A free response survey was administered to 100 self-identified mid and late career teachers in regional New South Wales to determine why they had chosen to work in a rural location, and identify the positive and negative aspects of their choice. This paper focuses on the 53 survey responses from these mid and late career teachers. A range of…

The history of online learning at the K-12 level is almost as long as its history at the post-secondary level, with the first virtual school programs beginning in the early 1990s. While these opportunities were designed as a way to provide rural students with access to more specialized courses, as opportunities have become organized into virtual…

This ALTC project is a collaborative endeavour between the four public universities involved in teacher education in Western Australia (Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia), focussed on improving the quality of preparation of pre-service teachers for rural, regional and remote…

Hughes (1999) categorised non-work demands such as domestic responsibilities and health of family members (including self) as social contingencies. A literature review on social contingencies, examined from a medical, nursing, and allied health standpoint, revealed that certain factors, especially related to financial matters, impact directly on…

Rural education and its policy agenda has for many decades primarily focussed upon responding to decline to "keep things going; keep things open". While this has been understandable and much has been achieved, it is now opportune--essential?--that rural education and its leaders embrace a new challenge, sustainability, and use it to…

In June 2008, 10 pre-service teachers and 2 teacher educators from Edith Cowan University (ECU) participated in an existing community education program in rural and remote Indigenous communities in central Australia. From an intrepid start with a mountain of overloaded baggage and camping cutlery setting off the scanning machine at the airport,…

In order to sustain the rural education community, access to high quality professional development opportunities must become a priority. Teachers in rural areas face many challenges in order to access professional learning equitable to their city counterparts. In the current climate, the Federal government of Australia is committed to initiatives…

Relationship building in the remote rural settings studied occurred at various levels: professional, school-based, personal, and community-wide. Principals and teachers who understand the importance of relationship building--especially its personal and community-wide facets--who take the initiative in establishing and nurturing relationships and…

In order to improve recruitment of teachers to rural schools, preservice teachers need opportunities to become familiar with rural education contexts, overcome anxieties promoted by negative stereotypes and build confidence in their professional and personal abilities. Traditional approaches involve rural practicums which are not feasible for many…

It is interesting to reflect upon past conversations and to explore their implications for current practice. That is the point of the current paper, which looks back at our progress towards adopting a rural lens to drive policy--to develop initiatives for rural education based upon rural needs, rather than apparent metro-centric political decision…

One of the common characteristics of rural communities globally, and especially those in the developed countries of the world, is the exodus of youth in search of "greener pastures." While this exodus of youth has been happening for centuries and has often been spurred along by fundamental changes in the way societies organise…

This article is essentially written as two linked parts. The first part considers how space, spatiality and history can contribute to understanding and "doing something about" the sustainability of rural communities. This is done by extensive reference to Soja's (1989 & 1996) space and spatial theorising and selective perspectives of…

At Rangelands Australia, a centre in the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management at the University of Queensland, we have recently trialled virtual classroom technology for the delivery of postgraduate support courses. We wanted to explore the capacity of this learning modality to provide collaborative, interactive, synchronous learning…

This article presents descriptive insights into how a national research team located in three Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia), is able to maintain a sustained, cohesive approach to achieving the project's aim. The initial section of the article introduces each team member prior to discussing the importance of…

Attracting and retaining effective education leaders and teaching staff for regional, rural and remote schools in Australia is a major sustainability and quality issue facing every State and Territory. It is also a major concern in pre-service teacher education, particularly for those universities which have a commitment to rural and regional…