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The relation between English language teaching and religion has not been given sufficient attention. Most of the existing explorations of this relationship have tended to reify Western-biased outlooks of this phenomenon, which rightly highlight serious moral dilemmas derived from a focus on Christian evangelization, neo-imperialist dynamics attached to the spread of English, and valid questions about the quality of teaching while proselytizing (e.g. Edge, 2003; Pennycook & Coutand-Marin, 2003). This body of work, however, fails to consider other possible and multiple ways in which religious values come to bear in ELT considering, for instance, non-Western, less globalized, and less diverse contexts such as rural locales in a South American country. This paper presents an alternative outlook, drawing on a narrative study of the current state of ELT in rural Colombia. The analysis uncovers religion-informed metaphors that illuminate how the spiritual values of eight teachers intersect with their professional identities. It suggests that spirituality plays a central role in helping teachers navigate the complex sociocultural conditions of teaching English in rural areas, influencing their roles beyond language instruction.

With this study we investigated strategies to support rural-based schools in teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted in 6 secondary schools in the Maune circuit, Capricorn North district of the Limpopo province, South Africa. A qualitative research approach using a case study research design was followed in the study. The population consisted of 42 school management teams (SMTs) and school governing bodies (SGBs) in the Maune circuit. Purposive sampling was used to select 18 participants. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. The social realist theory was adopted as theoretical framework using the concepts of structure, culture and agency as theoretical lenses. We found that the Department of Basic Education did not train SMTs and SGBs, which affected teaching and learning. We concluded that due to the unavailability of ICT infrastructure within the Maune circuit, teaching and learning during strict lockdown (coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) were impossible and difficult when learners were rotating attendance. We recommend a shift from a blanket approach to school support to conducting an intensive needs analysis for each school in order to provide appropriate and relevant support. A social realist approach to school support is also recommended, where structure and culture are considered critical attributes for school development. It will be good for policy makers, role players and stakeholders to work together towards a common goal and carry out their agential role in ensuring that the needs of marginalised learners are met in schools.

The use of digital technologies is a fundamental part of being a university student. Hence, there is a growing interest in equipping students with the skills they need to thrive in a world that is full of technology and constantly changing. Moreover, the need to provide university students with the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing, technologically advanced society is also growing. It has become more common for students to learn mathematics using digital technologies and conventional techniques as a result of recent advancements in both the world and technology. To ensure the future of mathematics students and society for sustainability, technology, and education should collaborate. The study investigated how students felt about using digital technology to teach mathematics. This study employed a case study design and was qualitative in nature. The technology Acceptance Model was employed as the theoretical framework which explains how to encourage users to accept and utilise new digital technologies. Twenty second-year mathematics students who were specifically chosen to be information-rich participants made up the study's participant pool. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that students had a positive attitude towards embracing digital tools to learn mathematics. However, they encountered some difficulties as they were learning mathematics using digital tools.

Online teaching has become an imperative approach in today's society. However, as an essential approach, using live streaming to teach students in small groups, particularly rural primary school students, has not been extensively studied. To address this gap, an inquiry-based model, predict-do/observe-quiz/discuss-explain-transfer (P-D/O-Q/D-E-T), was adopted for live streaming with action, and its performance was analysed. Reflection by teachers can lead them to a deeper understanding to capture the profound impact of an educational program. In the present study, eight teachers who had experience assisting rural students in this experiment were invited to rate their points of view on immersion, social interactivity, humanness, and value perception. Examining the consistency of teachers' viewpoints using the hermeneutic method, the results showed that they highly supported viewing these four constructs using live streaming to conduct inquiry-based science learning with action. As expected, using live streaming to deliver teaching with the P-D/O-Q/D-E-T approach can enrich other online science teaching.

This article describes storywork and collaborative meaning making as relational practices that can support stakeholder learning about curricular sovereignty with(in) rural Indigenous-serving school districts. While various treaties and policies exist to protect the educational interests of Indigenous Nations, enacting curricular sovereignty often demands extensive resources that are limited in many rural reservation and reservation bordertown contexts. The authors, who have a long-standing relationship as co-learners, exchange stories about their experiences as an Indigenous student and non-Indigenous educator within such contexts, and then engage in collaborative meaning making to think more deeply about these experiences as curriculum decision makers and scholars. Outcomes demonstrate the need for curricular sovereignty to reduce harm to students, meet treaty/trust responsibilities, and support cultural revitalization and student success. While the conversation exposed many painful realities, it also illuminated opportunities for teachers, leaders, scholars, curriculum developers, and community members to re-envision curricular decision-making processes with(in) rural, Indigenous-serving schools.

