Abstract
A descriptive survey study was used to examine factors that influence high school agriculture teachers' intentions to continue teaching in Iowa. The online questionnaire was administered to 252 agriculture teachers, and 119 teachers completed the survey. A four-point Likert-type scale was used to measure agriculture teachers' intentions to continue teaching. The overall mean and standard deviation is 2.64 (.64) for the eight influential factors, which indicates that these factors slightly influenced teacher intentions to continue teaching. The multinomial logistic regression model using the stepwise forward method was used to predict the likelihood of individuals' plans to continue teaching. The model was statistically significant (χ2 = 39.97; p = 0.01), and the following significant, influential factors can explain 31 percent (Pseudo R2=.31) of the variance: teacher recognition (p=.001), teaching as a right career (p=.035), family expectation of staying (p=.035) and teaching makes oneself feel good (p=.040). Findings from this study support evidence from previous research that reported teachers with strong self-esteem and belief that teaching is the right career for them and will remain longer in the profession.
Highlights
Keywords Agriculture Teachers, Intentions to Teacher attrition has been acknowledged as a crucial issue in many countries, including the United States (Borman & Dowling, 2006; Brill & McCartney, 2008; Watt & Richardson, 2008)
Teacher attrition can be defined as the percentage of beginning teachers who leave the teaching profession (Unesco, 2017)
Professional knowledge and skills, teaching values, responsibilities, and preparedness, perceptions about plans to remain in teaching and self-efficacy are identified as individuals’ personal and professional needs that influence their intentions to stay in teaching (Battle & Looney, 2014; Walker, Garton, & Kitchel, 2004; Darling-Hammond, Chung, & Frelow, 2002; Haberman, 1989; Battle & Wigfield, 2003)
Summary
Teacher attrition has been acknowledged as a crucial issue in many countries, including the United States (Borman & Dowling, 2006; Brill & McCartney, 2008; Watt & Richardson, 2008). Retention of teachers must be prioritized to lower teacher attrition rates (Ingersoll and Smith, 2003) Previous studies, such as those by Camp (2000) and Edwards & Briers (2001), focus on determining why individuals leave the teaching profession, whether they do voluntarily or involuntarily. Several teacher retention strategies have been implemented, including student loan forgiveness, scholarships, and professional development programs for early, mid-career, and late-career agriculture teachers in the US These current strategies do not effectively overcome shortages of qualified agriculture teachers at school (Walker, Garton, and Kitchel, 2004). This study addresses the American Association for Agricultural Education national research agenda priority related to ensuring there are enough qualified and high-quality teachers
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