Work Life Balance for Agricultural Educators in Kentucky
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development Community & Leadership Development 2016 Work Life Balance for Agricultural Educators in Kentucky Kendra Horn Rowland University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2016.347 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Rowland, Kendra Horn, "Work Life Balance for Agricultural Educators in Kentucky" (2016). Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development. 28. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cld_etds/28 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Community & Leadership Development at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Kendra Horn Rowland, Student Dr. Rebekah Epps, Major Professor Dr. Patricia Dyk, Director of Graduate Studies WORK LIFE BALANCE FOR AGRICULTURAL EDUCATORS IN KENTUCKY THESIS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Kentucky By Kendra Horn Rowland Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Rebekah Epps, Associate Professor of Agricultural Education Lexington, Kentucky 2016 Copyright © Kendra Horn Rowland 2016 ABSTRACT OF THESIS WORK LIFE BALANCE FOR AGRICULTURAL EDUCATORS IN KENTUCKY Research indicates that Kentucky agricultural educators are overworked and experience job related stress. Balancing work and home can be a struggle and stress induces burnout and teacher attrition. Shortages in the agriculture classroom could result in loss of agricultural education programs and negatively affect the profession. The purpose of this study was to 1) describe the demographics of Kentucky high school agricultural educators; 2) describe the work and home life balance for Kentucky agricultural educators; 3) determine the level of job satisfaction among Kentucky agricultural educators; 4) determine the perceived busiest time of the school year for Kentucky agricultural educators. The study was conducted on a census of the 2015-2016 Kentucky agriculture teacher directory and the survey was distributed online. Results indicate that agricultural educators work 52 hours per week, can balance work and home responsibilities with assistance from spouse/partner and experience job related stress on a regular basis. It was concluded that Kentucky agricultural teachers are satisfied with their job, but stressed about meeting the needs of work and family balance based on barriers including FFA activities, nightly meetings, childcare and time with spouse/partner. KEYWORDS: Work Life Balance, Job Satisfaction, Teacher Burnout, Agricultural Education, Teacher Retention, Teacher Attraction Kendra Horn Rowland 7/28/16 Date WORK LIFE BALANCE FOR AGRICULTURAL EDUCATORS IN KENTUCKY By Kendra Horn Rowland Dr. Rebekah Epps Director of Thesis Dr. Patricia Dyk Director of Graduate Studies 7/28/16 Date DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my husband, Brian and our daughter, Reid Houston. They are my greatest blessing! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my husband, Brian, our daughter, Reid Houston, and my family for their patience and support during my graduate experience. The finances, babysitting, getting supper started and availability have paid off and I couldn’t have done it without you. Your endless love and nagging have gotten me through this process regardless of how many times I wanted to quit and get a master’s in something else easier! Reid was my inspiration to study work-life balance and I hope this research project enables other young families that juggle a busy work and family lifestyle. Thank you to Dr. Rebekah Epps for her endless patience and recommendations throughout this procedure. Research is not my “thing” and I would much rather look up lessons and lab ideas than read article after article, but your expertise in this area cannot go unmentioned and I greatly appreciate you and your time! To my students of the past, present and future. Thank you so much for being amazing and realizing the importance of agricultural education at such a young age. So many of you have already pursued agricultural careers or will do so and I am convinced that the world is a better place because of it. Keep reaching for the stars and know that you will ALWAYS be “my kids” and I think of you as my “litters” each year I have taught. I look forward to meeting my ninth litter in the fall! iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables...................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... ix Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 Background ............................................................................................................... 1 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework .................................................................... 3 Self-Efficacy Judgment ............................................................................................. 5 Purpose of this Study ................................................................................................ 8 Definitions ................................................................................................................ 9 Limitations ...............................................................................................................10 Chapter Two: Review of Literature ......................................................................................11 Introduction .............................................................................................................11 Teacher Retention in General Education ..................................................................12 Teacher Retention in Agricultural Education ............................................................14 Self-Efficacy ............................................................................................................16 Teacher Efficacy in Agricultural Education ..............................................................17 Work Life Balance ...................................................................................................19 Work Life Balance in General Education .................................................................20 Work Life Balance in Agricultural Education ...........................................................20 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................23 Chapter Three: Methodology ...............................................................................................24 Introduction .............................................................................................................24 Study Design............................................................................................................24 iv Study Population ......................................................................................................24 Instrument ................................................................................................................25 Data Collection ........................................................................................................27 Data Analysis ...........................................................................................................28