"Self-studies in Rural Teacher Education provides audiences with an engaging, international perspective into the use of self-study in research and practice in rural settings. Researchers will find the volume useful in its description of the current state of self-studies in educational practice; the citations in each chapter offer a wealth of resources. Teacher educators will find the book useful for the case studies of teaching in rural settings; the descriptions provide discussion points for classes engaged in teacher education." (Casey Thomas Jakubowski, Journal of Research in Rural Education, Vol. 31 (1), 2016)
1. Introduction. Bernadette Walker-Gibbs and Ann K. Schulte.- Part 1Rediscovering Rural Identities.- 2. Looking for My Rural Identity, Finding Community and Place. Ann K. Schulte.- 3. A Road Less Travelled: Becoming a Rural Teacher Educator. Simone White.- 4. Notions of Place, Space and Identity in Rural Teacher Education. Bernadette Walker-Gibbs.- 5. Getting Some ‘Good’ Teachers in the Bush. Gaelene Hope-Rowe.- Part 2Notions of Rural as Heaven or Hell.- 6. Unpacking Multiple Realities of Rural School Politics. Nathan D. Brubaker.- 7. ‘Knowing the rules of the game’: Rural Sporting Biographies and Their Influence on Physical Education Pedagogy. Amanda Mooney and Chris Hickey.- Part 3Impact of International Identities on Understandings of Rural Places.- 8. Reading Lefebvre From Here: Thinking Globally about the Rural. Michael Corbett.- 9. “Becoming” Teacher Education Researchers in Diverse Rural Communities. Jodie Kline and Sri Soejatminah.- 10. Dry Stone Walls, Black Stumps and the Mobilisation of Professional Learning: Rural Places and Spaces and Teachers’ Self-Study Strategies in Ireland and Australia. Máirín Kenny, R. E. (Bobby) Harreveld and P. A. (Patrick) Danaher.
The purpose of this book is to highlight the work of teacher educators in the field of rural education. In this book, education faculty who work in teacher education study the ways in which one’s identity impacts one’s teaching and the partnerships with rural schools. Although the field of research on teacher preparation has an abundance of studies on preparing students for the challenges of urban settings, there is much less emphasis on rural education, despite the prevalence of rural schools. This book problematises notions of rural or rurality which is often considered via a deficit or a generalised model where a stereotype of one kind of rural is outlined. Developing more multi-faceted understandings of rurality is a key to attracting and retaining teachers who understand the complexities and opportunities of living and working in rural spaces.