Cooperating Teacher Mentorship Behaviors and Job Satisfaction as Predictors of Agricultural Education Interns’ Intent to Teach

Sarah F. James; Christopher M. Estepp; Will Doss; Heather D. Young

doi:10.5032/jae.v66i4.3231

Authors

Sarah F. James Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville, TX
Christopher M. Estepp University of Arkansas https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-9044
Will Doss Texas Tech University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3163-7528
Heather D. Young University of Arkansas https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5510-2619

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v66i4.3231

Keywords:

School-Based Agricultrual Education, Cooperating teacher mentorship, Student teacher intent to teach, Job satisfaction

Abstract

School-based Agricultural Education has experienced a shortage of qualified teachers, and almost a quarter of agricultural education graduates do not teach upon graduating. To increase the number of qualified teachers entering the classroom, the reasons for this must be identified and addressed. A possible factor contributing to agricultural education interns’ decision to not teach may be the mentoring provided by cooperating teachers. This study sought to explore cooperating teacher mentorship and job satisfaction factors’ ability to predict spring 2024 interns’ intent to teach. A survey instrument using the student teacher view portion of the Cooperating Teacher Best Practices instrument and the Index of Job Satisfaction was administered to agricultural education interns. Interns perceived social support as the highest type of mentorship behavior (M = 4.43, SD = 0.82) and were satisfied with teaching as a job (M = 3.89, SD = 0.58). Three mentorship behavior types and job satisfaction were related to intent to teach. A logistic regression revealed that role modeling and job satisfaction were predictive of intent to teach. We recommend cooperating teachers involve their interns in various tasks beyond classroom teaching and they should be trained on effective mentorship, including role modeling, social support, and professional support behaviors.

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References

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