Teaching Competencies Needed by Extension Workers in Transferring Agricultural Technologies to Malaysian Farmers

The mission of Extension is to extend education to people. The emphasis in extension education is on helping people to help themselves (Gonzalez, 1982; Patton, 1987; Sanders and Mauder, 1966). With changes and develop-ments in communication technologies, education and socio-economic stan-dards in the last few decades, agricultural extension education has undertaken a change in strategies (Patton, 1987). To keep pace with these rapid developments, the delivery of quality extension education programs is dependent upon two elements: (a) an adequate amount of appropriate information and technology; and, (b) sound teaching approaches to bring about the desired change (Zainuddin and Teh, 1982). The major role of extension professionals is to diffuse information using appropriate teaching strategies, procedures, and techniques (Maatoug, 1981). Previous studies have identified various competencies thought to be needed by extension professionals in the areas of understanding human behavior, program planning, understanding the teaching/learning process, teachin