Department of Agricultural Education & Studies

Got a question?

Graduate Programs: Greg Miller 515-294-2583 / Undergraduate Programs: Mike Retallick 515-294-4810

Return to List

Graduate Student Scholarly Work

 

Fritz, C.A. (2002). Instructional supervision of student teachers in agricultural education. Doctoral dissertation.

The purpose of this dissertation, which took the form of three papers, was to explore supervision in agricultural education settings. The model is a growth continuum that consists of three levels. The supervisory models included in each level are placed along a continuum of three levels. The supervisory models included in each level are placed along a continuum of structure and reward and risk. As the supervisor matures in the supervisory process, it is proposed that the model of supervision used should change.

As their professional maturity increases and as the circumstances dictate, the supervisor will progress in an upward direction on the continuum and facilitate more teacher-directed models of supervision. With teacher-directed models of supervision, the teacher and supervisor may experience greater reward from the supervisory process. The supervisors (N=145) who participated in the study devoted considerable time to supervision. The majority of them had received formal training on supervision, had been a university supervisor for an average of 13 years, and had served, on average, as a cooperating teacher for two student teachers. There were no statistically significant relationships between selected indicators of supervisor maturity and the type of supervisory model used.

Agricultural education student teachers at Iowa State University communicated about non-teaching concerns, teaching concerns, gave advice, responded to questions, and shared lesson plans or ideas using an Internet based communication tool. Student teachers were mostly concerned with self-adequacy. Self-adequacy is primarily concerns related to subject matter knowledge, discipline, and administrative rules. In addition, the teaching concerns expressed by student teachers majoring in agricultural education were not dependent upon students’ gender.