The private problem with public service: rural teachers in educational markets

Staffing rural and remote schools is an important policy issue for the public good. This paper examines the private issues it also poses for teachers with families working in these communities, as they seek to reconcile careers with educational choices for children. The paper first considers histori...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of educational administration and history 2015-04, Vol.47 (2), p.117-139
Main Authors: Lassig, Carly, Doherty, Catherine Ann, Moore, Keith
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Commercialization
Community Relations
dilemma
Educational Policy
Employment Opportunities
Foreign Countries
Interviews
Knowledge
Middle Class
Mobility
Neoliberalism
Parents
Rural Areas
Rural Education
Rural Schools
rural staffing
School Choice
Teacher Recruitment
Teachers
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Summary:Staffing rural and remote schools is an important policy issue for the public good. This paper examines the private issues it also poses for teachers with families working in these communities, as they seek to reconcile careers with educational choices for children. The paper first considers historical responses to staffing rural and remote schools in Australia, and the emergence of neoliberal policy encouraging marketisation of the education sector. We report on interviews about considerations motivating household mobility with 11 teachers across regional, rural and remote communities in Queensland. Like other middle-class parents, these teachers prioritised their children's educational opportunities over career opportunities. The analysis demonstrates how teachers in rural and remote communities constitute a special group of educational consumers with insider knowledge and unique dilemmas around school choice. Their heightened anxieties around school choice under neoliberal policy are shown to contribute to the public issue of staffing rural and remote schools.
ISSN:0022-0620
1478-7431
DOI:10.1080/00220620.2015.996863