Examining the Role of Rural Subjectivity in Solving the Perennial Problem of Rural School Staffing

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Recruitment, Development, and Retention of Rural Teachers

Abstract

The latest federal review into rural education has confirmed that rural schools continue to experience difficulty in recruiting staff (Halsey 2018). This finding joins a other research that posit recruitment and retaining of teachers as one of the main problems for schools outside the metropolis. The paper draws on a qualitative research study with eight pre-service teachers at a metropolitan university who elected to complete a rural teaching placement. In the analysis of participants’ comments, there is a strong difference between the aspirations for rural teaching from those with a rural subjectivity as opposed to those from a metropolitan background. Thus, I argue that rural subjectivity or consciousness can be an explanatory variable to solve the problem of school staffing.

Author

• Hernan Cuervo, University of Melbourne