The Costs of Caring: Rural Teachers Navigating the Porous Boundaries Between the Professional and Personal

• In Event: The Nexus of Leading and Teaching in Rural Spaces

Abstract

This presentation reports the findings of a qualitative study that seeks to understand the interplay between rural English teachers’ personal well-being and the unique institutional, sociocultural, and geographic features of rural educational contexts. Drawing upon interview and ethnographic data from wide ranging contexts across Montana, this presentation explains how rural and remote/isolated contexts contributed to a sense of “porous boundaries” between these English teachers’ personal and professional lives and consequently contributed to these teachers’ mental/emotional difficulties, including depression, anxiety, burnout, and often leaving the profession. In addition to sharing these teachers’ stories, this presentation will offer specific implications for supporting in-service rural teachers and preparing future rural teachers.

Authors

• Robert Petrone, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Allison S. Wynhoff Olsen, Montana State University