Teacher Philosophies of Career Development Events: Implications for Curriculum in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Education

Student engagement in Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) offer tremendous opportunities for content learning, leadership development, and career preparation. Included in the scope of CTSOs are skills contests, competitions designed to test student knowledge and skills within respective content areas. Within school-based agricultural education, these skills contests are called career development events (CDEs). Building upon existing research identifying the importance of CDE preparation to student performance and knowledge transfer, the current study quantified CDE preparation occurring within agricultural education classrooms, educator philosophies of CDEs, and the relationship between philosophies and CDE preparation. Findings indicate the majority of responding teachers held a student development philosophy and incorporated moderate to high amounts of CDE preparation within their classroom curriculum. Additionally, findings suggest a practically significant relationship between teacher philosophies and CDE preparation, with teachers possessing a competition and achievement philosophy facilitating the highest amount of CDE preparation during classroom instruction. In total, findings provide important insights into CDE preparation within agricultural education as well as a template for evaluating similar relationships throughout other CTE areas.