Bush Tracks

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-v

   PDF

2. A Model for Collaborative Research

   • Loraine Graham, Judith Miler

   Pages 1-9

3. History and Context of Our Research

   • Linley Cornish

   Pages 11-23

4. Methodologies

   • Genevieve Noone, Judith Miler

   Pages 25-40

5. Listening to Teachers in the ‘Bush’

   • Kathy Jenkins, Neil Taylor, Paul Reitano

   Pages 41-55

6. Imagining a Teacher-Place Assemblage

   • Genevieve Noone

   Pages 57-77

7. Affectual Language in Teachers’ Talk.

   • Joy Hardy

   Pages 79-89

8. Acelerated Leadership in Rural Schools

   • Loraine Graham, Judith Miler, David Paterson

   Pages 91-103

9. Late-Career Women Leaders in Rural Schools

   • Loraine Graham, Judith Miler, David Paterson

   Pages 105-118

10. Teaching Principals’ Stories

    • Kathy Jenkins, Paul Reitano

    Pages 119-133

11. Teaching Principals

    • Linley Cornish, Kathy Jenkins

    Pages 135-156

12. Taking the Bush Track Home

    • Judith Miller, Loraine Graham

    Pages 157-165

Transitioning from place to place has been identified as a key marker of many teachers’ lives. Notions of place and transition have been researched for new teachers as they move from university to rural teaching positions; and, for experienced teachers who may move from school to school, town to city, city to rural town. Since 2002, the Bush Tracks Research Group has explored the lived experience of teachers in rural schools. Bush Tracks: The Opportunities and Challenges of Rural Teaching and Leadership is a compilation of more than a decade of research conducted by this multidisciplinary group of academics from the University of New England, New South Wales, Australia. Employing a variety of methodologies, these researchers have worked to understand the intimate lives of teachers working in rural schools – the personal and professional challenges of being in relentlessly close proximity to students and their families; the supports needed to continue professional pathways; and the opportunities for accelerated leadership, all while living in the ‘fishbowl’ of a rural community. Chapters also explore the working lives of small school principals, specifically, some of the innovative methods they use to circumvent metrocentric policies; how ingenuity can resolve challenging teaching and leadership situations; and, what can be done to reconcile sometimes conflicting roles. This book will be of interest to all teachers who have ‘gone bush’, or have ever wanted to; and, to teacher educators who want a text that is nuanced in discussing the challenges and opportunities of teaching in rural schools.

• Leadership
• Principals
• Rural experiences
• Rural teaching

• University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

  Lorraine Graham

• University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

  Judith Miller

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