SOE Programs in Illinois-Teacher Philosophies and Program Characteristics

Many p ro fess iona ls i n ag r i cu l tu ra l educa t ion be l i eve tha t t he pu r p o s e s o f v o c a t i o n a l a g r i c u l t u r e I n t h e s e c o n d a r y s c h o o l s c a n n o t b e accomp l i shed w i thou t superv i sed occupa t iona l exper ience (SOE) programs. A t t h e s a m e time, t h e r e I s a g r o w i n g c o n c e r n t h a t S O E p r o g r a m s are d e c l i n i n g i n q u a l i t y a n d q u a n t i t y . L e e (1982) d e s c r i b e d h l s f e a r t h a t SOE programs, as a co rners tone in voca t iona l ag r i cu l tu re , a re "slipping away." Severa l recent s tud ies have suppor ted th is concern . In New York , over one-ha l f o f the voca t iona l ag r i cu l tu re s tuden ts In each g rade leve l d id no t have SOE p rog rams (Berkey & Su tph in , 1985) . In the same study, 50% o f t he t eache rs repo r ted a h i gh o r med ium need o f add i t i ona l competence In d i rec t ing SOE programs. "The evidence con t inues to accumu l a t e which revea ls tha t many p rog rams a re no t f u l l y u t i l i z i ng SOEP and many s tuden ts a re no t becoming i nvo l ved ” (M i l l e r , 1984 , p . 3).