What matters for rural teachers and communities? Educational challenges in rural Turkey

Abstract

This research aims to unearth the educational challenges experienced by teachers and communities in rural Turkey. The research employs Nancy Fraser’s three dimensional justice approach – distribution, recognition and participation – to frame these challenges and to argue that rural challenges go beyond economic rationalities and concerns of infrastructure and resources. The study draws its data from 29 in-depth interviews with 20 teachers working in 16 different villages; 9 interviews with community members; and 2 focus group interviews, 1 with rural dwelling women and the other with rural dwelling men. The findings point out four significant difficulties that impede community and educational development: scarcity of resources; insufficient understanding of social, cultural and economic contexts that constrain educational attempts; lack of collaboration between teacher and communities; and irrelevant education. The study concludes by scrutinising how these difficulties interact with one another and result in marginalisation or casting out of rural lives.

Keywords:

• Rural education
• Nancy Fraser
• Turkey
• rural community
• rural teacher

Acknowledgement

Comments and feedback by Melanie Walker and PhD researchers at Centre for Research on Higher Education and Human Development, University of Free State greatly helped to improve this manuscript. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for suggestions.