Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2260-0959

Advisor

Swortzel, Kirk A.

Committee Member

Peterson, Donna J.

Committee Member

King, Stephanie B.

Committee Member

McCubbins, OP

Date of Degree

5-16-2025

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Agricultural Science (Agriculture and Extension Education)

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

School of Human Sciences

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the teaching self-efficacy of agriculture teachers at community colleges in the southern United States. The accessible population consisted of all current faculty who teach agriculture at community colleges within the southern United States (N=102) with 102 surveys being distributed and 39% completing the survey. This descriptive study utilized a causal-comparative research design and a purposive sampling technique to select faculty to participate in the study. Means were used to determine how strongly teachers felt about their perceived teaching self-efficacy. Standard deviations helped to determine how the responses varied. Frequencies and percentages determined how many respondents answered each question and the proportion of respondents. The demographic portion of this study concluded that the typical community college agriculture teacher in the southern United States was a white male between the ages of 45-64 with a yearly gross income from teaching between $60,001-$80,000. In addition, community college agriculture teachers taught between 1-10 years at a community college, teaching 11-20 hours per week. The majority were full-time faculty members, teaching anywhere from 6-10 different courses per year, with one-half having received some certification or a degree in teaching and 75% having received some professional development training related to teaching. Most had a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in an agricultural field with many being former teachers working in forestry, horticulture/landscaping, or Extension. The findings of this study indicated that community college agriculture faculty in the southern United States possessed “quite a bit” of teaching self-efficacy regarding student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. Male community college agriculture faculty had higher levels of perceived teaching self-efficacy on the classroom management and instructional strategy subscales than their female counterparts. Faculty with 6 to 10 years of teaching experience had significantly higher levels of perceived teaching self-efficacy in all three subscales. Faculty members who taught part-time had higher perceived levels of teaching self-efficacy on the student engagement and instructional strategies subscales, but not on the classroom management subscale. Faculty who received training and development had a significantly higher level of perceived teaching self-efficacy on the student engagement subscale than those who had not received such training.

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