Early Career Teacher Work Within Rural Schools: You Need an Anchor

• In Event: Rural Education and Teachers

Abstract

Ethnography and hermeneutic phenomenological analysis wwew used in a longitudinal study of early career teacher dispositions for work with underrepresented groups. Survey, participant interview, virtual data, community and school observation, and interviews of school leaders and state education official were used to understand changing participant attitudes and beliefs from time of college graduation through the first year of teaching. Developmental themes in role of self, thinking about students, and school contexts influenced teaching actions and career decisions in multiple ways. Key among influential contextual factors was rural vs. urban location of a school. Research findings were used to develop a documentary showcasing the possibilities and realities of professional life and work in schools of the rural South.

Author

• Carol Marchel, Winthrop University