Name
Teaching for Tomorrow: How Global Agriculture Education Shapes Future-Oriented Pedagogy
Date & Time
Tuesday, June 23, 2026, 4:00 PM - 4:15 PM
OP McCubbins
Description

Life in the 21st century is characterized by rapid, continuous change, requiring education systems worldwide to prepare learners to navigate complex, evolving challenges.  In response, international frameworks for future-oriented education have emphasized learner agency, well-being, and the integration of knowledge, values, and action. These ideas are reflected in major initiatives, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Learning Framework, Next Generation Science Standards, and other widely adopted 21st-century skills models that highlight critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and community-connected learning. Future-Oriented Pedagogy (FOP) synthesizes these principles into six guiding dimensions: personalization, collaboration, glocalization, informality, adaptivity, and self-integration. The [NETWORK] developed the [PROGRAM] to support educators across disciplines integrate food security and global agricultural issues into their teaching. The program was conducted in five cohorts, each comprising 20 to 25 educators. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the contribution of [NETWORK] programming to teachers’ development of FOP. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 teachers purposively selected to represent different cohorts and disciplines. Data were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis, with the six FOP principles serving as an analytical lens. Findings indicate that GTAN strongly supported the development of personalization, collaboration, and glocalization. Teachers described shifts toward learner-centered practices emphasizing student agency and meaningful connections between global food security challenges and local agricultural and community contexts. Collaboration expanded beyond classroom interactions to include partnerships with communities, agricultural professionals, and international peers. In contrast, adaptivity and informality were less consistently developed and were often constrained by institutional structures and curriculum demands. Self-integration was mainly reflected in teachers’ professional identity rather than in sustained instructional practice. These findings suggest that [NETWORK] programming focused on agriculture and food security can foster FOP, while also indicating the need for more explicit support of certain FOP dimensions.

Location Name
1105
Full Address
The Mill at Mississippi State University
600 Russell Street
Starkville, MS 39759
United States
Session Type
Oral Presentation
Presentation Topic(s)
Scholarship
Presentation Track(s)
Afternoon
Schedule Block
Block 4
Authors

OP McCubbins, Mississippi State Univ