The Influence of the Agriculture Teacher on a Student’s Decision to Teach

1. The Influence of the Agriculture Teacher on a Student’s Decision to Teach Justin Harris

2. How I Decided to Teach • High School • Athletics • Friends • School • Agricultural Education Program • First Year in College • Not sure about career/major • Engineering • Sports and friends still high on the priority list • FFA Camp

3. Choice to Teach Agriculture • Wanted to make an impact on students • Respected agriculture teachers • Father • Former Teacher • Others • Seems to fit who I am • “Jack of all trades, master of none” • Work hard, even without recognition/physical reward • Enjoy being outdoors and doing physical things

4. Choosing a Thesis Topic • Something you are interested in • Something that can help your profession • Address an issue the profession is experiencing

5. Teacher Recruitment and the Agriculture Teacher • Interested in WHY teachers decide to teach • If done successfully, results could help teachers and teacher educators recruit more teachers into the profession • Addresses an issue  Teacher Shortage

6. Started Research • Google Scholar: Teacher Recruitment in Agricultural Education • Read some of what was out there • Found Park & Rudd’s “A Description of the Characteristics Attributed to Students’ Decisions to Teach Agriscience” • What do ag. teachers do to encourage/discourage students to teach agriculture? • Surveyed teachers • What do the students who recently made the choice to teach agriculture say?

7. Where I am now • Decided on a topic • Committee • Articles and their references • Roughly 40 useful sources so far • Future Plans • What I am finding from the literature…

8. Teacher Shortage In Agricultural Education • Has been a problem for more than 40 years (Kantrovich, 2007) • 2001 – A committee of ag. teachers, school board members, recruitment specialists, and business representatives declared that the #1 problem facing ag. ed. today was teacher shortage (Reese, 2001)

9. What is the problem? • Currently, teacher education programs are producing enough graduates to fill vacancies, but only about 70% of these candidates actually go into teaching (Kantrovich, 2007).

10. What does this mean? • Unfilled positions could lead to: • A struggling in the program until the position is filled. • The position being lost temporarily or forever. • The loss of the entire program, likely forever. • The bottom line is that students do not get to reap the benefits of the opportunities an agriculture teacher can bring to an agriculture program.

11. Solutions? • Two options: • Work to increase the percentage of students who actually pursue teaching careers, or • Work to increase the number of graduates so that the 70% that enter teaching may be sufficient to fill any voids caused by teachers retiring, getting out of the profession, etc.

12. Why is there a problem in the first place? • “You want to do what?!” • The decision to teach can be a tough one. • Not highly paid • Hard work • Long hours • Paperwork • Discipline problems • Etc. • So what motivates teachers to decide to teach?

13. Factors • The literature points to several variables which influence the decision to teach: • Parental influence • Altruistic reasons • Make a difference • Service • Enjoy working with youth • Interest in the subject matter • Influence of former teacher!

14. Survey says… • Inspiration of former teachers is a factor for pre-service teachers’ decisions to teach (Reid & Caudwell, 1997) • 54% of college students majoring in education were influenced by a former teacher (Hayes, 1990). • The most influential variable in their decisions to enter agricultural education was the agriculture teacher (Washburn et al., 2002). • Others: Hillman, 1994; Lyons, 1981; Park & Rudd, 2005; Stiegelbauer, 1994; and more

15. Now What? • We know former teachers can influence a student’s decision to teach, but HOW?

16. Park & Rudd, 2005 Encouraging Practices Discouraging Practices • Offering a program rather than just a class to take • Serving as a positive example and role model • Encouraging student involvement in FFA • Students enrolling in an ag. ed. program • Exhibiting a positive attitude about teaching agriculture • Exhibiting confidence in student abilities • Doing little to nothing in the FFA component • Not giving students an opportunity to participate in FFA • Having a program seen as a dumping ground • Demonstrating constant complaining • Complaining about students in program and administration • Demonstrating negative attitudes

17. Theoretical Foundation • Social Cognitive Theory • People learn through observing others (Bandura & Walters, 1963) • Possible that imitation and modeling play a role in student’s decision to teach (Park & Rudd, 2005) • Learning through observation not always formal. Often occurs without teacher knowing it is taking place (Bandura & Walters, 1963)

18. Procedures • Causal-comparative (Ex Post Facto) • Population: Still need to decide • All undergraduate students enrolled in agricultural education in NC • All undergraduate student enrolled in agricultural education at randomly selected universities offering agricultural education in the southeast

19. Instrumentation • Examine Park & Rudd’s instrument and make modifications so it is applicable to prospective teachers • Electronic Survey • Reviewed by panel of experts for validity • Field test the instrument for reliability • Cronbach’s Alpha • Hope to send out in Spring 2010 • Non-responders

20. Questions or Comments?