Deterrents to Service-Learning's use as a Method of Instruction in the Preparation of Agricultural Education Teachers: The Beliefs and Intentions of Teacher Educators

Abstract

Service-learning (SL) appears to have influenced school-based, agricultural education (SBAE) since its early inception. And current trends suggest the method may be gaining increased interest in the discipline. However, little is known about the role that agricultural education teacher educators’ beliefs and intentions play in deterring SL’s use as a method of instruction in the preparation of agricultural education teachers. This study’s purpose, therefore, was to understand teacher educators’ normative and control beliefs as well as their intentions regarding SL as a method of instruction. Participants reported that barriers existed at the classroom level, which influenced their intentions. SL teaching experience was also found to have a negative and statistically significant (p < .01) relationship with agricultural education teacher educators’ beliefs about the challenges they associated with using the method. It is recommended that future research explore diffusion methods that could stimulate more widespread adoption of SL by teacher educators of agricultural education.