New Mexico School-based Agricultural Educators’ Inspirations to Teach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v66i3.3015Keywords:
Teacher motivation, Teacher recruitment, Teacher shortage. Student organizations, Teaching profession perceptions, Teacher inspiration, agricultural educators’ beliefs, agricultural educationAbstract
The desire to become an agricultural teacher often starts long before entering a teacher education program. This study investigated the factors that inspire individuals to pursue a career in agricultural education, focusing on the potential influence of their teachers, participation in student organizations, and current views about teaching. Understanding these inspirations is crucial for addressing the agricultural teacher shortage in the United States, where proactive recruitment is necessary to meet the increasing demand for new teachers. This quantitative study surveyed 82 school-based agricultural educators from New Mexico. The survey utilized a 40-question Likert instrument to gather data on the factors that motivated them to pursue teaching, whether they encouraged their students to consider teaching careers, and if their teachers inspired them to choose the school-based agricultural educator profession. The study also explored the relationship between feeling inspired to teach and desire to inspire others to choose the profession. Along with the teacher's perceptions of the teaching profession and how it impacts their inspiration. Additionally, the study examined the schools' demographics and the participating teachers' backgrounds. The findings offer insight into the factors that drive individuals to pursue a career in agricultural education and emphasize the importance of existing agriculture teachers in attracting the next wave of educators. This understanding is crucial for creating successful recruitment tactics to address the teacher shortage and guarantee a consistent stream of enthusiastic and committed school-based agricultural educators.
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