Commitment to Teaching as a Profession by Ohio Teachers of Vocational Agriculture. Summary of Research 45.

A study investigated the major factors--demographic characteristics, job characteristics, and work experiences--related to commitment to teaching as a profession among Ohio teachers of vocational agriculture. The population was a random selection from the Ohio secondary school teachers of vocational agriculture listed in the 1983-84 directory. Mailed questionnaires resulted in an 81 percent return. Findings indicated that none of the demographic characteristic variables demonstrated either a substantial or a very strong relationship with the dependent variable, commitment to teaching as a profession. Job characteristic variables as a set failed to explain a significant unique portion of the variance in the dependent variable. A moderate positive relationship was found between commitment to teaching as a profession and feedback. The collective set of work experience variables explained a significant unique proportion of variance in the dependent variable. Most had a significant relationship with commitment to teaching as a profession, including vocational agriculture teacher cohesion, group attitudes toward the teaching profession of vocational agriculture, realization of expectation, first-job challenge, personal importance, and self-image. These variables were found to be the best predictors of commitment to teaching as a profession by Ohio teachers of vocational agriculture: personal importance, first-year job challenge, vocational agriculture teachers' cohesion, and self-image. (YLB)