Impact of student teaching experiences, personal demographics, and selected factors on the decisions of pre-service agricultural education teachers to enter into teaching

With numerous openings in the agricultural education field and shortages constantly occurring, a common question is asked, Why are pre-service teachers not teaching? . This study sought to help answer this question by investigating the impact of the student teaching experience upon certified agricultural education graduates. In addition to the student teaching experience, personal demographics and selected factors were investigated to add insight into the problem of pre-service agricultural education teachers not teaching. A two-phase descriptive survey methodology was implemented to collect data from the population, which consisted of 75 pre-service agricultural education students from Delaware Valley College, Pennsylvania State University, University of Delaware, and West Virginia University. Responses from the phase one mail survey were used to formulate the phase two questionnaire. Responses from the phase two questionnaire were tabulated to measure the impact of the student teaching experience, personal demographics, and selected factors upon the graduate\u27s decision to teach