In response to COVID-19, post-secondary institutions went through a widespread transition to online and remote learning to address the immediate effects of disruption in the teaching and learning environment. This study aims to map the changes and challenges in the areas of responses to students' psychological needs, responses to students' academic needs, and responses to minoritized students' needs from institutional leaders', teaching faculties', and teaching assistants' perspectives via a qualitative approach. The results suggest that institutional leaders and instructors perceived a decrease in academic motivation and increase in social isolation among students during COVID-19 especially from minoritized backgrounds. Implications and guidance on future university policies and programs to help preserve educational quality of instruction and mitigate educational inequities are discussed. [Note: The page range (1-24) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range is 18-41.]

This systematic literature review examines the panorama of interculturality in rural contexts of bilingual education in Latin America. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in Latin America and identify key themes, challenges, and gaps in the field. The review highlights the importance of recognizing and valuing linguistic and cultural diversity, particularly in marginalized rural communities. It also discusses the lack of adequate resources and educational policies as significant challenges to promoting intercultural bilingual education in these contexts. The findings underscore the need for further research and the development of effective strategies to enhance intercultural understanding and bilingual education in Latin American rural areas.

Purpose: This study provides an overview of the changes and developments of the sociology of education in China as it enters the new era as well as its future outlook. Design/Approach/Methods: This study combed and analyzed research in the field of the sociology of education in China during the period from 2012 to 2022 on three issues--educational fairness, rural education, and educational reform--to clarify the field's research characteristics and trends. Findings: In the new era, scholarship on the sociology of education has shifted to focus on achieving high-quality education, modernization, and digitization as new avenues for promoting educational fairness, rural education, and educational reform. As a result, research on the sociology of education in China has employed broader perspectives, adopted a more reflexive approach toward research objects, and embraced more humanistic values. Originality/Value: This study compiles research on the sociology of education in China in the new era and identifies that the field is moving toward a highly integrative approach. The findings provide useful references for learning and understanding the sociology of education in China.

This multi-methods investigation was conducted to examine the experiences of preservice and in-service elementary teachers (n=11) from rural and American Indian Reservation communities who participated in an NSF-funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET), a summer residential research-focused professional development experience. The primary intent of the professional development was to build elementary teachers' self-efficacy in the design and implementation of community-centered and culturally responsive engineering education curricula. Over six weeks, teachers participated in energy-related research experiences in campus engineering laboratories while simultaneously developing engineering curricula for their elementary classrooms that focused on energy, a cross-cutting elementary topic. Results indicate that teachers showed significant gains in personal teaching efficacy beliefs in science and engineering. Findings also suggest that participating teachers felt significantly more comfortable teaching engineering post-program compared to pre-program. Quantitative results from this study align with the qualitative findings and indicate that the experience positively impacted teachers' capacities to teach engineering and integrate culturally responsive practices. Results also help identify specific attributes of the experience that contributed to their professional learning. Findings from this study contribute to the refinement of theories on teacher self-efficacy in engineering education and help guide future professional development efforts that foster inclusive student engineering identity formation within their classrooms.

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the tensions between rural community needs and politicized state-level school closure mandates. District leaders faced competing demands of meeting the basic needs of vulnerable families, supporting the mental health of students and teachers, protecting the health of all community members, and creating new opportunities for learning. This study examines how rural district leaders responded to these challenges through the lens of caring. This lens highlights how district leaders responded to their contexts, as well as their perceptions of student, family, and staff needs in ethically grounded and politically savvy ways. We draw on semi-structured interviews with 12 rural district leaders in eight districts. District leaders in this study described caring as something that is intentionally enacted and identified several aspects that contributed to a caring district: a welcoming culture, taking an interest in individuals, prioritizing wellbeing, developing relationships, extending empathy and grace for people, and helping individuals see themselves as part of a larger community. Leaders made efforts to set the tone for and model care, build relationships with students, teachers, parents, and community members, and enact servant leadership to support others. We conclude by examining the ways that applying an ethic of care illustrates how leaders identify needs and the strategies they use to respond to those needs in a responsive, place-attuned way.

