Purpose: This paper draws on research which began in 2006 with students in a graduate course on rural education. Its purpose was to find out what graduate students saw as current issues of rural education, how that compared to the literature, and what they thought supporting agencies such as government and universities needed to be doing to…

This paper describes a special elementary teacher education program developed at the University of Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). Designed to prepare students for rural teaching positions, this program consists of two years of university level education and two years of practice in a rural community. The educational system in the Province of…

This paper presents the rationale for the development of an elementary teacher training program designed to prepare students to teach in rural areas. The Province of British Columbia (Canada) is a vast geographic region populated by only two and a quarter million people. Most reside in rural communities ranging in population from a few hundred to…

For decades, teachers in British Columbia's rural schools have been expected to be professionally up-to-date but have had limited access to continuing professional education. The rough terrain and great distances between communities have made the provision of continuing professional education expensive and difficult. Their lack of access to…

This paper examines seven variables or issues regarded as central to improving the recruitment, training, and retention of rural teachers, doctors, and other professionals, as well as efforts to overcome related problems in rural Australia and Canada. First, selection practices should identify professionals from rural backgrounds and those with…

In response to requests by two communities in Nunavik (northern Quebec), an Inuit teachers' training program has been offered since 1985 to community school personnel by the Universite du Quebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue. The language used by the students, teachers (or teachers-to-be), and professional resources in the program is Inuktitut. The…

A survey of 121 rural teachers in British Columbia examined their knowledge about and attitudes toward the inclusion of special needs students. In addition, the study examined rural teachers' knowledge of and ability to access resources in the school district and their individual schools. The survey questionnaire consisted of 114 questions related…

This proceedings contains 13 papers on the role of distance education in sustainable community development, particularly in Canada's remote northern communities. Four sections cover theoretical issues such as the meaning of "community" in international distance programs and the influence of students' immediate community on their survival…

Attention to small schools in Manitoba reflects concern for rural development, recognition of cultural pluralism, awareness of benefits of small town living, and a growing scepticism about benefits of consolidation which have led to an appreciation of traditional small school educational practices. The challenge for small school educators is to…

A qualitative study examined the experiences of 10 mostly inexperienced, female teachers working in two isolated Native communities in northern Ontario. Findings focus on teachers' uncertainties about appropriate pedagogical goals, the relationship of teachers to First Nations communities, living in the North, cross-cultural and multicultural…

The article reviews the current status of teacher supply and demand, examines needs that have been identified, and draws implications for teacher education. The focus of the needs assessment is on one province: Saskatchewan. (AH)

The summary report, a condensed version of the final report of the Thai-Alberta Cooperative Assessment Project, is drawn largely from Chapter 8 of the final report and presents the essential nature, scope, and findings of a project involving data from over 5,000 Thai participants (principals, teachers, students, parents and alumni) in a sample of…

Among the 61 papers in this volume (some in French) are the following: "Problems and Pitfalls in a Naturalistic Inquiry into the Relationship between Environmental Remembrance and Life Satisfaction among the Elderly" (Barrick); "Educating the Adult Educator" (Baskett); "Socio-Psychological Factors in Electronic…

This report, written in popular education style and designed to be readable both by adult educators and by the people with whom they work, describes a week-long meeting of the World Assembly of Adult Education. Under the general themes "Where are we?""Where are we going?" and How to do it" the report provides synopses of…

This bulletin is the result of a study made in the Province of Ontario during the fall of 1914. The purpose of the investigation was, more than anything else, to seek some fair basis for comparison of the Schools of Old Ontario--wedged in as it is between New York and Michigan--and the States across the border. Chief attention is to rural life and…