Emerging Educational and Agricultural Trends and their Impact on the Secondary Agricultural Education Program

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the emerging trends in education and agriculture and their impact on the secondary agricultural education program. The study was conducted to serve the needs of state and national agricultural education program leaders as they develop future plans and activities for the program.

For this study, the researcher did a national solicitation for nominations to identify the experts in education and agriculture. This nomination process was conducted with national agricultural education leaders, state agricultural education leaders, university agricultural educators and agriculture teachers. The call for nominations was sent to 1,160 individuals via email. One hundred and forty-two experts were identified from the nomination process. Seventy-two of experts were in education and 70 experts were in agriculture. This group was narrowed to two panels of 50 experts in education and 50 experts in agriculture for round one. In round two responses were sought from the 32 educational experts and 25 agricultural experts that had responded in round one. In round three, 17 educational experts and 15 agricultural experts responded.

Initially, in round one, 264 educational issues and 180 agricultural issues were identified. This list was reduced to 40 educational issues and 24 agricultural issues for round two. This list was prioritized into a list of 19 educational issues and 17 agricultural issues. This list was prioritized to a group of 12 educational issues and six agricultural issues. Educational issues included: Finance and Budget, Teacher Recruitment, Teacher Education, Curriculum, Educational Leadership, Teacher Recognition and Reward, Teaching and Instructional Strategies, Standards, Legislation and Policy, Professional Development, Teacher Attitude, and State Leadership. Agriculture Issues included: Environmental Influences on Agriculture, Technology and Innovation in Agriculture, Food Supply and Safety in Agriculture, Trade Issues in Agriculture, Youth in Agriculture, and Urban Sprawl/Impact on Agriculture.

It was concluded that many of the educational issues have not changed dramatically over the years. Interestingly enough, education appears to be cyclical in many ways as issues and approaches of the past are re-discovered. Agricultural issues seemed to have broadened from a production focus to issues that deal with agriculture's relationship to society. The agricultural education program should be actively involved in influencing the future direction of education and agriculture.