![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
Abstract
Far from being the harmonious and homogenous communities of popular imagination, rural communities often are characterised by stark differences in class-situated values over education philosophy and financing. These differences can produce contentious political environments, vastly complexifying local decision-making, including school district policy-making, budgeting, and teacher contract negotiations. Through an exemplar case study, we examine one such conflict and how a hegemonic narrative was constructed by local actors to consolidate political power using crafted constructions of ‘other’ and competing narratives of community and community membership. This paper explores ‘insider–outsider’ identity constructions arising out of community–school conflict, and the ways in which rural teachers, working from the position of ‘outsider', navigated these constructions.
Notes on contributors
Erin McHenry-Sorber is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Human Services at West Virginia University. She serves as Co-Editor of the Pennsylvania Educational Leadership Journal. Erin's research interests include rural school–community relations, local educational politics, and the influence of external forces on the work of rural schools. She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Pennsylvania State University and an MEd from Harvard University in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy. She is a former middle school teacher.
Kai A. Schafft is an Associate Professor of Education at Penn State University where he edits the Journal of Research in Rural Education. His work broadly examines rural development and the relationship between the well-being of rural schools and communities.
Notes
1 Pseudonyms have been given to all people and place names.