Involvement of volunteers in agricultural education programs in New Mexico

Enrollments in secondary agricultural education programs in New Mexico has steadily increased over the past several years placing more demands on the program and its resources. A common approach in education is to enlist volunteers to provide assistance and extend resources. The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate agriculture education teachers attitudes towards volunteers, the perceived benefits and limitations of involving volunteers and the types of roles volunteers were engaged in. The population of this study was a census of all secondary and middle school agricultural education teachers in New Mexico during the Fall of 1999 (N = 90). A five part instrument developed by the researchers was used to collect data. Agriculture education teachers strongly believed that involving volunteers in their programs allowed them to focus on other parts of their programs and that volunteers were an essential component to a successful agricultural education program. Eighty seven percent of the agriculture education teachers reported using volunteers in their program. Roles most commonly assumed by volunteers included: chaperones, guest speaker in class/lab, coaching CDE events, and assisting with various FFA activities. Of the 13 % of the teachers who did not involve volunteers, th