Attracting LGBTQ+ Youth to the Agriculture Sector through Welcoming Educational Spaces: Protesting by Claiming Agency in School-based Agricultural Education (SBAE)

• In Event: Notes from the Field: Challenges and Opportunities associated with Empowering Rural Youth for Social Change – Foregrounding Their Agency and Advocacy

Proposal

SBAE (a) prepares students for entry into agriculture occupations, (b) creates jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities, and (c) increases agricultural literacy (Phipps et al., 2008). This occurs through a program model that includes classroom and laboratory instruction, participation in the National FFA Organization (FFA), and Supervised Agricultural Experiences [SAEs] (Croom, 2008; Phipps et al., 2008). However, the agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) industry is often seen as unwelcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals and lacking representation of LGBTQ+ agriculturists (Elliott-Engel et al., 2020). This is important to overcome if we are to fill the more than one billion jobs in agriculture worldwide (Roser, 2013), including the estimated 138,900 annual job openings in the United States (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). Supportive employers, allies, and role models are necessary for LGBTQ+ individuals to enter the AFNR industry because related career interests are often linked to their views on whether potential employers will accept their LGBTQ+ identities (Elliott-Engel et al., 2020).
School climates have been shown to impact students’ academic and social development (Ambrose et al., 2010: Fraser et al., 1982; Wang et al., 2020). Teachers and other school personnel can help promote supportive climates that provide safe learning opportunities for all students (Aragon et al., 2014). Fraser (1982) described factors comprising classroom climate including the relationships (a) among students, (b) between teachers and students, (c) between students and the learning methods and subject areas, and (d) the students’ perceptions of a classroom’s structure. However, schools are often hostile environments for LGBTQ+ youth and negatively impact them, such as inducing lower GPAs, higher truancy rates, decreased desire to pursue post-secondary education, and increased likelihood of mental health issues and suicide (Aragon et al., 2014; Elliott-Engel et al., 2020; Kosciw, 2021). Nevertheless, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has restricted the inclusion of LGBTQ+ topics in school curricula and thereby limit what educators can do to create welcoming educational spaces for LGBTQ+ youth (Mayo, 2014). As the 2023 legislative sessions ended, 77 bills were enacted across the nation targeting the LGBTQ+ community of which many related to the behaviors of teachers (ACLU, 2023). To the contrary, policies are needed to ensure the personal and academic health of LGBTQ+ students while also securing society’s well-being and prosperity (Movement Advancement Project, 2023). Safe and inclusive learning spaces for all SBAE students, regardless of their identities, chosen names and pronouns, or whom they love, would aid in sustaining the workforce of an industry so vital to humankind.
We sought to understand the impact of program climate on LGBTQ+ students’ motivations to participate in SBAE, seek higher education or employment in the AFNR industry, and their support of SBAE as adults. Former students identifying as LGBTQ+ and completing at least two SBAE courses participated in the mixed-methods study via a questionnaire (Fraser, 1996) and interviews examining SBAE program climate. Results may aid in understanding and augmenting the role that climate has on student motivation, including teachers’ behaviors most likely to create positive learning spaces for LGBTQ+ youth. The panel discussion will explore this
phenomenon.

Author

• Tyler Price