Goals for Effective Schools: The View from the Field

This paper reports on findings related to the perceptions held by members of school communities with respect to the tasks and role of effective schools. The data are from a study conducted in Melbourne, Australia in 1990‐91. Findings from this research indicate that members of school communities: principals, teachers, school council members, parents and students believe that the tasks of an effective school are more than those related to the academic program and include the development of citizenship and self concept, personal development and employment skills and a concern for the educational development of all members of the school community.     

The impact of a field immersion program on pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward teaching in culturally diverse classrooms

Understanding of community, and a positive attitude toward cultural diversity are critical components in the preparation of teachers. This study sought to influence both, through on-site coursework and a long-term field placement at a culturally diverse urban elementary school. Participants were predominately single, white females from suburban communities. Questionnaire responses suggest that this immersion program improved the attitudes of these pre-service teachers. Findings support the idea that a targeted field placement, support from peers and teachers, and meaningful coursework facilitates the preparation of culturally responsive teachers—even for those with little or no prior experience in culturally diverse communities.     

Do communities know best?: Testing a premise of educational decentralization: community members' perceptions of their local schools in Ghana

A central premise of the argument for greater decentralization of education in the developing world is that those closest to the school, e.g., community members, have a better understanding of local conditions and are in the best position to make decisions about the educational processes that best serve local needs. This study tested that premise by examining the extent that community members in rural Ghana demonstrated a clear understanding of (a) what school practices were indicative of an effective school and (b) what community members could do to most effectively support their local schools. Results were interpreted with respect to attitude theory, decentralization, and program evaluation. Implications of the findings for the decentralization movement, the professional development of headmasters, and the work of international development organizations are discussed.     

Public purpose and the preparation of teachers for rural schools

Abstract

Rural communities need rural teachers who can “ground” traditional school subjects in local realities and dilemmas and at the same time fashion instructional approaches consonant with larger intellectual, ethical, and social purposes. Such teachers are assets rather than burdens to their communities. Only such teachers can cultivate an ethic of responsibility for the health and vitality of the communities of which they and their students are critical components.

This essay examines the role of the university in professionalizing rural teachers. It contends that narrowly utilitarian ends prevail in teacher education programs, and that, in the absence of a substantive definition of educations public purpose, this instrumentalism creates teachers who are ill‐prepared to contribute in meaningful ways to the intellectual life of the communities in which they work. Teacher preparation programs should abandon the instrumental focus. Programs that prepare rural teachers, in fact, confront unique challenges and opportunities to include three themes at their centers: Sustainability, Social Justice, and Democracy.     

Policy promise and the reality of community involvement in school-based management in Zambia: Can the rural poor hold schools and teachers to account?

Community participation in school management—and in hiring and firing of teachers in particular—has been actively advocated as an effective reform to improve school and teacher accountability in the Global South. This paper examines whether such reform functions in practice as suggested in theory, drawing on the findings of a case study of community schools in rural Zambia. Using the concept of the ‘context of practice’, efforts have been made to understand the local meanings of community participation in school management rather than that of the central government or development partners. Such analysis illuminates the important roles that local economic and cultural capital, complex cultural norms and unexpected micro politics play in shaping the way parents and communities are actually willing and able to participate in school management, and how these issues influence school and teacher accountability. The findings also underscore the difficulty that teachers face when attempting to respond to the local demands, especially in the context of grossly inadequate resources being allocated to them by the state. The paper concludes by arguing, first, that community management of schools in Zambia was an unfunded and unclear policy that shifted financial responsibility to already marginalized rural communities and, second, that direct hiring relationships between parents and teachers will dilute the importance of the political accountability of the state to ensure quality education for all.     

国外乡村学校发展模式研究

特色发展、跨越发展、市场发展、协同合作及社区共建五种模式构成了国外乡村学校发展的基本模式.特色发展模式强调从本国实际出发,从差异性中找特色;跨越发展及市场发展模式就乡村学校发展的资源需求而言,注重将信息技术带入乡村学校建设;协同合作、社区共建模式则从乡村学校之间、乡村学校与社区关系着眼,侧重于为乡村学校发展营造良好环境.乡村学校发展的五种模式在运行机制、执行主体、组织要素及思维方式方面既有差异,也有共性.     

Rural schoolteachers and the pressures of community life: local and cosmopolitan coping strategies in mid-twentieth-century Finland

This article discusses rural schoolteachers’ relationships with local village communities in mid-twentieth-century Finland. At the time, Finnish rural teachers were typically very public figures in their local community. To deal with the pressures of their position, teachers resorted to coping strategies which the authors name ‘local’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ after Robert K. Merton’s well-known categories. The local strategy required that teachers adapt themselves to the social demands of community life, whereas the cosmopolitan strategy was manifested in the teachers’ efforts to distance themselves from the local community, reflecting the increasing professionalisation of Finnish schoolteachers as well as a general social transition in which traditional community ties were gradually replaced by modern individualism.     