Educational and socioeconomic disadvantage in remote communities, and the inadequacies of government action to bring about significant change needs to be addressed. This article presents a descriptive study examining the complexities of staffing remote and very remote schools in Australia with appropriately-qualified teachers. The findings of analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on behalf of the Australian Government through the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) indicate that the majority of students in remote schools in Australia live, and are educated in, Indigenous communities in three jurisdictions. This raises concerns of unacknowledged and unacceptable discrimination. Complexity within the current approach to resourcing of remote and very remote schools in Australia, especially in relation to economies of scale are explored. The analysis of existing data was discussed, and how this may be used to address the perennial failure to develop quality decisions, particularly in areas of resourcing in remote and very remote schools.

Postdigital education has become a major subject receiving attention and consideration from various perspectives. For instance, there are crucial issues revolving around the meaning of "postdigital" in the context of education with regard to its implications for educational research and practice and its impact on the learning spaces of higher education, among other issues. However, the focus has been on education in general without any specific focus on rural higher education. Thus, the need to consider rural higher education in the era of postdigital education is pivotal, especially considering its peculiar nature. Hence, this study explores the transformation of rural higher education to fit into the postdigital era through the use of a review method. Relevant literature was reviewed from which themes were generated in the presentation of findings. The findings of the study show, among others, that there are misconceptions regarding the postdigital era and postdigital education--technologies taking over the entire teaching and learning spaces. However, the study also showed that, for rural higher education in the postdigital era, hybridity is pivotal. The study recommends, among other things, that policies promoting hybridity and discouraging the notion of technologies taking over the entire teaching and learning spaces should be made and implemented.

The Expert-based Collective Advising Mechanism (ECAM) was embedded in the open online tutoring project to provide free tutoring for rural students and to help them improve their academic performance, and thus, to solve education inequity. Taking urban and rural students in Tongzhou District of Beijing as the objects, this study gathered data on the tutoring frequency, the durations students received tutoring, the number of teachers who tutored the same student, and the students' academic performance. The tutoring behavior and academic performance of rural and urban students were compared. The results showed that the ECAM could improve students' academic performance. Rural and urban students who received tutoring got the same degree of performance appreciation. Finally, gender, school type, and tutoring duration predicted academic performance positively.

The relationship between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and academic performance is a controversial issue that has attracted increasing attention from administrators, policymakers, and researchers. The relationship between perceived ICT competence and the academic performance of rural students deserves particular attention. Although a small but growing body of research has examined the relationship between perceived ICT competence and student academic performance, few studies have viewed perceived ICT competence as a multilevel construct. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the relationship between multilevel perceived ICT competence (i.e., student- and school-level perceived ICT competence) and student academic performance using a sample of 5530 students from 156 schools in rural China. Two-level hierarchical linear modeling results indicated that student- and school-level perceived ICT competence could predict academic performance. Furthermore, school-level perceived ICT competence could moderate the relationship between student-level ICT competence and academic outcomes. Specifically, the role of student-level perceived ICT competence showed heterogeneity across schools. Academic performance was strongly correlated with student-level perceived ICT competence in schools with a low level of perceived ICT competence; in contrast, this outcome was not observed in schools with a high level of perceived ICT competence. The findings suggest that administrators and policymakers in China should pay special attention to rural schools where perceived ICT competence is low and consider providing services for students in these schools to promote educational equity.

The effects of mental health challenges in the United States are growing and affect both Grades P-12 special education teachers and faculty at institutions of higher education (IHE). Educators struggle with compassion fatigue and associated burnout. With educators leaving the field for a plethora of reasons, it is vital to examine factors that support those who remain in education. Thus, we analyzed factors that support the retention of educators at both levels of instruction. In a qualitative analysis of data from survey respondents (N = 200), we examined the resiliency and endurance of practicing rural P-12 special educators and faculty at IHEs. Results from inductive content analysis indicate that factors leading to persistence in education begin with educators finding meaning in their teaching. Educators who demonstrate career endurance have a strong sense of self-efficacy in their teaching abilities, receive emotional benefits from their students, and have quality opportunities to mentor and collaborate with others. By contrast, some educators indicate burnout is a key factor for leaving the field, and reported reasons include low pay, paperwork, poor work/life balance, lack of respect, and the mental health of themselves and their students. Based on these findings, we offer recommendations for research and practice.

