Recruitment Strategies And Activities Used By Agriculture Teachers

Abstract

The problem addressed by this study was the fluctuating enrollment numbers in agricultural education programs throughout the U.S., as related to the ineffectiveness (or lack) of a recruitment strategy by many agriculture programs. The objective of this study was to identify the most effective strategies and activities, as reported by successful teachers, for recruiting students into secondary agricultural education programs. A total of 275 agriculture teachers across the U.S. served as the sample for this study. The most often used recruitment strategies as reported by agriculture teachers were contacts with feeder schools, individual contact by the agriculture teacher and student contact with other potential students, utilization of the FFA, use of various publications (promotional brochures, videos, posters, bulletin boards, newsletters, newspaper, radio, television, and school announcements), a strong agriscience curriculum, use of support groups of the agricultural education program and the FFA chapter, and the use of special recruitment events. Specific activities within those strategies are summarized. It was recommended that teacher education programs utilize this information in planning and delivering preservice and inservice programs to teachers to assist them in developing and implementing recruitment plans.