Leadership in Rural Schools and Communities: Attracting and Retaining Teachers

• In Event: Rural Education and Teachers

Abstract

This paper will examine the value of effective leadership as key to addressing the vexed issue of staffing rural schools. Data from twenty case studies as part of a three year longitudinal Australian Research Council study informs this work and a review of the current literature on distributed leadership theory and practice drawn from the international field both frames and informs the study in theoretical and practical terms. The case studies illuminate key findings including the need for rural school leaders to form purposeful community partnerships as a feature which appears to contribute significantly to retaining and recruiting staff.

Authors

• Graeme Lock, Edith Cowan University

• Simone Jane White, Monash University

• Bill Green, Charles Sturt University

• Jo-Anne Reid, Charles Sturt University

• Wendy Joan Hastings, Charles Sturt University

• Maxine C. Cooper, University of Ballarat