Does Agricultural Mechanics Laboratory Size Affect Agricultural Education Teachers' Job Satisfaction?

Overview & Synopsis

Secondary agricultural education teachers were surveyed to examine if a relationship existed between the physical attributes of agricultural mechanics laboratories and agricultural education teachers' enjoyment of teaching agricultural mechanics. Teachers also indicated their competence to teach courses other than agricultural mechanics within the agricultural education curriculum, perceived importance of Iowa agricultural education curricula, and training an agricultural mechanics Career Development Event (CDE) team. Responses were collected from 103 Iowa agricultural education teachers. It was found that shop size and the age of the shop did not have a correlation between agricultural education teachers' enjoyment of teaching agricultural mechanics, competence in other courses, importance of agricultural mechanics, or training a team to compete in the state CDE. Teachers' enjoyment of teaching agricultural mechanics was positively correlated to the size of the budget for consumables and equipment for their agricultural mechanics laboratory. Researchers recommend that further research be conducted to identify factors which motivate agricultural education teachers who teach agricultural mechanics within secondary agricultural education programs.