What do I want to be when I grow up? Exploring influencing factors on high school students’ agricultural career considerations

The U.S. workforce of today lacks qualified persons to fill the growing number of available jobs in agricultural fields. To address this problem, this study sought to examine the factors which contribute to a high school student’s career considerations. A survey of 817 high school agriculture students in Illinois supplied data for the study. Researchers then evaluated the data through a series of hierarchical logistic regression analyses. The trends in the data coupled with a review of previous work, provides insights to enable educators and agricultural advocates to build action-oriented solutions to place qualified persons in agricultural roles. Emergent themes focusing on providing diverse opportunities, personal connections, and mastery experiences in agricultural careers could drive strategy development to increase high school students’ attraction to agricultural careers.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Walker, Courtney Ashton

Contributors dc:contributor

• Thieman, Erica B.

• agricultural education, agriculture, career development, high school education

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2018 Courtney Walker

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/100911

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/100911