scale of Summated ratings also formed part of the instrument. The Chi-Square Test of Independence was the statistical instrument used to determine relationships of factors responsible for students' perception. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to code, enter and summarize the data. The findings of this research showed that the majority of the Higher Diploma students perceived the ministerial training at the Higher Diploma level at EAST to be relevant to their anticipated future ministries in the church and the wider community. There were no differences between students with previous ministerial experience and specified area of calling and those without in their tendency to perceive the training to be highly relevant. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that management of EAST ensures periodic review of courses, to stay relevant; take into consideration factors related to students' ministry experiences and areas of calling in curriculum design and ensures criteria and policy for faculty selection and development.