In this paper, an application of open-ended textual feedback is presented as a tool to evaluate the perceptions and needs of teachers tasked with implementing computational thinking in the K-12 curriculum. Semantic analysis tools, including sentiment analysis and thematic analysis, facilitated the identification of common themes in openended textual feedback. Results show that semantic analysis techniques can be useful in evaluating formative assessment data or open-ended feedback to discover response patterns, which may aid in determining actionable insights related to adult learner perceptions, interests, and self-efficacy. Formative assessment data were collected from a unique professional development workshop to promote computational thinking and curriculum integration in core subjects, including writing, math, science, and social studies, with the goal of discovering the barriers that rural teachers face in developing and implementing lesson plans for grades 3-8 teachers in a rural midwestern state in the USA to promote computational thinking and curriculum integration in core subjects, including writing, math, science, and social studies, with the goal of discovering the barriers that rural teachers face in developing and implementing lesson plans.

This qualitative study examined rural educational leaders' perceptions of the outcomes of the 2019 Leadership Camps (LCs). This capacity-building opportunity helped educational leaders meet as a community of practice (CoP) where participants' interactions contributed to learning with and from one another, reducing perceived isolation and increasing self-efficacy. We analyzed data collected from 242 participants' responses using an open, axial, and selective coding process. With this sample, 52.5% of participants were rural educational leaders. Overall, educational leaders most often appreciated interacting, networking, and collaborating with peers. Additionally, educational leaders highlighted the importance of the in-depth understanding and application of the Leadership Standards and reflective practices. We claim that this approach to professional development within a CoP offers rural educational leaders various work-related growth opportunities, including fostering collaboration, promoting professional conversations, and creating a community for reduced isolation, which will likely enhance their job performance and satisfaction.

Thirty percent of US teachers work in rural schools where geographic isolation and lack of peers can make it difficult for them to engage in collaborative professional relationships with colleagues. Facilitated professional development can be used as a way to build these networks. Using a situative perspective in which teachers are viewed as experts and agents in their own professional learning and by capitalizing on the rapid increase in understanding and use of video conferencing in 2021, the research team developed an open-enrollment, co-designed series of workshops for rural teachers in the intermountain West. The team was interested in how collaborative professionalism (Hargreaves & O'Connor, 2018a) could be built and used to bring these rural teachers together to support each other as they explored their own identified problems of practice. The analysis of the collected qualitative and quantitative data (including videos, reflections, and documents used and created in the sessions) revealed initial trends that supported the development of solidarity and solidity in this group of teachers and facilitators. The authors posit that this perspective could be productive in connecting rural teachers in collaborative professional relationships despite their isolation.

In the wake of recent political events, rural people and places experience unfiltered and uncensored criticism. For the approximately 20% of America's children who are growing up in rural places, these stereotyped narratives are damaging and dehumanizing. To ensure the wellbeing of rural children across the United States, teacher education programs must prepare teacher candidates to view rural schools from a strengths-based perspective. To do this, teacher education programs must consider the importance of critical pedagogy of place and the essential role of strong school-university partnerships. This article provides a historic and current look at rural schools, discusses the impact of rural stereotypes, and charts an initial path for teacher education programs to change the current narrative about rural schools. Perspectives that address rural stereotypes through a critical lens are essential for all educational stakeholders, no matter their locale.

Educators in rural settings experience many unique professional circumstances due to the rural context of their schools; one such unique circumstance is professional development opportunities that are unavailable locally. Rural reading specialists have limited opportunities for local professional development as well as limited opportunities for collaboration with other reading specialists. This qualitative case study explored the characteristics of effective professional development for rural reading specialists. Reading specialists located in rural, Eastern Montana were surveyed about their professional development opportunities. From the survey results, focus group participants were identified to further elaborate on professional development considerations and opportunities for rural reading specialists. A key finding was rural reading specialists relied on the More Knowledgeable Other.

