Making the Jump: What Led Agriscience Teachers to Adopt Agriscience Research SAEs?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors, attitudes, and beliefs that led secondary schoolbased agricultural education (SBAE) teachers to adopt agriscience research Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs) into their programs. Nine current SBAE teachers from North Dakota participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their experiences with agriscience research SAEs. The interviews were subjected to two rounds of coding and were collapsed into themes during a third round of analysis. A myriad of experiences, beliefs, and factors contributed to teachers’ decisions to adopt agriscience research SAEs into their programs. However, the most salient reasons were compatibility with the overall goals of the school district, a commitment to whole student development, teacher ability and support, multitasking behavior, extensive teacher planning and student support, and positive student buy-in. Though the unique experiences of the participants are not generalizable beyond the present study, we offer recommendations for teacher educators, state staff, and teacher leaders regarding the further adoption and integration of agriscience research SAEs into SBAE programs nationwide.