Agricultural Mechanics Training Deficits among Preservice School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers: An Assessment of Teacher Educators’ Perceptions

Agricultural mechanics has become a common yet highly technical component of modern school-based agricultural education (SBAE). Despite the prevalence of agricultural mechanics in secondary agriculture instruction, deficits in training have been prominent in the literature. To meet the workforce needs of agricultural industries, SBAE teachers must be adequately prepared with knowledge and skills to impart on their students. To prioritize agricultural mechanics competencies for preservice SBAE teachers, we used the ranked discrepancy model to examine SBAE teacher educators’ perceptions of importance and level of preparation in 59 agricultural mechanics competencies. We found that all competencies in the study displayed some degree of training deficit. Our findings also indicated that the greatest training deficits were related to agricultural machinery and equipment and renewable energy, particularly in areas of recent technological advancement. Conversely, we observed the smallest training deficits in competencies related to metal fabrication, outdoor power equipment, and small engines. We recommend that SBAE teacher educators use these findings to better facilitate targeted professional development for agricultural mechanics. We also call for future needs assessments in agricultural mechanics to consider using the ranked discrepancy model.