The purpose of this study is to examine the current state of job crafting and career commitment of rural primary teachers and to analyze the relationship between the two variables as well as the influencing mechanisms through a questionnaire survey of 2,217 primary school teachers in Liaoning, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guangxi, and Guizhou. The research findings showed that rural primary teachers exhibited a moderate level of capacity for job crafting and career commitment; that job crafting positively predicted career commitment among rural primary teachers; and that teachers' self-efficacy and organizational support played mediating and moderating roles respectively in the relationship between the two variables

This study focused upon a sequence of three inquiry assignments with pre-service teachers (PSTs) in English language arts in an advanced composition and theory methods course. Place conscious and critical literacy scholars argue for a deeper understanding of rural lifeways and note the deficit or lesser than assumptions associated with rural communities and the need to develop a critical rural literacy to address the specific needs of rural educators as well as address the long-standing stereotypes. This study's purpose was to determine if these inquiry tools can be used to teach PSTs a critical literacy that can be applied in rural contexts. This qualitative study used a critical action research methodology within a bounded system, or a case study of an individual course in one semester. Data collected from the methods course included assignment artifacts, reflections, and interview transcripts. The participants included five white female PSTs in ELA. Data analysis determined four predominant themes emerging from the assignment artifacts: self-knowledge, multiple expert sources, local sources, and critical problem-based inquiries. These themes represent PST's understanding of effective inquiry tools that can lead to a critical rural literacy.

While there is a significant body of educational literature addressing the character and needs of rural communities in the Appalachian and southern regions of the US, there is a need for a better understanding of rural communities outside of this region. Existing literature focused on US rurality revolves around four main themes: the rural idyllic, isolation and deficits, rural identity, and community. The voices, experiences, and needs of future teachers of the Northern Great Plains are missing from this dominant narrative and this study begins to address this gap. This qualitative study is based on data collected from 16 semi-structured interviews with students enrolled in a preservice teacher preparation program about their experiences growing up and living in rural Northern Plains communities. Interview transcripts were transcribed, coded, and compared to the themes of the existing literature. The analysis resulted in several stable themes similar to the prevailing narratives on rural communities, with specific and nuanced differences. Specifically, participants held a nostalgic rather than idyllic view of their communities, internalized an agrarian identity even if they did not lead an agrarian lifestyle, and described communal ties as essential to their distinct lifestyle. Future research on Northern Plains rurality should seek to include non-white and Native American participants and perspectives.

This systematic review of literature on race in rural educational scholarship addresses the research question: "How are race and racism typically represented (defined, discussed) in rural education literature? And two subquestions: What factors have been explored at length in regard to race and racism? and Where are the predominant gaps in the research literature? In answering these questions we reviewed literature published in three rural education journals from 2001-2022 and used a systematic approach to the data collection, extraction, and analysis. The overall findings about race yielded four themes: Race as--" descriptor, located within a racial hierarchy, socially constructed, and an element of diversity/race as multicultural/cultural. "Similarly, the overall findings about racism yielded three themes: Racism as--" systemic and institutional, a factor, and structural. "These themes provided an organizing framework to discuss the findings from the relevant studies. Each theme included the citation of articles representing the theme and illustrations of each theme. This approach allowed for a comprehensive display of what themes arose while also providing examples of how these constructs were articulated within the scholarship review. We then used CRT to analyze the overall findings related to race and racism focusing on two tenets, social construction theory, and colorevasiveness. We end with a call to increase focus on research that disrupts white supremacy, examines structural and institutional racism as it operates in rural education, and takes race-conscious approaches to research in rural scholarship."

