Rural education: Some sociological provocations for the field

Abstract

In this piece I raise a number of rural education issues that I think might beproductively engaged through a sociological lens. The paper has developed fromnotes on international trends in rural education for a pre-conference workshop ofAARE in December of 2014. My general conclusion is that the field of rural education,at least as it exists in Australia and in North America, has not yet adequatelyaddressed problems of globalisation tending instead to operate within the space ofwhat might be called traditional rural imaginaries. Specifically, I address a range ofissues and trends that I think can engender better scholarship in the field of ruraleducation. These issues range from problems of definition, demographics,mobilities, and geographies through to more fluid network and poststructuralconstructions of what constitutes rural space. Questions of power and the formationand surveillance of rural populations are also dimensions of rural education analysisthat have not been given sufficient attention. My general argument is for a strongerengagement of the conceptual tools sociology and contemporary social theory inrural education scholarship.