PiE 2012 Volume 30 Issue 1

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http://hdl.handle.net/11660/2648

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Browsing PiE 2012 Volume 30 Issue 1 by Subject "Agency"

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    Rurality and resilience in education: place-based partnerships and agency to moderate time and space constraints
    (Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2012) Ebersöhn, Liesel; Ferreira, Ronél
    In an ongoing longitudinal intervention study (STAR)1 we found that, although similarities existed in the way teachers promoted resilience, rural schools (in comparison to other STAR case schools) took longer to implement strategies to buoy support and found it difficult to sustain such support. Using rurality we wanted to understand how forces, agencies and resources act, move, pull and push when adversity and resilience are centred in a discussion. Similarities in promoting resilience included prioritised needs requiring support and resource use through relationships. Time, space and place were relevant as forces hampering resilience initiatives. We argue that, by means of relationships, teachers prioritised needs and were aware of available resources. As a result, place and agency (as rurality variables) were reconfigured. Consequently, resilience was positively effected as the changed place-patterns and agency were significant for teachers to negotiate ongoing challenges of time, space and resource.
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    Rurality research and rural education: exploratory and explanatory power
    (Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2012) Balfour, Robert J.
    This article presents analysed data from the first year of the Rural Teacher Education Project (RTEP 2007–2009) with a view to illustrating how a generative theory of rurality as education research was developed, and for which ends it might be utilised. The article suggests that data from projects in rural communities, which take the rural as context, need to interrogate the role and purpose of education in such contexts in relation to notions of social and professional identity. I argue for the application of a social theory in which the rural is linked to the possibilities of identity and interaction in terms of the quality of teacher education and the quality of education in rural communities. The theory accounts for the ability of people (in this case teachers) to sustain themselves in space and time – both as subjects and agents able to resist or transform the environment, depending on resources available. It also illuminates the reality, or otherwise, of subjectivities and perceptions in our collective imaginary concerning education and the transformation project in South Africa.