Voices from the Classroom: Identifying Animal Science Professional Development Needs of Early-Career Agricultural Educators Who Teach Predominately Minority Students in Low-Income Schools
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v66i2.3188Keywords:
Agricultural Education, Animal Science, Professional Development, Low-Income SchoolsAbstract
Many early-career educators report a lack of confidence in teaching animal science and suggest that comprehensive professional development would improve their abilities to engage diverse audiences in animal science instruction. This lack of confidence in providing quality instruction in key agricultural education areas could leave some educators vulnerable to attrition. Furthermore, educators who teach in low-income schools and schools with high populations of minorities are at a higher risk of attrition. Guided by the Human Capital Theory, this study aimed to assess the animal science professional development needs of early-career educators who teach predominantly minority students in low-income schools. The population for this study was New Mexico agricultural educators participating in a year-long animal science professional development cohort. This cohort was selected from applicants based on their demonstrated need for animal science professional development. The research objective was evaluated using two focus groups, which were asked about the challenges they experienced when teaching animal science. The results suggested that the participants struggle to teach complex animal science topics such as genetics, reproduction, and carcass/live animal evaluation due to a lack of knowledge, cultural challenges, and difficulty engaging students in the curriculum. We intend to use the results of this study to inform the cohort’s year-long experience and suggest expanding professional development options to educators. We recommend evaluating the current professional development offered to agricultural educators to ensure it meets their needs. We also recommend conducting quantitative and qualitative studies to further evaluate educators’ challenges when teaching animal science.
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