INSERVICE NEEDS OF TRADITIONALLY AND ALTERNATIVELY CERTIFIED AGRICULTURE TEACHERS

Each year, many alternatively certified agriculture teachers are hired. Practice dictates that agriculture teachers, regardless of certification method, have a continuing desire and need for inservice training. However, do these two groups of teachers have the same inservice needs? The literature supports the notion that different groups of teachers have dissimilar inservice needs. However, missing from the agricultural education research base are studies that examined the inservice needs of alternatively certified agriculture teachers. The purpose of this study was to fill that void. Based on the findings of this study, traditionally certified teachers have greater self-perceived inservice needs in the FFA and SAE supervision, instruction and curriculum, technical agriculture, program management and planning, and teacher professional development constructs. When examining specific items, traditionally certified agriculture teachers have greater self-perceived inservice needs in 46 of the 80 items