Pre-service Teachers’ Motivation to Pursue a Career as an Agricultural Education Teacher

With agricultural education teachers continually leaving the teaching profession, it is up to schools and administrators to assist in retaining teachers. People are motivated differently based on their experiences and goals for their futures. Both intrinsic and altruistic motivators are highly involved when one decides to become a teacher. The expectancy-value model of achievement was utilized as the framework. The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study was to determine what pre-service agricultural education teachers’ motivations attending Iowa State University to pursue a career as an agricultural education teacher. Respondents indicated one of the most important motivating factors for their desire to teach was that they wanted to help adolescents learn. Within the study, respondents were asked about their perceptions and the highest-ranking statement was respondents think teaching is a highly-skilled occupation. Providing pre-service teachers with opportunities to teach or assist with local FFA chapters, Boys and Girls Clubs, and 4-H clubs may help in keeping pre-service agricultural education teachers motivated throughout their undergraduate experience, and assist with teacher recruitment efforts. Future research should be conducted with a larger population to see how motivations differ among pre-service teachers at different institutions.