The Validation of Preservice School-Based Agricultural Education Teacher Dispositions

Abstract

Effective teaching encapsulates professional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal knowledge. Likewise, dispositions influence educators’ understanding of when and how to utilize knowledge and skills, especially in the context of their particular classrooms. While dispositions are a crucial piece of educator preparation program accreditation, neither InTASC nor CAEP provides a guide on which dispositions should be assessed. Without a valid and reliable instrument for SBAE educator preparation programs and limited research, further investigation is needed to provide teacher educators with tools to measure and implement dispositions to increase the growth of preservice agriculture teachers. This study was informed by the human capital theory, allowing the researchers to validate a list of preservice SBAE teacher dispositions through a principal component analysis (PCA). The PCA fit to five components which resulted in 18 of the 28 items loading above a 0.6, accounting for 59.6% of the explained variance and resulted in an overall Cronbach’s alpha of 0.98. The resulting components included Empathetic and Considerate, Directed, Engaged and Attentive, Personal Integrity, and Emotional Maturity. To accomplish the essential human capital growth during the teacher preparation program and clinical teaching experience, modeling the components is pivotal in furthering the professional dispositions of SBAE teacher aspirants.