Effective teaching and learning strategies to enhance knowledge and understanding of sustainable farming amongst Teagasc full-time agricultural students

A major challenge for farmers is to produce safe food in an environmentally sustainable manner. Thus, the agricultural education that farmers receive must reflect this challenge and must appropriately equip and prepare young farmers for their role as custodians of the landscape. In 2018, Teagasc published the ‘Teagasc Education Vision Report’ outlining the future education and training needs of the land sector. This report incorporated the views of key national and international educationalists and stakeholders. Included as one of the goals and recommendations of this report is to ‘Develop learners’ knowledge, skills and competence to meet the changing requirements of the 21st Century land sector occupations. Central to this is embedding sustainable farming knowledge and skillsets in future land sector curricula. The ability to farm sustainably is a key competency in the 21st Century, as the agri-food industry is faced with more environmental challenges than ever before. The aim of this study is to identify teaching and learning strategies that are most likely to; resonate with Teagasc full time agricultural students and advance their thinking, appreciation, and understanding of agri-environmental sustainability. This study employs a mixed methods approach, combining student and teacher surveys, key informative interviews with peer agricultural education institutions and a teacher focus group. The findings support the importance of practical delivery and hands on learning, with college farms playing a pivotal role in demonstrating sustainable farming practices. The findings support a holistic approach, where sustainable farming knowledge is integrated into every module completed by agricultural students, effectively conveying the message that as farmers, they are working with nature not against nature. This study also advances new information in the area of effective teaching and learning strategies to enhance knowledge and understanding of sustainable farming.