An Assessment of Problems Faced by High School Agricultural Education Teachers

Abstract

Leaders in the agricultural education profession established a goal to expand the number of programs offering high school agriculture education over the next 10 years. If the agricultural education profession is going to meet this challenge, it will need to increase its supply of qualified teachers. Currently agricultural education faces a shortage of qualified teachers. The situation is made worse by the attrition of teachers from the profession. One way to increase the number of qualified agricultural education teachers is to reduce the number of teachers who leave the profession early through attrition. The purpose of this study was to identify and quantify the problems faced as beginning teachers and the problems teachers currently face in West Virginia. Financial rewards for teaching were perceived as a moderate to strong problem for teachers as they entered the profession and as a moderate to strong problem for current teachers. Teachers viewed time management, paperwork, and balancing school and home activities as a slight to moderate problem for beginning teachers as well as a slight to moderate problem for current teachers. Respondents also felt facilities-equipment, student motivation, and discipline were slight to moderate problems for beginning teachers.