A study of teachers' practices in planning and conducting a program of vocational agriculture in Virginia

Abstract

This questionnaire study was an attempt to determine the practices teachers follow in planning and conducting a program of vocational education in agriculture in Virginia high schools. The study revealed that the thinking of the regular teachers of vocational and the assistant teachers of vocational agriculture in charge of veterans was comparable as indicated by the nearly equal percentage of teachers from both groups who checked the practices on the questionnaire as “Commonly practiced" or "Recommended". Many practices were not carried out by a majority of the teachers; however, the additional recommendations to these practices indicates that the majority of all teachers favored the use of most of those practices in the instructional program of vocational agriculture. The responses to some practices were not complete, particularly by the assistant teachers of vocational agriculture in charge of veterans who failed to provide information on the practices dealing with the FFA program. The number of teachers who failed to recommend these practices were in a small minority and only one practice was checked as not recommended by a majority of the regular teachers of vocational agriculture. On the whole, most practices were favored by all teachers. The large majority of teachers who carried out these practices or recommended that they be carried out would tend to indicate that they favor using these practices in the program of vocational education in agriculture in Virginia high schools.