Youth-driven Youth–Adult Partnerships: APhenomenological Exploration of Agricultural EducationTeachers’ Experiences

摘要

This phenomenological study explores the dimensions of youth–adult partnerships (YAPs) inagricultural mechanics classrooms in three rural schools. YAPs presume a positive learningcollaboration between young people and adults who work together to achieve meaningfulcommunity-based change. Previous research on the development of YAPs has focused on nonschoolsettings. However, in these agricultural mechanics courses, as part of a safety-focusedcurriculum, teachers engaged students in a collaborative project to build and install costeffectiverollover protective structures (CROPS) for local farmers’ tractors. Thus, the CROPSproject provided a unique opportunity to explore the inclusion of youth-driven YAPs as anengagement model for teachers, students, and the broader community. The findings from thissecondary analysis of interview data from CROPS project teachers are threefold. First, evidenceemerged of the experiential, communal/collective, and youth-driven aspects of YAPs in teacher–student and student–student collaborations. Second, shifts in power balances present a keydimension of the youth-driven dimension of YAPs. Third, the CROPS project aligns well with ayouth-driven YAP in that it promoted high-quality student engagement within the learning system.Finally, we discuss the implications for integrating YAPs into agricultural education projects andsuggestions for further research.