Agricultural Education and Extension Education: Partners in Learning

What would you do if we told you there is a way to get more done in less time and with fewer resources? What would you say if we could enlighten you of a way to improve the quality of your programs, increase your expertise, and expand the opportunities that you can provide your students without attending one more workshop or teacher training session? What would you do if there was actually a way for students to learn more about agriculture, leadership, and life without you having to spend one more night or weekend away from your family? Do any of these questions peak your interest? If you are reading this article, you are smart enough to know that a magic bullet of this magnitude is probably not available. However, there is a simple little practice that could move all of us into being more effective and efficient with our students. The simple little practice is something many of us learned around pre-school. It is called In today's business world as well as the education arena, there is an ever-present pressure to become more successful, effective, and efficient. According to Janice Fauske (2002, p. 1), cooperation has become a politically desirable descriptor for attracting resources and attention in Due to the common purposes of agricultural education and youth leadership development, Cooperative Extension's 4-H clubs and Agricultural Education's FFA chapters can become more effective through cooperation. In this article, we would like to introduce to you what a group of agriculture teachers and extension faculty in Florida listed as the strengths and opportunities associated with cooperating with each other. Strengths According to our panel of experts (agriculture teachers and extension faculty) there are many positive things that can come from working together. One of the primary ways we can improve our youth programs is by combining the expertise, technical knowledge, and skill of the educators at school with those at the county extension office. As a former agriculture teacher, one author of this paper combined his expertise in animal science with the judging expertise of the local extension agent to teach equine science and to train dominant horse judging teams. Teachers and agents also expressed that sharing resources, educational materials, and facilities cut down on the amount of time needed to develop students' competencies in the activities in which they participated. Mitzi Pigg, an agriculture teacher at Gallatin High School in Tennessee, took a group of students to the National FFA Meats Judging Career Development Event. Mitzi and her team worked very hard to get ready for the National Competition, but they attribute much of their success to the 4-H training that they received from their county extension educator. When teaching youth in and about agriculture it seems that 1 + 1 might just equal 3 instead of 2. In other words, working together definitely makes us stronger. Aside from teaching equine science or training meats evaluation teams, how else might agricultural educators and extension faculty cooperate for the good of the students. Opportunities When our panel of experts was asked about opportunities to cooperate, they listed the local and state fairs as the number one place where they work together. Along the same lines, teachers and extension professionals should also consider cooperating on service projects that contribute to community enhancement, community development, and community education. Additionally, the teachers and agents believed fundraising was a place where agricultural education and extension could pool their resources. …