Agricultural Education Perceived Teacher Self–Efficacy: A Descriptive Study Of Beginning Agricultural Education Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe beginning agriculture teachers’ perceived agricultural education teacher self–efficacy. Additionally, the researcher sought to describe the relationship among teachers’ demographic characteristics and their agricultural education teacher self–efficacy. An instrument specific to agricultural education was developed to answer the research questions. The instrument had three domains: Classroom, FFA, and SAE. The teachers in this study all had less than four years of teaching experience. Almost all of the teachers intended to remain in the profession of agricultural education. Teachers reported favorable perceptions of their student teaching experience and their first year of teaching. Teachers were the most efficacious in the classroom domain, and the least efficacious in the SAE domain. This finding indicates a need for additional professional development in the SAE domain. The teachers’ perceptions of their student–teaching experience and their first year of teaching were positively related to their teacher self–efficacy. Males had higher teacher self–efficacy than females. Individuals who were not involved in high school agricultural education or FFA had higher teacher self–efficacy in the classroom domain, but lower teacher self–efficacy in the SAE and FFA domain.