Engaging rurality in Australian education research: addressing the field

Abstract

In this paper, we examine engagement with ‘the rural context’ in Australian education research, focussing on the implications of the signifier ‘rural’—in terms of its inclusion or absence. A review of Australian research literature in rural education indicates that the term ‘rural’ and its synonyms are more often used to denote assumptions of a generalised and predetermined ‘context’ for research than to think about its meaning. We present our findings here and discuss the implications of the signifier ‘rural’ in the Australian research literature to argue that while educational policy-makers must attempt to think differently about the 'problem of the rural’, the field itself also needs to more fully develop the capacity to do this.

The Perennials and Trends of Rural Education

“…Other reviews focus on specific issues such as rural teacher education (e.g., Reagan et al, 2019) or pedagogy (Petrone & Olsen, 2021). Embedded within these perspectives is an understanding that rural is difficult to define and is not a simple binary alternative to metropolitan (Roberts et al, 2022). Many of the issues raised by these international analyses of rural education overlap with the issues that are uncovered in this article.…”

The spatial implications of academic achievement in Year 12: Rethinking discourses of disadvantage in rural locations

“…Emerging research is extending these perspectives specifically to notions of rural knowledges (Roberts, 2021), forms of knowledge that are ‘…grounded in an understanding of rural life worlds as opposed to meanings rooted in a more metropolitan-cosmopolitan worldview’ (Downes & Roberts, 2015, p. 81). In this context, we argue that knowledge itself is continually produced and reproduced in and through places and spaces, where the rural is seen as a social and cultural phenomenon rather than a generalized and static category (Roberts et al, 2022). These ideas are proposed as a beginning-point in exploring implications for spatial-epistemic justice for rural spaces in which we seek to establish if a distinct pattern exists.…”