Impact of agricultural educators' servant leadership style on student participation in service-learning activities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of servant leadership characteristics present in agricultural educators' leadership styles to the use of service-learning activities in their curriculum. The study was guided by three questions: (a) which the servant leadership variables do agricultural educators exhibit?, (b) how many service-learning activities do those educators incorporate into their teaching curriculum?, and (c) does a statistically significant relationship exists between servant leadership variables exhibited by agricultural educators and the number of service-learning activities incorporated into their curriculum. An on-line and written survey was conducted with agricultural educators who were members of the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) and lived in NAAE Region 1. The survey used Ann Todd Abel's Servant Leadership Inventory to analyze the servant leadership characteristics and behavior exhibited by educators. The results of the study provide an overview of the most frequently exhibited servant leadership characteristics and behaviors by agricultural educators and quantitatively analyze the number of service-learning activities with-in their curriculum. The results of the study also highlight the types of service-learning activities incorporated into the educators' curriculum.