Conference Agenda

The research field of place-based education disadvantage is in need of more theoretical discussions (Corbett 2015). There is complexity in ‘place’ as a limiting factor in schools’ access to resources. Places can appear similar, for example coastal areas, but the experiences of the communities that live there, and the schools that serve them, can vary by country. For example, coastal towns in England have predominantly high levels of socioeconomic deprivation, with little large scale or permanent employment and declining transport networks (House of Lords 2019), which makes recruiting and retaining teachers in these areas even more challenging than in urban areas in England in their communities (Ovenden-Hope and Passy 2022). Yet coastal areas in Australia have been urbanized, with increases in large employers and community affluence, which has resulted in the schools there experiencing growth in student numbers and teachers (Anderson et al. 2007). Therefore understanding place in relation to social justice for a more inclusive education system requires a more granular approach, one that looks within a country and fully appreciates the nuance of the schools’ specific place.

This symposium explores the place-based inequities of schools in three countries - the United States, Norway and England - and offers possibilities for mitigating limitations identified for a more inclusive education system. Paper One offers a research-based approach used in Montana’s rural schools and communities that elevated local knowledge to contribute to cross-community connections (Azano et al. 2021). Paper Two explores why the core values of the Nordic education system of equality, inclusion and all-embracing social community (Lundahl 2016) are not extended to curriculum in Northern rural Norwegian schools, which is argued to be metorcentric by overlooking the cultural, spatial and contextual differences experienced in rural schools. Paper Three examines how the concept of ‘educational isolation’ (Ovenden-Hope and Passy 2019) was used by a large Multi Academy Trust in the South West of England to mitigate the challenges of place experienced by its 19 schools. Paper Four presents a new way of identifying’ educationally isolated schools’ through a multi-dimensional model designed to identify the key limitations for equity of a schools place and will support policy makers in targeting resources to schools in low-density populated areas (Ovenden-Hope, Passy and Iglehart 2022). These critical discussions will open the ‘Invisible Fences’ (Gullestad 2002) that impede social justice, creating recognition of place as a potential barrier for an inclusive education system internationally.

In a time of fraying community and interpersonal relationships, rural school and community leaders are in search of research-based approaches to help build connections and sustain relationships among their students and community members. This paper describes the process of how, during the height of the pandemic, rural leaders from a community museum and local school came together to use local history and knowledge to design a museum exhibit and a K-12 curriculum about the pandemic and vaccines. We describe the process by which the museum exhibit titled, “Shots Felt Round the World: Dr. Maurice Hilleman and the Montana Origins of the Fight Against Pandemics” was developed to communicate the impact of pandemic diseases and vaccines on rural and indigenous communities across Montana. We explain the ways in which the exhibition utilized a place-conscious approach (Azano et al., 2021) to invite visitors to view the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine development through local histories of infectious disease and healthcare. The paper also describes how the K-12 curriculum titled, “Hilleman: Connecting Culture to Scientific Curiosity” was created in tandem with the exhibition by the museum’s Teacher Advisory Council (consisting of local Science, Math and Elementary teachers), to introduce students to the life of Dr. Maurice Hilleman, a Montanan who grew up on a ranch outside Miles City and became one of the greatest vaccinologists of all time (Tulchinsky, 2018). The K-6 and 9-12 lessons were designed to connect students to local history and knowledge and promote student learning through the integration of math, science, history, and critical thinking. In every aspect of this project, the human experience was emphasized as the issues of pandemic disease, inequality, scientific discovery, and technological innovation were addressed. While the subject of vaccines is politically charged, the emphasis on local history and knowledge allowed both museum and K-12 audiences to find common ground and learn about the subject through a local lens. This paper brings together findings from two recent studies documenting the process and impact on students and community members and describes how these efforts are serving to strengthen rural school and community school connections. The paper concludes with recommendations for how other rural schools and communities can use local knowledge to contribute to cross-community connections and vitality.

Azano, A., Brenner, D., Downey, J., Eppley, K., & Schulte, A. (2021). Teaching in rural places: Thriving in classrooms, schools, and communities. Routledge. Tulchinsky T. (2018). Maurice Hilleman: Creator of vaccines that changed the world. In T. Tulchinsky (Ed). Case studies in public health. Elsevier Press.