School and Community Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing Within Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale Region,and the Dilemmas of Educational Leadership in Gasfield Boomtowns

Innovations associated with gas and oil drilling technology, including new hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques, have recently led to dramatic boomtown development in many rural areas that have endured extended periods of economic decline. The Marcellus Shale play, one of the world's largest gas-bearing shale formations, lies beneath approximately two-thirds of Pennsylvania, including some of the state's most economically lagging rural areas. Spurred by a state-level policy environment favorable to unconventional gas extraction, drilling activity in the last five years has rapidly increased, often with profound social, economic, and environmental implications for communities. In this paper we use schooling as a particular analytic lens for understanding the dynamics of natural resource boomtown development, community change, and how these changes may affect educational and instructional decision making. Using data from interviews and focus groups with educators and administrators in Pennsylvania communities experiencing intensive natural gas development, we discuss the multiple organizational, curricular, and educational dilemmas school leaders face in the context of both rapid, unpredictable community change, and an educational policy environment unfavorable to place-sensitive educational responses to local change.     

Participatory action research in two primary schools in a rural Tanzanian village: an exploration of factors to cultivate changes in teaching and learning

Access to primary and secondary education in Tanzania has drastically expanded in the past two decades. In response to this success, its ministry is now targeting improvements in educational quality through additional reform. Yet teacher absenteeism, physical abuse, overcrowding, lecture-based pedagogy and a system of accountability based primarily on state and district examinations centered on rote memorization impose great obstacles to students being prepared for future employment and further education. This study draws insights into how traditional teaching and learning methods in one rural village in Tanzania can be changed through examining a collaboratively created intensive after-school program that focused on three content areas and used a participatory action research approach centered on cooperative inquiry. The key elements of the participatory action research approach drawn upon were using a participatory model to create a community of co-learners, designing the curriculum collectively, students collecting data in their communities about identified problems, requiring all participants to contribute, student groups disseminating their findings through presentations and an ongoing support system for teacher development in applying a student-centered pedagogy. Students responded through increased school attendance, confidence, self-esteem and active engagement while teachers incorporated participatory methods of instruction in their classrooms. The factors accounting for the consensus of support by villagers and school and government leaders for the program include community and government buy-in, the creation of a community of learners, consistent follow-up support for teachers and reinforcement of expectations.     

CLASSROOMS AND CULTURE: THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN SHAPING MOTIVATION AND IDENTITY FOR SCIENCE LEARNING IN INDIGENOUS ADOLESCENTS

Many rural indigenous communities rely on science knowledge and innovation for survival and economic advancement, which requires community members to be motivated for learning science. Children in these communities have been viewed by some as unmotivated due to their low science achievement as they progress in school, particularly into majority secondary schools. Current theories of motivation, such as achievement goal theory, take classroom context into account when examining individual motivation. However, motivational climate can also be considered as tightly woven with the cultural and social practices of a community rather than individual perception. In this study, researchers spent time in two indigenous villages observing classrooms, participating in community events, and talking with community members. During those visits, Attayal/Sediq children in Taiwan (n?=?18) and Mopan Mayan children in Belize (n?=?18) participated in three semi-structured interviews about their experience learning science in school, home, and community. Results indicate that motivation for learning science is closely linked with their identity as science learners. Three themes emerged to illuminate how social practices may or may not support individual identity, and consequently motivation, for learning science—student/teacher relationships, support for learning, and motivational climate. Differences between children in Taiwan and Belize are explored. Implications for motivation theory, educational practice, and policy are discussed.     

社会治理视域下农村社区教育的发展

农村社区教育是社会治理全面实施的有效载体,也是助推社会治理深入发展的重要内容,在推进基层社会治理转型、增强基层社会发展活力和提高基层社会治理水平等方面意义重大。在社会治理视域下,农村社区教育的理念日趋科学化、主体日趋多元化、方式日趋多样化。为推进农村社区教育发展,需要更新农村社区教育模式,构建农村社区多元主体协同关系,发挥农村社区文化功能。     

Can Rural Community Initiatives Improve Learning Outcomes in Local Primary Schools?

We evaluate the impact of initiatives of a rural community in Bukedea District (Eastern Uganda) aimed at improving learning at their local primary school (School A) between 2016 and 2018. We focus on how these community-driven initiatives influenced enrollment, survival, infrastructure development and academic outcomes (test scores) at the local school. As a natural control, we use a primary school (School B) where such initiatives were non-existent. Using methodologies developed by UWEZO, we also collect and analyze household socio-economic data from both communities to develop possible explanations for the observed outcomes. The approaches, achievements and lessons described in this study may inform efforts to improve learning environments at rural primary schools through community involvement.     

