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  5. Rural Education, Curriculum and Communities
  6. Exploring Rural Knowledges
  7. ARC Discovery Project: Building rural knowledges: connecting classrooms, communities and learners with curriculum

ARC Discovery Project: Building rural knowledges: connecting classrooms, communities and learners with curriculum

Team Members

Prof Karl Maton (USYD)
Assoc Prof Sarah Howard (UOW)
Assoc Prof Philip Roberts (UC)
Prof Christian Ritz (OUR)
Dr Jie Yang
Dr Yaegan Doran

Funding Organisation

  • Australian Research Council (DECRA award)

Project Timeline: 2021-2023

This project focusses on building on rural knowledges to unlock the potential of rural students. It aims to advance understanding of the distinctive knowledges that rural students bring to school and develop teaching practices that build on these rural knowledges to unlock the potential of this significant student population. The project involves collaborating with rural primary schools, teachers, students and communities to identify rural knowledges, study classroom practices in detail, and develop sustainable teaching practices that help students connect rural knowledges and school knowledge.

This research involves a collaborative approach with teachers, students, and community members through interviews, surveys, co-designed lessons, and lesson observations.

Expected outcomes include a framework of place-based teaching practices and resources that will benefit rural schooling, teacher education, and the education of communities crucial to the nation’s future wealth and welfare.

Publications

  • Roberts, P. (2018). Looking for the rural. In A. Reid & D. Price, The Australian Curriculum: Promises, Problems and Possibilities. Australian Curriculum Studies Association: Canberra. pp. 201-210.
  • Roberts, P. (2017). A Curriculum for Whom?: Rereading ‘Implementing the Australian Curriculum in Rural, Regional, Remote and Distance-Education Schools’ from a rural standpoint. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education. 27 (1) pp.69-88.
  • Roberts P. (2015). Education for Rural Australia. In A. Hogan & M. Young, Rural and Regional Futures. Routledge: New York . pp. 117-134.
  • Downes, N. & Roberts, P. (2015). Valuing rural meanings: The work of parent supervisors challenging dominant educational discourses. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education. 25(3). pp.80-93.
  • Roberts, P.  (2014). A Curriculum for the Country: The Absence of the Rural in a National Curriculum. Curriculum Perspectives. 34(1) pp. 51-60.
  • Roberts, P. (2013). The role of an authentic curriculum and pedagogy for rural schools and the professional satisfaction of rural teachers. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education. 23(2) pp.89-99.

Related Projects

For further information on this project, please contact us.