Entry–level Technical Skills that Teachers Expected Students to Learn through Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs): A Modified Delphi Study

Abstract

Supervised experiences are designed to provide opportunities for the hands–on learning of skills and practices that lead to successful personal growth and future employment in an agricultural career (Talbert, Vaughn, Croom, & Lee, 2007). In the Annual Report for Agricultural Education (2005–2006), it was stated that 91% of the respondents (i.e., students) indicated they did not have an SAE. This finding was not surprising entirely because some scholars and practitioners of agricultural education have reported empirically and anecdotally that the SAE component of the model was perhaps losing ground in many agricultural education programs (Dyer & Osborne, 1995; Wilson & Moore, 2006). The decline in delivery of this component of the model has implications regarding agricultural education’s role in the preparation of students for entry–level jobs in the agricultural industry. This study used a modified Delphi technique to coalesce the views of an expert panel of agricultural education teachers on the role of SAEs in preparing students for entry–level careers in the agricultural industry. In some instances, the learning experiences being taught in secondary agricultural education may not be congruent with today’s agricultural industry standards. This incongruence may be contributing to the decline in students who participate actively in SAEs.