Determining the Critical Skills Beginning Agriculture Teachers Need to Successfully Teach Welding

Using the Delphi technique, agriculture teachers with significant experience teaching welding were asked to help determine the critical skills beginning agriculture teachers need to successfully teach welding. The study's objectives sought to (1) identify the knowledge and technical skill competencies that beginning agriculture teachers need to develop in order to successfully teach welding and (2) specific welding curriculum recommendations for the agriculture teacher education program at Utah State University. The panel of agriculture teachers identified 49 skill and knowledge competencies that beginning teachers should develop. Competencies were categorized into the areas of performance skills, technical knowledge, laboratory management skills, and dispositions. In addition to using this information to make adjustments to teacher preparation programs in agricultural mechanics, an implication of this could be seen in the increased utilization of collaborative mentoring efforts within teacher preparation programs including the National Association of Agricultural Educators’ Communities of Practice and various teacher induction programs across the country.