Preparing Pre-Service Teachers for Rural Schools

Abstract

Preparing pre-service teachers for rural schools has been a challenge in the field of education for more than a century, and issues specific to the rural teacher workforce remain a persistent and salient challenge in the United States and globally. This task is complex and multifaceted, conflated with a wide range of contextual variations in salaries, community amenities, geographic or professional distances, technology access, health disparities, and poverty rates. Additionally, institutions of higher education have wavered in their interest in and commitment to rural teacher education, though there is a growing awareness of the need to attend to the experiences of students in rural communities and the educators who teach them. The literature and research on rural teacher preparation has typically been organized around the three challenges of preparation (post-secondary education), recruitment (youth aspirations to teach, would-be career changers interested in teaching, and division-level efforts to staff schools with effective teachers), and retention (providing pre-service and new teachers with learning experiences and support that increase the likelihood of remaining in the profession in rural schools). Literature on rural teacher preparation and evidence related to “preparation, recruitment, and retention” can be repositioned to offer new insights focused on solutions. Three focus areas—Curriculum, Context, and Conveyance—serve to answer the question: What makes a teacher preparation program rural? Curriculum serves as a core component for preparing rural teachers. A rural curriculum for a teacher education program includes introducing students to content and experiences, including field experiences, that have been designed to support their professional and personal success in rural schools and communities. Context is understanding the strengths and assets of the rural places, communities, and cultures in which pre-service teachers are preparing to live, learn, and teach. Context allows us to consider the unique environments in which rural teachers live and work. Conveyance is the means by which potential teachers have access to teacher preparation programs, that is, how programs are delivered and structured to provide access to potential teachers in rural communities (online, in person, alternative and traditional programs, etc.). A focus on Curriculum, Context, and Conveyance allows school leaders and education researchers to resist deficit ideologies and to consider how rural communities are asset-rich environments, ultimately increasing resources that prepare teachers for, and build from the strengths of, rural communities.

Context and Content in Rural Gifted Education: A Literature Review

“…In an article examining pre-service teacher preparation for rural teaching, Azano, Downey, and Brenner (2019) note, “Definitions of rural shape perceptions of the literature about preparing teachers for rural education” (p. 6). Clearly, rural definitions carry weight in policy making, resource distribution, public perceptions, and education research.…”

“…Clearly, rural definitions carry weight in policy making, resource distribution, public perceptions, and education research. When rural is depicted as other, viewed as the “periphery of urban” and framed through deficit language in which the struggles of ruralities are emphasized rather than the rewards of “resource-rich” rural, it becomes evident that ruralities are systemically sidelined; thus, creating “opportunity gaps for rural students” (Azano et al, 2019, p. 7).…”

“…Deconstructing the power and privilege of hierarchical, imposed standards-based curricula through place-based initiatives allows for empowerment and sustainability of rural communities. As a counter to the perpetuation of standards-based curricula, rural researchers (Azano, 2011; Azano et al, 2019; Gruenewald, 2003) support place-based curricula in rural education. Gruenewald (2003) affirmed, “A critical pedagogy of place aims to contribute to the production of educational discourses and practices that explicitly examine the place-specific nexus between environment, culture, and education” (p. 10).…”

Teacher Staffing Challenges in California: Examining the Uniqueness of Rural School Districts

“…This research commonly ignores, or mentions only in passing, the unique labor market challenges inherent in rural school systems. 3 Rural teacher labor markets have long been identified as an important area for research (Arnold et al, 2005;Harmon et al 2003; Programs for the Improvement of Practice, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1991;Stephens, 1985); there is some research evidence that rural schools have for decades faced particular challenges in adequately staffing classrooms (Azano et al, 2019;Biddle & Azano, 2016). Yet our understanding of rural school teacher labor markets is limited, which has led some to suggest that "to understand how appropriate and effective these or other [recruitment and retention] policies may prove to be, we must first develop a fuller understanding of the workings of rural teacher labor markets" (Miller, 2012a, p. 1).…”

Take Care When Cutting

“…The Urban-Centric codes can facilitate defensible decisions for analyzing school data based on place (Greenough & Nelson, 2015). Our applications of the Urban-Centric codes recognized rurality as a facet of community identity (Schafft & Jackson, 2010) and reflect a desire to interrupt nonrural/rural and center/periphery dichotomies that blur rural-remote distinctions, shrouding rural and remote places in deficit-based language (Azano et al, 2017(Azano et al, , 2019Kettler et al, 2016;Shils, 1961). Instead, we have treated "remote" as a function of proximity from urban spaces.…”