Decision to Enter the Classroom as an Agriculture Teacher: An Exploratory Qualitative Investigation

Abstract

With the continued shortage of teachers in agricultural education, the teacher preparation faculty in agricultural education at Texas Tech University began a series of investigations evaluating the teacher preparation program. These evaluations sought to identify areas for improvement and determine if elements of the student teaching experience were barriers to entering the profession. This phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews of recent teacher certification program completers (n = 5) who made the choice to take teaching jobs in agriculture, attend graduate school, or take jobs outside agricultural education. Results indicate the experiences associated with student teaching and the people involved did not influence intentions to teach. The two students who made changes in their intentions to teach, expressed having positive student-teaching experiences and made their decision based on family and business influences outside the student teaching process.

The Masks We Wear: A Quantitative Analysis of Motivational Factors of School Based Agriculture Education Teachers During a Pandemic

“…COVID-19 has rapidly facilitated this alteration of pedagogical approaches where teachers became facilitators in synchronous and asynchronous digital classrooms. Prior to COVID-19 SBAE teachers were motivated by their pragmatic teaching methods (Frost & Rayfield, 2020), face to face interaction with their students, and the energy of the school and its constituent body. Sorenson et al (2017) cautioned traditional instruction in agricultural education, unexpected transitions, and balancing multiple roles as an SBAE teachers could be detrimental to feelings of security and contentment.…”