Nuffield scholar Clare Peltzer backs new way to attract students to ag
Nuffield scholar Clare Peltzer is backing a new, more authentic approach to attract more students into agriculture.
THE full spectrum of career prospects available in agriculture are not well understood and therefore not pursued. And to counter this, school students need to be exposed to “authentic agricultural experiences”, according to Tasmanian farmer Clare Peltzer.
Clare, who manages a prime lamb operation at Evandale in the north of the island state, recently completed a Nuffield scholarship looking at global programs that sought to better attract and retain young people into pursuing a career in agriculture.
The studies combined her two passions. As well as her farming duties, overseeing a 7700-head self-replacing ewe flock turning off more than 9600 lambs on 4250ha, Clare is a part-time secondary agriculture teacher at Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston.
As a farmer and a teacher she said she was in a unique position to determine the reasons that attracted youth to a career in agriculture.
“I understand the challenges within the education, as well as the barriers to entry into a career in agriculture,” Clare said.
“Building social capacity is a pillar for many Australian primary industry bodies, however there is not a well-organised or recognised pathway for an excited 12-year-old or post-16-year-old undergoing vocational or technical education into a career in agriculture.”
From a farmer perspective she said she recognised youth as a “crucial collection of people within the farming community” who “bring an energy and vibrancy to the sector”.
“They are generally the first ones to adopt new technologies, implement new ideas and apply the latest research into their practices,” Clare said.
“Although requiring more guidance, time and resources during the teaching phase, they are an asset to every farming team.”
From a teacher perspective, she said the syllabus for any course was the written document that was “open to interpretation”.
“The ‘what’ you teach it outlined, but the ‘how’ you teach it is where a teacher can play a vital role in the student’s engagement with the content,” she said. “Timing and ratio of theoretical knowledge of practical application is also a source of personal preference by the individual teacher.
“Furthermore, the academic rigour of the course can be inherently altered by the expectations from the leading teacher. Therefore, the teacher is fundamental when looking at the pathways pursued by youth post-16 years.”
GLOBAL ROAMING
CLARE’S studies took her to Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Qatar, Romania, the UK and the US.
Clare said while she identified a number of successful programs working to attract students into post-16 agricultural studies “like Australian-based programs, they are frequently implemented in isolation and not revisited during pivotal schooling years”.
During her visit to the UK she met with industry representatives from peak agricultural lobby group the National Farmers Union, who introduced her to the Science Capital framework that measures an individual’s exposure to and knowledge of science. She said the framework was adopted to identify why a student pursued a career in science and had “created co-ordinated change in science education policy and practice”.
“From implementing professional training programs to changing language used in the classroom to better encapsulate the diversity of the sector, this framework has enabled students to broaden their understanding and perception of career opportunities within the sector,” she said.
“Though designed for the teaching of science, the parallels that can be drawn between perception, barriers to entry and the science-based nature of the work, could be of significant value to an Australian agricultural context,” she said.
Clare said there was a need for a co-ordinated effort by the industry to deliver programs that broadened understanding and showcased the diversity of careers within agriculture and its various offshoots.
She said in Ireland, for example, teachers often used the “FaceTime a Farmer” initiative to directly connect classrooms with farms.
Applying the Science Capital framework in the context of Australian agriculture, Clare said, would not only identify deficiencies in the interface between early schooling years and a career in agriculture, but help ensure all efforts aimed at attracting the next generation were strategic and co-ordinated.
She said the Tasmania would an ideal place for a pilot study for the framework as it was economically dependent on agriculture and already had programs in which global examples could be integrated or altered to suit.
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