Animal Science Experts’ Opinions on the Non-Technical Skills Secondary Agricultural Education Graduates Need for Employment in the Animal Science Industry: A Delphi Study

Abstract

Workers in the 21st century need skills such as problem-solving and analytic, decision-making, organization and time management, risk-taking, and communication (Evers, Rush, & Berdrow, 1998;Lynch, 2000;Robinson, Garton, & Vaughn, 2007) to be employable in the workforce.Lynch (2000)posited "... there is a tremendous demand for educated people with general employability and specialized technical skills..." (p. 4). Therefore, a need exists to determine what types of skill sets are demanded of secondary high school graduates by industry because there is a "general consensus that occupational preparation... should begin sometime in high school" (p. 7).