Skip to main content

Social Justice in Rural Schooling

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Understanding Social Justice in Rural Education

Abstract

This chapter focuses on how rural school participants (students, teachers, principals, and parents) understand social justice in relation to their experiences in the present institutionalized time and space of schooling. Through their explanations of the challenges and opportunities, they illustrate how socially just schooling really is in rural places, and what kind of processes and outcomes schools are creating and perpetuating in a particular time and space. The aim of the chapter is to analyze the quality of education provided in rural schools and how socially just participants believe it is. The first part of the chapter looks at students’ discourses, beliefs, and experiences, while the second examines teachers, parents, and principals’ views. Participants’ comments and experiences reveal a strong presence of the idea of equality as a descriptor of social justice in the institutionalized time and space of rural schooling.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Australian Education Union, Victoria Branch (AEU). (2007a). 2007 state of our schools. Melbourne: AEU, Victoria Branch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayers, W. (2000). Thinking about teaching and learning, equity and the fight for small schools. In W. Ayers, M. Klonsky, & G. Lyon (Eds.), A simple justice: The challenge of small schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. (2003). The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. (2006). Education policy and social class: The selected works of Stephen Ball. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. (2008). The education debate. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1998). Practical reason: On the theory of action. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. (1977). Reproduction in education, society and culture. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boylan, C., & Wallace, A. (2007). Reawaken education policy and practice in rural Australia. In Collaboration for success in rural and remote education and training, conference proceedings of the 23rd national rural education conference. Perth: Society for the Provision of Rural Education in Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, M. (2005). Putting rurality on the educational agenda: Work towards a theoretical framework. Education in Rural Australia, 15(2), 11–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brett, J. (2011). Fair share: Country and city in Australia. Quarterly Essay, 42, 1–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brighouse, H. (2010). Education equality and school reform. In H. Brighouse, K. Howe, & J. Tooley (Eds.), Educational equality (pp. 15–70). London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casal, P. (2007). Why sufficiency is not enough. Ethics, 117(2), 296–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, M. (2013). Terror/enjoyment: Performativity, resistance and the teacher’s psyche. London Review of Education, 20(3), 229–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. (1993a). Schools and social justice. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbett, M. (2007). Learning to leave: The irony of schooling in a coastal community. Black Point: Fernwood Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbett, M. (2013). Improvisation as a curricular metaphor: Imagining education for a rural creative class. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 28(10), 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crump, S., & Twyford, K. (2010). Opening their eyes: E-Learning for rural and isolated communities in Australia. In K. Schafft & A. Y. Jackson (Eds.), Rural education for the twenty-first century: Identity, place, and community in a globalizing world. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuervo, H. (2011). Young people in rural communities: Challenges and opportunities in constructing a future. In J. Wyn, R. Holdsworth, & S. Beadle (Eds.), For we are young and …: Young people in a time of uncertainty (pp. 126–141). Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuervo, H., & Wyn, J. (2012). Young people making it work: Continuity and change in rural places. Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuervo, H., & Wyn, J. (2014). Reflections on the use of spatial and relational metaphors in youth studies. Journal of Youth Studies, 17(7), 901–915.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins, J. (1988). Strengthening Australia’s schools: A consideration of the focus and content of schooling. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (1997). Justice interruptus: Critical reflections on the ‘postsocialist’ condition. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Futernick, K. (2007). A possible dream: Retaining California teachers so all students learn. Sacramento: California State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gale, T., & Densmore, K. (2000). Just schooling: Explorations in the cultural politics of teaching. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gewirtz, S. (2002). The managerial school: Post-welfarism and social justice in education. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorur, R. (2013). My school, my market. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 214–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (1993). Class relations, social justice and the politics of difference. Place and the Politics of Identity, 2(1), 41–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haynes, B. (2002). Australian education policy: An introduction to critical thinking for teachers and parents. Katoomba: Social Science Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). (2000a). Emerging themes: National inquiry into rural and remote education. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). (2000b). ‘Recommendations’ national inquiry into rural and remote education. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasso, G. (1980). A new theory of distributive justice. American Sociological Review, 45, 3–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, B., Redley, M., & James, S. (1994). Putting the family first: Identities, decisions, citizenship. London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kardos, S., & Johnson, S. M. (2007). On their own and presumed expert: New teachers’ experience with their colleagues. Teachers College Record, 109(9), 2083–2106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macleod, C. (2010). Justice, educational equality, and sufficiency. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 36, 151–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. (1994). Space, place and gender. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClure, C., Redfield, D., & Hammer, P. (2003). Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers in rural areas. Charleston: Appalachia Educational Laboratory.

    Google Scholar 

  • McInerney, P. (2007). From naive optimism to robust hope: Sustaining a commitment to social justice in schools and teacher education in neoliberal times. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(3), 257–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, J., & Yates, L. (2006). Making modern lives: Subjectivity, schooling and social change. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. (1992). Distributive justice: What the people think. Ethics, 102, 555–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. (1999). Principles of social justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C. (2015). Implications of the My School website for disadvantaged communities: A Bourdieuian analysis. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(2), 146–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C., & Gale, T. (2010). Schooling in disadvantaged communities: Playing the game from the back of the field. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N. (2012). Philosophy of education (3rd ed.). Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizvi, F. (2013). Equity and marketisation: A brief commentary. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 274–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalizing education policy. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satz, D. (2007). Equality, adequacy, and education for citizenship. Ethics, 117(4), 623–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Squires, D. (2003). Responding to isolation and education disadvantage. Education in Rural Australia, 13(1), 24–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, P. (2002). Schooling the rustbelt kids: Making the difference in changing times. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrupp, M. (2006). Professional standards for teachers and teacher education: Avoiding the pitfalls. Wellington: New Zealand post Primary Teachers’ Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walzer, M. (1983). Spheres of justice: A defence of pluralism and equality. Oxford: Martin Robertson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welch, A. (2007). The city and the bush. In R. Connell, C. Campbell, M. Vickers, A. Welch, D. Foley, & N. Bagnall (Eds.), Education, change and society (pp. 70–93). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, S., Green, B., Reid, J., Lock, G., Hastings, W., & Cooper, M. (2008). Teacher education for rural communities: A focus on ‘incentives’. Sunshine Coast: Australian Teachers Education Association (ATEA) Conference.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyn, J. (2009). Touching the future: Building skills for life and work. Camberwell: ACER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, I. M. (1990). Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, I. M. (2000). Inclusion and democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, I. M. (2001). Equality of whom? Social groups and judgements of injustice. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 9(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, I. M. (2006a). Education in the context of structural injustice: A symposium response. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 38(1), 93–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Cuervo, H. (2016). Social Justice in Rural Schooling. In: Understanding Social Justice in Rural Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50515-6_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50515-6_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-50514-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50515-6

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics