Arts , Humanities & Social Science

Abstract

Staffing rural and remote (RR) schools in Australia is an ongoing issue. Universities and schools need to investigate preparing preservice teachers for teaching in such contexts. The aim of this research is to describe preservice teachers’ perspectives of their readiness for teaching in RR schools within four constructs, namely: self, classroom, school, and community. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were undertaken to investigate preservice teachers’ (n=6) experiences for teaching in RR contexts within these constructs as a result of their in-school experience. Findings indicated that despite little holistic induction processes, these preservice teachers reported they were supported to varying degrees across the constructs. Five of the six participants had a sense of belonging and connectedness (self), all were provided with pedagogical support, in particular behaviour management (classroom), most had understandings about systems and procedures (school), and there were general understandings about the communities’ roles in school settings (community). The four constructs present a model with a potential lens for structuring teacher readiness for teaching in RR schools with self (e.g., wellbeing, self-efficacy, psychological state) at the centre. Developing university-school programs that target the four constructs may help to advance preservice teacher readiness for teaching in RR schools towards addressing teacher shortages.