Investigating the Key Social Supports for Early Career Agricultural Education Teachers

Amidst a national teacher shortage, school-based agricultural education (SBAE) faces serious challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified teachers. While preparing new teachers remains important, researchers suggest retention efforts, particularly for early career teachers (ECTs), may yield greater long-term stability. This convergent mixed methods study explored the social supports most beneficial to SBAE ECTs (teachers with five or fewer years of experience), aiming to identify periods of greatest need, sources of stress and confidence, specific professional challenges, and preferred forms of support. Using a basic interpretive research design with a realist epistemology, 19 SBAE ECTs participated in semi-structured Zoom interviews in fall 2022. Participants annotated monthly stress and confidence levels from their first year of teaching and reflected on their experiences with support networks. Findings revealed heightened stress at the start of the school year and again in February, corresponding with key FFA responsibilities, while confidence gradually increased. Key stressors included classroom management, limited agricultural mechanics preparation, and FFA administrative tasks. Teachers consistently identified other SBAE teachers, supportive administrators, and state staff with whom they had prior relationships as the most valuable sources of support. Timely, practical help via text or email was particularly appreciated. Recommendations include investing in flexible, individualized mentoring systems; ensuring real-time support from state-funded program staff; and advocating for multi-teacher SBAE programs to distribute workload. Efforts to scaffold ECTs’ early responsibilities, especially around FFA, may improve retention and long-term teacher success.