Documenting the urbanistic policy bias in rural early childhood services: Toward a functional definition of rurality

Abstract

Key Messages Current per capita funding models have an urbanistic policy bias. The concept of rurality is undertheorized for social planning purposes. Four key characteristics define rural service barriers: travel time, travel modalities, jurisdictional divides, and per capita funding models.

Preparing Early Childhood Educators/Interventionists: Scoping Review Insights Into the Characteristics of Rural Practice

“…Rural families struggle to achieve a range of EI/SE/ECE support services. In two prior independent research projects conducted in BC, Canada, we confirmed that families are resourceful but hampered by systemic barriers, such as funding and administrative jurisdictions (Briseño et al, 2013; Vilches, 2009; Vilches et al, 2017). Furthermore, we found a lack of conceptualization of the conditions of rural education/training and work for EI/SE/ECE educators (Vilches et al, 2017), although some characteristics of rural practice have been articulated in other human service fields.…”

“…In two prior independent research projects conducted in BC, Canada, we confirmed that families are resourceful but hampered by systemic barriers, such as funding and administrative jurisdictions (Briseño et al, 2013; Vilches, 2009; Vilches et al, 2017). Furthermore, we found a lack of conceptualization of the conditions of rural education/training and work for EI/SE/ECE educators (Vilches et al, 2017), although some characteristics of rural practice have been articulated in other human service fields. For example, in health care, rural nursing may include the following characteristics: (a) broader scope of practice (MacLeod et al, 2008), (b) a need for interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure health therapies and care conditions can be executed (Boone et al, 1997; Minore & Boone, 2002), (c) a scope of decision-making that may exceed positional responsibility (Lenthall et al, 2009), and (d) the need to help clients negotiate access to distant urban services, such as maternity care (Brown et al, 2011).…”

“…In Step 2, we used previously identified studies or key sources, termed “sentinel” publications, to refine our search strategy and focus more narrowly on EI/SE/ECE practice. We developed key concepts through careful review of these key sources (see Arksey, 2001; Boone et al, 1997; Doherty, 1994; Friendly, 1989; Furlong et al, 2009) and our own earlier community-based research projects of and meta-synthesis on rural EI/SE/ECE practice (Briseño et al, 2013; Vilches, 2009; Vilches et al, 2017). Based on the review of these publications, we refined search terms related to rural EI/practice: rural conditions + ECE/special needs (a term still used in publications) + professional demands on practitioner/educator.…”

“…Our prior empirical research on rural EI (Briseño et al, 2013) and community-based rural outreach (Vilches, 2009) generated three themes reflecting issues facing rural families with children with developmental delay and/or disability. The first issue was the lack of attention to cultural inclusivity, equity, and social justice, inconsistent with professional ethical goals of inclusion (Vilches et al, 2017). For example, this theme is reflected in rural Indigenous communities in Canada’s efforts to address administrative barriers to equitable child and family support that can assist to overcome legacies of colonial trauma (Bennett & Shangreaux, 2005) and in the United States, support growing rural Latinx immigrant population (Lichter, 2012).…”

“…For example, this theme is reflected in rural Indigenous communities in Canada’s efforts to address administrative barriers to equitable child and family support that can assist to overcome legacies of colonial trauma (Bennett & Shangreaux, 2005) and in the United States, support growing rural Latinx immigrant population (Lichter, 2012). The second theme of the meta-synthesis was the discovery of the complexity of travel for families with children with developmental delay or disability when they had to change transportation mode (e.g., car to plane to taxi; ferry to bus; snow machine to train), suggesting the need to define “rural” in more ways than merely low population density (Vilches et al, 2017). The third theme was the role of EI/SE/ECE educators who serve as navigators for rural residents amid jurisdictional complexity (Vilches et al, 2017).…”