The Agricultural Teacher’s Struggle for Balance Between Career and Family

Abstract

Research has shown that agricultural education graduates are hesitant to enter the profession and seemingly quick to leave, often citing long work hours as a main contributing factor. As the shortage of agricultural teachers continues, there is concern over the balance of career and family and its effect on the profession. The purpose of this study was to examine the issue of career and family balance for Georgia agricultural teachers by gender. It was determined that Georgia agricultural teachers were working an average of 57 hours per week and 39 days per summer, with both genders being similar in the amount of time spent on the job. Teachers carried out traditional gender roles in family responsibilities, with females handling the majority of the housework and childcare and males handling the majority of farm and yard work. One third of respondents reported that it was always difficult or impossible to balance career and family.