Summary

A Lead Ag Teacher role was established, aiming to help address the chronic shortage of university graduates in agricultural disciplines. The role was filled by Sue Pratt, a former agriculture teacher.

The Lead Ag Teacher (LAT) has worked with nearly 200 teachers directly and visited 44 schools across the state, with overwhelmingly positive feedback. Nine schools were supported to introduce agriculture for the first time at their site.

Feedback from teachers involved in the program identified areas where teachers can be supported to improve the delivery of agricultural education in schools, including increasing teachers’ confidence in the subject and professional development. The program has been continued in 2024-25 and 2025-26 with funding from SAGIT and the SA Sheep Industry Fund.

Background

There is a chronic shortage of workers across a wide spectrum of agricultural jobs, with too few university graduates to fill vacancies. This shortage extends to agriculture teachers, where there is a shortage of specialised agricultural teachers, leading to some schools historically choosing not to teach agriculture as a dedicated subject.

Research Aims

The core objectives of the project were to:

• Establish a mentoring program for 20 ag teachers
• Deliver four teacher professional development workshops
• Distribute four newsletters
• Onboard two schools new to teaching agriculture
• Survey teachers pre and post involvement in the program

In The Field

Sue Pratt, former agriculture teacher and past president of the Agricultural Teachers Association of SA (ATASA), was appointed to the role of LAT.

Across the project, 44 schools were visited and provided with support, including nine schools new to teaching agriculture. Services provided to these schools included curriculum reviews, professional development planning, provision of links to resources and industry, strategic planning for infrastructure and curriculum, Year 12 investigation sessions and regional workshops, SACE program reviews and benchmarking, agricultural career presentations, and school farm assessments.

Two year 12 workshops were held for schools with low numbers of year 12 ag students, at Blyth and Lock, and eight professional development workshops were delivered, reaching 192 teachers.

Nine resources were prepared in response to teacher requests and industry events, and five newsletters were distributed to a database of 190 teachers and education providers.

Results

The project exceeded all its goals, with 44 teachers engaged with the program, ten workshops conducted, five newsletters distributed and nine new schools onboarded to teach agriculture.

Feedback on the project was overwhelmingly positive. Every teacher surveyed reported the support from the LAT improved their confidence in teaching agriculture and that the LAT met or exceeded their requirements.

Feedback from the professional development workshop indicated that 92-96 per cent of participants’ needs were met.