An Examination of Selected Preservice Agricultural Teacher Education Programs in the United States

Abstract

The researchers surveyed department heads of purposefully selected agricultural teacher education programs to determine the curricular structure of agricultural teacher education in the United States. Nominations ofprograms to examine were sought from members of the profession. Graduation checklists and course syllabi for all professional agricultural education courses were analyzed. The authors concluded that programs vary greatly across the country. Courses on teaching methods and program and curriculum planning are generally available. Separate courses on serving as FFA advisors or in managing Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs are offered in only a few of the selected institutions. FFA was listed as a topic in 9 of the 10 institutions. SAE, or an equivalent topic was listed in all of the institutions studied. The authors offer a potential composite structure based on the programs studied. Vocational education was later tasked to help address the problems of American Education. The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) Report (United States Department of Labor, 1991) identified basic competencies needed by Americans to meet the needs of the internationally competitive workforce of the future. notice that change was needed. The National Agricultural education also was put on Academy of Science Committee on Agricultural Education in the Secondary Schools report, Understanding Agriculture: New Directions for Education (1988) examined agricultural education in this country, found it lacking, and recommended fundamental changes both in public school programs and in agricultural teacher education.

Early Field Experience Documents In Agricultural Education

“…In addition, there is no literature regarding the intended interactions to accomplish these purposes. Such observations caused McLean and Camp (2000) to recommend further study to determine the commonalities among agricultural teacher education programs and to question what type of experiences preservice teachers encounter in EFE (Swortzel, 1999).…”

Agricultural Education Early Field Experience Through the Lens of the EFE Model

“…To ensure its effectiveness, EFE should be aligned with the entire teacher preparation program (Little & Robinson, 1997). McLean and Camp (1998) stated that the call for reform of agricultural teacher education preparation has gained momentum in the last 15 years. This momentum could be due in part to the impact of EFE in preservice teacher education.…”

Perceived Self-Efficacy of Preservice Agriculture Teachers toward Specific SAE Competencies

“…Currently, agriculture teacher preparation programs do not spend an equal amount of time instructing preservice teachers on SAE when compared to classroom/laboratory instruction and FFA (McLean & Camp, 2000). Sequentially, this has led preservice teachers to report a lower level of importance towards SAE program utilization as compared to the other major components of SBAE (Joerger, 2002).…”

“…McLean and Camp (2000) conducted a study of 10 preservice agriculture teacher preparation programs and found that every program reported teaching SAE to their preservice teachers. However, the researchers found that three teacher preparation programs offered SAE specific courses to preservice agriculture teachers.…”

“…In order to prepare preservice agriculture teachers, instruction in SAE programs should be an essential component to agriculture teacher preparation programs (McLean & Camp, 2000). McLean and Camp (2000) conducted a study of 10 preservice agriculture teacher preparation programs and found that every program reported teaching SAE to their preservice teachers.…”