Agriculture teacher education: A profile of preservice teacher education students, teacher educators, and departments and programs that prepare agricultural education teachers

The purpose of this study was to describe five components of preservice teacher education programs in agriculture. The five components described were (1) preservice teacher education students, (2) teacher educators, (3) contexts of agricultural education departments, (4) curricula for preservice teacher education programs in agriculture, and (5) instructional alternatives.;Survey research procedures were used to collect data for the study. Usable responses were obtained from 272 preservice teacher education students, 178 teacher educators, and 73 agricultural education departments. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data collected. Factor analysis was used to identify reasons why preservice teacher education students majored in agricultural education and why individuals chose to become teacher educators.;Preservice teacher education students in agriculture are Caucasian males who grew up in a traditional family in a small town atmosphere. They were former FFA and 4-H members and had a number of prior experiences working with youth and children. Preservice teacher education students major in agricultural education because they many to be involved with the mission of agricultural education and like the external benefits of being an agricultural education teacher.;Teacher educators in agriculture are married, Caucasian males who grew up in a traditional family in a small town atmosphere. They were former agricultural education teachers and had little administrative experience before becoming a teacher educator. They completed all three degrees in agricultural education. On average, teacher educators spend 52 hours per week on the job, with most of their time devoted to teaching or providing service to university committees. Individuals chose to become teacher educators because they wanted to help improve the quality of new teachers and to grow personally and professionally.;Teacher education departments use a traditional curriculum to teach preservice students. Instructional alternatives used in classes are traditional alternatives commonly used.;Preservice teacher education students could best be discriminated on selected demographic characteristics by their need to satisfy their goals. Teacher educators could best by discriminated on selected demographic characteristics by their need to work with people and make meaningful contributions to teacher education.