Regenerating rural social space? : teacher education for rural-regional sustainability

The complex interconnection among issues affecting rural-regional sustainability requires an equally complex program of research to ensure the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers for rural children. The educational effects of the construction of the rural within a deficit discourse are highlighted. A concept of rural social space is modelled, bringing together social, economic and environmental dimensions of (rural-regional) sustainability. This article outlines and introduces the conceptual framework the TERRAnova project. The aim of this project is to describe and theorise successful teacher education strategies (both pre- and in-service) that appear to assist in making rural teaching an attractive, long-term career option for Australian teachers. The framework combines quantitative definitional processes with more situated definitions of rural space based on demographic and other social data, across both geographic and cultural formations. The implications of the model are examined in terms of its importance for teacher education. While the work of TERRAnova is to formulate and renew the knowledge base upon which systems and (pre-service) teacher education ground preparation for teaching in rural schools, student teachers who have completed the authors' survey to date and who have volunteered to talk with us about their experiences in rural schools overwhelmingly share a commitment to the intergenerational aspects of sustainability. [Author abstract, ed]