Questionable Practices? Relying on Individual Teacher Resilience in Remote Schools

Abstract

Early career teachers eager to find employment are often encouraged by employers to accept positions in remote locations which are traditionally difficult to staff. This paper reports research that examined a case study of a graduate teacher employed in a remote school. Drawing on resilience theory, we challenge the profession to consider whether in fact employers are relying on the personal resilience of early career teachers to cope with the rigors of teaching in remote schools and are remiss for not providing adequate support at school and system levels.

Exploring Queensland secondary teacher induction training undertaken prior to working with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

“…The Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia indicates the five classes of remoteness (major cities, inner regional, outer regional, remote and very remote) derived from measures of road distance between populated localities and service areas (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). In the remote and very remote areas of Australia, there are recurrent challenges associated with attracting and retaining qualified teaching staff, including accommodation, personal and social isolation, lack of access to services, and minimal professional development opportunities (Benveniste, 2018;Hall, 2013;Lock et al, 2012;Maher, 2013;Sullivan & Johnson, 2012;Young et al, 2018). This is unsurprising, as, for an example, very remote Queensland schools in Cape York may be over 2,000 kilometres from the major city centre, Brisbane.…”