Investigating effective teaching methods for a place-based teacher preparation in a rural community

In this article, I argue for the need to improve teacher preparation (TP) courses for elementary education student teachers to teach English-language arts (ELA). In particular, these TP programs need to support student teachers in delivering culturally responsive pedagogy within rural classrooms. Twenty-three student teachers participated in this research, which was aimed at investigating effective teaching pedagogy both within a place-based TP course and within teaching experiences within a rural border county. The student teachers took a course in literacy methods for 16 weeks, taught ELA in elementary schools using specific methods, and participated in videotaped collaborative reflections. Data collection for the study involved the student teachers’ responses to reflective questions, field notes, and evaluative essays. The findings suggested that providing student teachers with project-based, cooperative, inquiry-based activities, as well as opportunities for collaborative reflection during their university classes provided a learning context for the student teachers that connected ELA instruction to the economic situations of the rural communities. In addition, the findings indicated that the activities prepared the student teachers to develop the skills to relate instruction to people, culture, and social practices of rural the communities, value pupils’ local knowledge and community resources, and learn from diverse perspectives and experiences of their peers.     

Enhancing students’s social and ethical development in schools: An intervention program and its effects

This chapter describes effects on students social and ethical attitudes and behaviors of a comprehensive elementary school program that was implemented in 12 elementary schools in six school districts in the United States over a four-year period, with an additional 12 schools serving as a comparison group. The program as a whole is designed to promote a sense of the school as a community. Data, collected in a baseline year and each of three program years, included classroom observations and student and teacher questionnaires. Data analyses showed variability both within and between schools in teacher changes from baseline to classroom program implementation. Positive effects on students’s sense of community and on several social/ethical variables were found for the five program schools that showed adequate changes in implementation. Structural equations modeling analyses of classroom-level data showed clear support for a model in which program effects on social-ethical outcomes for students were mediated through intervening linkages with program implementation and with the sense of community.     

Reenergizing Small Communities: A Vital Role for Rural Schools

New ways of participating in rural communities and in community development have evolved as the structure of rural communities has changed. In some communities, the impetus to redefine and reenergize is strong while, in others, ways to move forward have yet to be identified (Pomeroy 1997). Rural schools serve a vital role in recreating communities in a highly mobile, industrialized society. According to Lyson (2005, 26), “It is important for policy makers, educational administrators, and local citizens to understand that schools are vital to rural communities.”

This article, which is a follow-up to the author's case study involving a small New Zealand rural school (published in The Educational Forum 2003), examines the vital role schools play in recharging small communities.     

The Importance of Community Knowledge in Learning to Teach: Foregrounding Māori Cultural Knowledge to Support Preservice Teachers' Development of Culturally Responsive Practice

Culturally responsive teaching is an essential component of reframing educator preparation for equity and has particular resonance when working in partnership with indigenous communities. As teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand, we continually seek to enhance our practices to ensure that Māori cultural values, pedagogies, and epistemologies inform all aspects of our teacher education curricula and support Māori educational aspirations. In this article we describe a preservice teacher education program co-constructed with our local Māori community that foregrounds Māori cultural knowledge. We focus particularly on two signature features of the program, a co-constructed framework for teacher growth and development and community-based learning experiences, highlighting the ways that these features engage preservice teachers in learning through Māori epistemological perspectives and pedagogies. We conclude by reflecting on the generative nature of engaging community expertise and knowledge to create contextually meaningful learning experiences for preservice teachers that support their development as culturally responsive teachers.     

农村中小学教师心理压力的社会学探析

对福建省宁德市农村中小学5120名教师心理压力情况的调查表明:教师是一个高压力的职业群体。农村中小学教师承受着升学、工作、经济生活、竞争、社会等方面的压力,从社会学的角度探析农村中小学教师扮演普通社会成员、学校成员、学生社会文化传承者和自身社会化承受者四种不同角色所承担的义务与享有的权利、分析其心理压力产生机制,通过建立合理的评价体系、减轻负担和提高待遇的方式、建立社会环境的支持系统、农村教师自身的努力等方面的措施来缓解农村中小教师心理压力。     

Rural schools,social capital and the Big Society: a theoretical and empirical exposition

The paper commences with a theoretical exposition of the current UK government's policy commitment to the idealised notion of the Big Society and the social capital currency underpinning its formation. The paper positions this debate in relation to the rural and adopts an ethnographically‐informed methodological approach to provide an in‐depth look at two contrasting English rural primary schools and their relationship with their village communities. The empirical investigation seeks to explore the extent to which the potential for building social capital is evidenced in current rural school–community relations within these two locales. The findings reveal a highly differentiated countryside in which any attempt to essentialise the abilities of rural schools to generate social capital in order to build the Big Society should be avoided.     

美国社区教育发展的特点及启示

美国社区教育的政府支持、服务性、多功能性、灵活性、开放性及网络化等发展特点启示我们：我国社区教育的发展需要政府的高度关注和支持,同时社区教育自身在发展过程中要体现服务社区,功能多样;自我调整,适应需求;立足社区,开放办学;依托信息支持,实施网络化等特色,更要关注农村社区教育的发展。