The northern most region of Norway is rural and characterized by high out-migration, lower educational level, higher degrees of drop-outs from secondary education than other regions in Norway. Limited educational provision makes it necessary for many young people in rural areas to leave home to take on secondary education. Large geographical distances make it difficult to commute on daily basis (Paulgaard 2017). Historically, this area has been the most culturally diverse, domiciled of the Saami Indigenous people and the national minority Kven, and Norwegian ethnic group. This artic region is characterized by the encounter of the three ethnicities, traditional industries as fishing, farming, and herding, combined with modern industry and high knowledge enterprises. Even though this is a rural and low populated area, this artic region has, as the rest of Norway, a relatively strong economy and the people enjoy a well-developed welfare service. Despite this multiethnic and geographically diverse society and Nordic education values and policies of equality and inclusion community (Lundahl, 2016), the schools are still struggling with the old unit-oriented curriculum, ignoring the diversity among the pupils in an education system that appears foreign. In this paper we focus on how the metrocentric norms and goals of the curriculum leave out cultural, spatial and contextual differences disguised as ‘equity’ (Lødding & Paulgaard, 2019). When norms for rapid completion of education are applied as universal oriented career paths, the existence of diversity can be overlooked and devalued. In order to create social justice for a diverse variety of rural youth, knowledges and career paths, critical discussions of values in education models and curriculum is important to discover and open up “Invisible Fences” (Gullestad 2002). We reflect on our own experiences as educational scientists in this rural context to offer a global consideration of what we can learn from each other to make meaningful, practical improvements of rural education and communities.

Gullestad, M (2002). Invisible Fences: Egalitarianism, Nationalism and Racism. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 8(1) 45-63. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.00098 Lundahl, L. (2016). Equality, Inclusion and Marketization of Nordic Education: Introductory Notes. Recearch in Comparative & International Education, 11(1), 3-12. https://doi:10.1177/1745499916631059 Lødding, B. & Paulgaard G. (2019). Spørsmål om tid og sted: Mulighetsrom og kvalifiseringsbaner blant ungdom utenfor videregående utdanning i Finnmark. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE), Vol. 3(3), 75-90 http://doi.org./10.7577/njcie/3273 Paulgaard, G. (2017). Geographies of inequalities in an area of opportunities: Ambiguous experiences among young men in the Norwegian High North. Geographical Research, 55(1), 38-46.

Pupils in low density populated areas with high levels of disadvantage have lower attainment than similarly disadvantaged pupils in high density population areas in England. A schools ‘place’ can therefore disadvantage pupils and remove equity from the education system. The researchers conceptualised ‘Educational Isolation’ to demonstrate a ‘school experiencing limited access to resources for school improvement, resulting from challenges of school location’ (Ovenden-Hope and Passy 2019: 5). This concept was adopted by a newly formed Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) in the South West of England with 19 schools and used to create a school support structure – a ‘hub school’ model. MATs are independent charities that are funded by the government to run more than one state funded academy school (any school age range). This three year qualitative research project (2019 – 2022) explored how the MAT formed in 2019 and located in a rural and coastal part of the South-West of England met its aim for the hub school model to mitigate geographical remoteness between schools, the impact of socioeconomic deprivation in the schools’ communities on pupils and cultural isolation. The ‘hub school’ model created smaller, supportive, localised school improvement communities by allocating each to school to one of four ‘hubs’ (four or five schools in each hub) that were geographically closely located. The hub school model was intended to facilitate short travel times between schools for meeting attendance, support and CPD; develop personal relationships and provide immediate support to staff. The findings demonstrate benefit to the schools of the MAT from the hub school model. There was increased communication as a consequence of school leaders working in hubs (including sharing information to solve common problems), increased collaboration with sharing of resources across schools in the hubs (including teachers), and the development of supportive and trusted relationships between school leaders and hub lead in each hub. All of these benefits of the hub school model reduced the limiting effects of educational isolation by enabling school to school support, high quality teaching and applications for externally funded interventions (Ovenden-Hope and Passy 2022) and offer the possibility of a more equitable education system.

Ovenden-Hope, T. and Passy, R. (2019). Educational Isolation: a challenge for schools in England, Plymouth: Plymouth Marjon University and University of Plymouth. Ovenden-Hope, T. and Passy, R. (2022). large but local: understanding the challenge for educationally isolated schools. A case study of a multi academy trust ‘hub school’ model in the South West of England. Year one and two interim report. Plymouth: Plymouth Marjon University and University of Plymouth.

.

.