The relevance and value of increased learner participation in effect change research is increasing in its significance and importance across the education sector, guided by current national governance and the move of local authorities to implement action research models to drive improvement. This paper reports on a study led by primary seven…

This research examines teaching outdoor education in two rural primary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. The aim was to give "voice" to how outdoor education is taught, programmed and understood. Underpinning the research was the question: what factors enable/constrain teachers' ability to implement outdoor education? The findings…

The purpose of this study was to determine how the design and organisation of primary school playground spaces may result in the inclusion or exclusion of some groups of children. Two primary school playgrounds in rural New South Wales, Australia, were selected for this investigation. Data were collected through observations and unstructured…

Pedagogy of the Rural is an approach to capture the complexities of rural space and place by challenging simple understandings of what it means to be a teacher in rural settings. Using Harré's positioning theory, Baudrillard's concepts of simulation and simulacra, and Lefebvre's space and economic geographies to form a composite theory through…

This study investigated the experiences and coping strategies of adolescent girl learners from child-headed families in the Shiselweni region of Swaziland. Forty (40) girls whose ages ranged from 13-18 years were participants in the study and were selected through purposive sampling in five selected rural schools. Data were collected on the…

While the literature on women and educational leadership has been addressed in substantive ways in recent years, the experiences that reflect female Australian educational leaders are rare. This article reports findings from a study of five female Indigenous principals in the Northern Territory utilising biographic narratives and foregrounds their…

This article examines how two primary schools in rural England with overwhelmingly White populations (of students and teachers) dealt with incidents of racist bullying in relation to their race equality policies. The data are drawn from in-depth interviews with parents, head teachers and teachers. The article draws on the work of Foucault to argue…

Little research has examined why student-athletes contribute. "Contribution" can be defined as the actions taken by individuals that benefit their own well-being or that of their family, community, and civil society. The purpose of this study was to examine university student-athletes' motivations to contribute. Interviews were conducted…

This article draws on data from an ethnographic case study that examined how pupils' gendered identities are constructed in one rural secondary school in Scotland. We utilise the work of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler to provide theoretical insight into how and why pupils take up particular gendered positions in school, focusing on the…

This article describes a qualitative study which investigated how teachers made meaning of and responded to diversity in their rural school. While there is a large amount of information regarding how diversity plays out in urban settings and how teachers respond to it [e.g. Dei, G. J. S., I. M. James, L. L. Karumanchery, S. James-Wilson, and J.…

This paper documents the first year of a qualitative case study investigating the experiences of reciprocal learning teams of teachers within a small, rural secondary school. The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers experienced collaborative professional development (PD) and how their experiences contributed to developing the culture…

This paper discussed a qualitative research findings on the case of Malaysian teachers employed their professional local knowledge for enhancing students' thinking skills in classroom practices. In this paper, a teacher's professional local knowledge is viewed as a teacher's professional knowledge and skills developed through the combination of…

A Performance and Development Framework has been introduced by the New South Wales Department of Education, the largest provider of schooling in Australia, during a period of unparalleled reform. Engagement with the Framework is mandatory for all the Department's teachers, and is linked to improving student outcomes through enhanced teacher…

School farms were established in Tasmania in the 1930s following a visit of an Australian eduation official to the United States and the United Kingdom. There are still more than 30 school farm operations functioning in some capacity throughout the state, unlike in the rest of Australia where similar small school farms are not common. In this…

This article examines the effect of Jim Kay's illustrations on the experience of reading "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness. The author compares the responses of six Key Stage Three children (11-14 years old), three of whom were given an illustrated version of the text, and three a non-illustrated version. The children with an illustrated…