Conceptualising diversity in a rural school

Abstract

This article describes a qualitative study which investigated how teachers made meaning of and responded to diversity in their rural school. While there is a large amount of information regarding how diversity plays out in urban settings and how teachers respond to it [e.g. Dei, G. J. S., I. M. James, L. L. Karumanchery, S. James-Wilson, and J. Zine. 2003. Removing the Margins: The Challenges and Possibilities of Inclusive Schooling. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press], little exists regarding rural schools. This is particularly troubling because of the large proportion of students attending rural schools. Data for this study were collected during individual interviews with seven elementary school teachers in a rural school in Ontario, Canada. Participants highlighted a number of categories of difference amongst their student cohort and how the challenges associated with this diversity were compounded by living in a rural area. The perceptions of participants are mirrored in educational policy and literature. Rural areas are expanding in population and diversity, and rural students are experiencing poverty and educational failure at the same levels of many large urban centres [Barlow, D. 2008. “America's Forgotten Schools.” The Education Digest 22 (8): 67–70]. Yet rural schools are being ignored in educational policy, largely based on misconceptions about the nature and value of rural environments.

Keywords:

• rural education
• diversity
• equity
• understanding diversity
• responses to diversity

Notes on contributor

Stephanie Tuters is a Ph.D. candidate at OISE/UT in the Department of Leadership, Higher, and Adult Education; Educational Administration. She does research with the hopes of contributing to the creation of more equitable and inclusive schools (and society).