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Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Keywords

Employability Skills, Superintendents, Agricultural Education

Disciplines

Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration | Vocational Education

Abstract

Since its inception, agricultural education has been instrumental in equipping secondary graduates with the necessary skills to be successful in their future career endeavors. While this has remained a priority over time, many employers claim that secondary graduates do not possess the necessary skills to be successful in the workforce. This study sought to assess the perceptions of school-district superintendents on the importance of integrating employability skills into agricultural education courses and evaluate differences in the perceptions of male and female superintendents. We used a descriptive research design to collect the data. The instrument assessed 41 individual skills in nine employability skill areas utilizing a Likert scale ranging from 1 = Not Important at All to 5 = Extremely Important. The first research objective determined that participating superintendents valued skills like critical thinking, personal qualities, and resource management the most. The second research objective suggested that female superintendents value applied academic skills, critical thinking skills, and systems thinking skills significantly more than male superintendents. The findings of this study suggest that superintendents believe employability skill integration is an important priority for CTE and SBAE. Based on the findings of this study, we recommend providing professional development to superintendents on the benefits of SBAE. Additionally, qualitative research should be conducted with male and female superintendents to further explore the differences in their perceptions.

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