A Case Study Exploring the Perceived and Actual Person-Environment Fit of Teacher Aspirants in Agricultural Education

This study assessed the factors that led students who did not participate in secondary agricultural education programs to the agricultural education teaching major. Findings indicated that these participants were motivated to pursue an agricultural education degree because of their passion for agriculture and youth, and affinity for people and the job. Parents and friends were their biggest influences in pursuing a degree in agricultural education. Their greatest perceived strengths were content knowledge in agriculture, leadership skills, and ability to persevere; their greatest perceived limitation was lack of experience in a secondary agricultural education program. Unfortunately, none of the students secured employment as agriculture teachers. Because these findings are more subjective and personal (P) in nature, future research should investigate more objective measures of the demands from teachers in the workforce (i.e., environment-E).