The emotional duties of an agricultural educator: Evaluating the confidence levels of agricultural educators to support students with adverse childhood experiences

Abstract

Agricultural educators can have a profound impact on student’s lives and are often aware of their students’ life experiences outside of the classroom. Students often treat their agricultural educator as a mentor, which increases their likeliness of confiding in them when facing hardships, such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). An ACE is defined as a traumatic experience or set of experiences that occur during childhood (ages 0–17). This study aimed to evaluate agricultural educators’ personal experiences with ACEs and gauge their confidence levels when emotionally supporting students struggling with ACEs. Using a descriptive, correlational research design, we surveyed 1,075 agricultural educators in four states—Tennessee, Utah, North Dakota, and Illinois—and achieved an 11.91% response rate. The first research objective suggested that agricultural educators had the most experience with physical abuse (Question # 1) and parental mental illness (Question # 9). Furthermore, nearly half (50.2%) of respondents had at least one ACE, and 10.2% had at least four. The second research objective found that agricultural educators were the least confident in emotionally supporting students with issues related to physical or sexual abuse. In addition, they reported the most confidence in supporting students struggling with mental health or parental divorce. This study reinforces the drastic need for agricultural education to increase programmatic development to support students facing emotional trauma and ACEs. Based on the findings of this study, we recommend investigating the benefits of career and technical education, both academically and emotionally, for students with high ACE scores.