Agriculture Teachers of Texas: Who will stay and who will go?
Date
2017-04
Authors
McIntosh, Bridget
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Abstract
This study focused on the factors that affect the retention of agriculture teachers in the state of Texas. Results of the study concluded that the key reasons agriculture teachers are staying in the teaching profession revolve around job satisfaction, student success and the FFA organization success. However, there is not a lot of evidence that explains this phenomenon prior to them leaving the profession in Texas. Identifying the reasons agriculture teachers are considering leaving the profession is important to teacher educators, agriculture teachers, and school administration to better prepare teachers with professional development in those critical need areas. Descriptive statistics were used to identify various reasons for agriculture teachers' consideration to leave the profession or remain were utilized. Online questionnaires were distributed to 330 agriculture teachers in Texas addressing three important questions. The first question addressed what aspects current agriculture teachers felt first-year agriculture teachers were lacking to be effective teachers. The second question asked what aspects of teaching affected their consideration to leave the profession. All participants were asked what aspects of teaching affected their decision to remain in the teaching profession in question three. Results of the study indicated that the majority of agriculture teachers who considered leaving the profession felt there was too much stress related to FFA and SAE projects. The study found agriculture teachers stay in the profession because they feel a sense of recognition of their role in advising students. Current teachers indicated that stress management and student discipline were major issues faced by first year teachers.
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Keywords
SAE, FFA, effective teacher, agriculture education
Citation
McIntosh, B. (2017). Agriculture teachers of Texas: Who will stay and who will go?</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.