Perceptions and Assessments of Selected Topics by Lithuanian Teachers Who Participated in Agricultural Education In-service Seminars in 1999

This article describes workshop participants and their selected perceptions of the in-service education topics presented during the 1999 professional development seminars sponsored by the American Professional Partnership for Lithuanian Education (APPLE). Sources of the data were 58 teachers and administrators who were employed at high and higher (postsecondary) schools of agriculture in Lithuania. One-half (52%) of the participants in the two workshops taught agricultural subjects. A researcherdeveloped survey instrument elicited three categories of information from the seminar participants: (a) personal/demographic data, (b) perceptions about trends and the future for education, agricultural education, and agriculture in Lithuania, and (c) assessments about the “importance” of and their selfperceived “ability” to perform the nine competencies presented in the seminars. The descriptors for the “importance” scale were “5” = “Great Importance,” … “1” = “No Importance.” The descriptors for the “ability” scale were “5” = “High Ability,” … “1” = “Negligible Ability.” Cronbach’s coefficient alpha reliability estimates for the rating scales were .77 and .79, respectively. Two-thirds of participants perceived that the general quality of education in Lithuania was either “somewhat” or “much improved” since 1992, and half expressed that “their life as an agricultural educator/educator” was either “somewhat” or “much improved.” The overall mean “importance” rating for all workshop topics was 3.69; the overall mean “ability” rating for all topics was 3.28. For the purpose of planning and designing future workshops, stakeholder consensus needs to be reached regarding the “ideal” target audience for APPLE-sponsored agricultural education seminars. Introduction/Theoretical Framework Lithuania is one of the Former Soviet Republics that regained its independence with dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It has often been referred to as one of the “Baltic States,” a group of nations that includes its northern neighbors Latvia and Estonia; it is an East European nation that is slightly larger than the state of West Virginia. Lithuania shares terrestrial borders with Kaliningrad, a Russian oblast to the southwest; with Poland to the south, Belarus to the south and east; and Latvia to the north. The Baltic Sea forms its western border. As a Soviet Republic, Lithuania was a major exporter of agricultural products to other parts of the Soviet Union; these goods were “primarily processed meat, dairy products and fish” (U. S. Department of Commerce, 1998, p. 3). As recently as 1997, the United States Department of State estimated that nine percent of Lithuania’s Gross National Product (GNP) resulted from “Agriculture/forestry” (p. 2). Further, according to the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science (EURYDICE Lithuanian Unit, 1999), for the year 1997 “about 21.7% of the working population was engaged in agriculture” (p. 1). So, agriculture and the natural resource system is a significant part of