Preparing Future Secondary Agricultural Education Teachers To Work With Students With Learning Disabilities: Reports from Teacher Educators

Abstract

Secondary agricultural education programs are enrolling increasing numbers of students with various disabilities. One consequence is that pre-service teachers are expressing a need for additional preparation to work with such students. This study was conducted to examine the preparation that preservice teachers receive to work with students with learning disabilities in secondary agricultural education programs. The target population for the study was agricultural teacher educators who plan and in some situations, deliver such preparation. An instrument was mailed to a purposive sample of 84 teacher educators in the fall of 2006. As a result, 63 were returned for a 75% response rate. The respondents reported the cooperative pairs/groups teaching technique and the extra/extended time accommodation as most covered in their teacher education programs. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001was the federal legislation pre-service teachers felt was most covered in their program to prepare them to implement in the secondary setting. A majority (73%) of the respondents indicated that their preservice teachers must complete at least one special education course. It is recommended that when a special education course is not offered by another department, agricultural teacher education programs should offer a course within the department.

Female Agriculture Teachers’ Lived Experiences and Perceived Professional Development Needs when Teaching Students with Special Needs

“…This investigation also found the women believed most of their professional development experiences in special education were inadequate because they were fast-paced, repetitive, and not specific to SBAE. This conclusion was consistent with prior research, which has indicated preservice courses focused on students with special needs have often not been extensive enough to help SBAE teachers feel prepared to teach students with special needs in their programs (Aschenbrener et al, 2010;Faulkner & Baggett, 2010;Kessell, 2009;Ruhland & Bremer, 2002;Ramage et al, 2021;Roberts et al, 2020;Stair et al, 2019). It was further concluded that even if participants received preservice education on teaching students with special needs, the limited extent of the courses failed to provide adequate time for interpretation and to develop positive perceptions when accommodating students with special needs.…”

“…Because a gap may exist in content knowledge about specific disability categories and strategies when teaching students with special needs, is it possible that further marginalization of students with special needs may be occurring in classrooms? For example, if women SBAE teachers perceive students to be of low ability or are unaware of how to effectively teach certain students, they may unintentionally reduce experiences and opportunities for those learners (Aschenbrener et al, 2010;Faulkner & Baggett, 2010;Jobling & Moni, 2004;Johnson et al, 2012;Kessell, 2009;Ruhland & Bremer, 2002;Stair et al, 2019).…”