Supporting Students’ Psychological Needs and Motivation within School Based Agricultural Education Programs: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the processes School Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) teachers utilize to support students’ psychological needs and motivation. SBAE teachers were sampled who taught for five or more years and displayed a range of SBAE successes. Within the five participating schools, all FFA members were recruited to participate. The average student participant was female, a freshman, and identified agriculture as a potential future career. Through an exploratory sequential design, quantitative instruments were first utilized to gauge the motivational climate and the teachers’ autonomy orientation. Grounded theory interviews and observations were utilized to determine the processes of needs support. Through open, axial, and selective coding and the convergent analysis a substantive theory was formed. Within the theory, teacher motivational beliefs emerged as the context of the needs support process and supported the central phenomenon of relatedness. Teachers also utilized extrinsic and intrinsic motivational strategies, along with the intracurricular nature of SBAE programs to strengthen student motivation. Students experienced a range of outcomes including support of competence, support and thwart of autonomy, and a range of extrinsic and intrinsic motivational outcomes. The substantive theory can inform in-service, preservice, and teacher educators about the motivational process.

The Agricultural Communication SAE: A Qualitative Exploration of Opportunities and Teacher Experiences

“…Our findings suggest that agricultural communication SAE projects might be a successful application site for teaching strategies that enhance intrinsic motivation, for example, they might be particularly suited for teachers who want to demonstrate how SAEs are closely tied to educational development and career interest, give students additional autonomy, and make projects personally meaningful for students and their community. Researchers have pointed out that the most important aspect of an SAE project is often for students to identify an area of passion and for teachers to give students the autonomy to develop projects around that interest (Baker et al, 2012;Bird et al, 2013;Bowling & Ball, 2020;Reeve, 2009). Because our findings identified agricultural communication SAEs as particularly student-driven, flexible, integrated, and tailored, teachers might foster additional intrinsic motivation and student engagement into SBAE programs by incorporating agricultural communication SAEs.…”

“…Internal motivational factors like customizable topics and transferable skills were identified as themes in our findings along with more external factors like visibility, awards, and efficiency. This research offers an opportunity to build upon insights by Bowling and Ball (2020) and their recommendation that teachers work to more intentionally utilize strategies that promote intrinsic motivation into SBAE programs. Our findings suggest that agricultural communication SAE projects might be a successful application site for teaching strategies that enhance intrinsic motivation, for example, they might be particularly suited for teachers who want to demonstrate how SAEs are closely tied to educational development and career interest, give students additional autonomy, and make projects personally meaningful for students and their community.…”

“…High school agricultural education teachers seek to develop connections with students and build community; further, relatedness, including connections with peers and adults, is a key way teachers foster student motivation and engagement (Bowling & Ball, 2020). Themes identified within our research suggest that agricultural communication SAEs might offer a particularly good opportunity to increase relatedness among students in SBAE programs, given the scaffolding of learning and peer cohorts interviewees described, which were created to share agricultural communication skills and responsibilities between students of different grades.…”

“…Drawing from motivational research (Ryan & Deci, 2000), researchers suggest a continual focus on "externally rewarding students' continued participation in SAEs, either through program requirements, money, or awards can condition students for the award more so than the experience," and in turn, "diminish students' internal drive for the experience" (Bird et al, 2013, p. 42). Bowling and Ball (2020) found that students in agricultural education programs are more intrinsically motivated when teachers incorporate more opportunity for student autonomy and students are given the ability to direct their learning process. They write, "If SBAE teachers truly desire to promote intrinsic motivation, they must develop and intentionally utilize strategies which will foster intrinsic motivation.…”

Female Agriculture Teachers’ Lived Experiences and Perceived Professional Development Needs when Teaching Students with Special Needs

“…Involvement in FFA has been shown to have a positive impact on students' self-identity, employability after graduation, and soft skill development (Bowling & Ball, 2020;Hansen et al, 2003;Lundry et al, 2015;NAAE, 2021). However, how is SBAE serving all, if students with special needs have not been routinely encouraged to participate in FFA events?…”