You Were Consulted: Small School Closure Politics and Networks of Decision

• In Event: 32.074 - Complex Politics in Rural School and Community Relationships

Abstract

This paper presents results from a three-year study of rural school closure decision-making in an Atlantic Canadian province. Using Actor Network Theory we investigate the way that community activists and educational bureaucrats differently imagine the material presence of the school. Each assumes a worldview that positions the school as a different kind of entity. In the case of bureaucrats, the school is a machine for achieving educational outcomes and providing efficiency and equity across a school board jurisdiction. In contrast, community activists see school as the “heart” of community. This study illustrates the complexity of political dialogue and the need for new ways of thinking about genuine consultation and democratic decision making in educational governance in rural locations.

Authors

• Jennifer Renee Tinkham, University of Saskatchewan

• Michael J. Corbett, University of Tasmania