A teacher shortage exists across a multiplicity of educational disciplines, including school-based agricultural education. A breadth of research has been conducted on teacher retention within agricultural education, with many studies focusing on agriculture teachers and their experiences with retention or attrition. To extend the scholarship on agriculture teacher retention, we must better understand teacher retention within school, community, and discipline contexts, as agriculture teachers are key components of these communities. Relatedly, the immense number of interconnections within these diverse contexts necessitate a systems-thinking approach. As such, I employed a context-based, system dynamics approach to glean new insights on agriculture teacher retention. Through three interrelated studies, this dissertation employs the theory of margin and landscapes of practice theory to explore teacher workloads, boundary setting, and identity formation. The methodologies employed in these articles vary; the two empirical studies take a qualitative approach, with the latter being conducted via a participatory partnership. The non-empirical, philosophical contribution centers system dynamics modeling, created via researcher experience and a literature review. Taken in combination, these studies reveal interconnections between teachers and their contexts, insights into retaining teachers across career stages, and strategies teachers use to cope with the workload of being effective educators. Collectively, these studies illustrate ways incorporating systems thinking may provide additional insights into the teacher shortage, including seeing the bigger picture, creating models, and providing language for phenomena such as the noble sacrifice mindset. New perspectives on agriculture teacher retention include the importance of context-based research, the impact of community support on teacher workload and identity development, and the teacher-supporter-community interface. These findings contribute to a more holistic perspective of agricultural education and teacher retention. Future directions for research include continued context-based, systemic research, especially within various communities with diverse socio-cultural-historical backgrounds and with teachers who have marginalized identities.
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