Loei Rajabhat University's Kru Rak Thin Project aims to produce and develop a new generation of teachers who are committed to reducing inequality and increasing educational opportunities for the needy and underprivileged. This project is a collaboration between the Equitable Education Fund (EEF) and Loei Rajabhat University. The project selects disadvantaged students from rural areas who have a passion for teaching and provides them with the opportunity to pursue a high-quality bachelor's degree. After graduation, these students return to their local communities to work as teachers. The Kru Rak Thin Project has selected 33 students from rural areas covering eight provinces, namely Buriram, Nakhon Ratchasima, Roi Et, Chaiyaphum, Mukdahan, Sakon Nakhon, Udon Thani, and Loei. The project began producing students in the academic year 2020, with the goal of creating competent and dedicated teachers for the community and fostering sustainable development. Loei Rajabhat University plans to continuously support and develop the selected students from the production stage until their recruitment as government teachers in local schools over a ten-year period. The university has designed the Kru Rak Thin Student Development Project (Enrichment Program) to meet the Teacher Professional Standards of 2019, the characteristics of Kru Rak Thin, and the identity of graduates of the Faculty of Education, Loei Rajabhat University. The project focuses on developing teachers who are passionate about their local communities and who possess the necessary qualities to build a sustainable settlement. The project follows a ten-year plan for the development of these teachers. In the first year, the emphasis is on teacher cultivation, while the second year focuses on being well-versed in teaching. The third year aims to develop innovative teaching methods, and the fourth year is dedicated to contributing to society. The fifth year focuses on becoming an assistant teacher, while the sixth year emphasizes knowledge acquisition and hard work. In the seventh year, the focus is on self-development and work development, while the eighth year is dedicated to teaching like a professional. The ninth year emphasizes community development, and the tenth year focuses on sustainable settlement development.

Biology education is crucial for living in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, disruptive, and diverse environment. Moreover, most literature suggested developing learning activities for students based on the knowledge, attitudes, and skills competency gaps. Thus, this study assessed the academic performance in terms of their examination scores among the 150 randomly selected Grade Eight Biology students in different public schools in a rural municipality in Cebu, Philippines. It employed a descriptive research methodology. The test questionnaire was anchored on the Department of Education Learning Guide in determining the student's academic performance in Biology. The respondents' data were gathered from their Biology teachers and were expressed in frequencies and percentages. Data were computed using SPSS Statistics 27. The majority of the student's academic performance in Biology for Digestive System (n=65, 43.33%), Biodiversity (n=68, 45.33%), and Ecosystem (n=56, 37.34%) competencies indicate that the majority of the respondents' scores did not meet expectations. Our findings strongly recommend that teachers carefully plan and provide necessary learning activities based on the needs and knowledge gaps of the students in their instructional practices to give their students a thorough grasp of the topics covered in the Biology class.

This inquiry was a dilemma-driven, object-inquiry self-study. The study followed visual methodologies in unpacking the impact of COVID-19 on the practices of a practitioner at a rural university. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my daily practice as an academic because I struggled to locate my footing in what has been dubbed the "new normal" about online student teaching and assessment. In my bid to investigate the dissatisfactions I faced due to COVID-19, I followed the self-study methodology, which entailed my engagement in reflexivity cycles, and feedback from critical friends. My critical friends played a crucial validation role during my data collection, analysis, and drawing of conclusions from multiple data forms that included journal entries and discussions with others. The collected data was thematically and analyzed from deductive to inductive perspective through the process of coding. This inquiry established that the outbreak of COVID-19 led to dilemmas of practice that stemmed from my being deskilled, techno and COVID-phobic; poor individual adaptability; inadequate TPKC; and the shortcomings of working as an isolated silo. It emerged that these dilemmas of practice escalated into professional traumas through working in isolated silos in virtual platforms. Thus, through making our challenges of practice public, we tend to benefit from the pool of probing expertise of others. Whilst the advent of COVID-19 posed unwelcome professional traumas, it was through the probing power of "the second voice" that the over-shadowed professional growth opportunities in this pandemic induced 'new normal' was unveiled.

Problem-solving and enquiry-based learning are integral in the Mathematics and Science curriculum in South Africa through online-based assessment. Online assessment has rapidly gained recognition because of technology. In this paper, the authors explored the views of online baseline assessment among Senior Phase First-year Mathematics Student Teachers. The researchers adopted a qualitative research method. Data was collected from the participants using an online Google form developed into a questionnaire. The participants in this study were first-year students enrolled for the Bachelor of Education in Mathematics at a university in a rural province of South Africa. The first-year student teachers were exposed to the senior phase baseline assessments through the licensed online Computer Aided Mathematics Instruction (CAMI) tool. One hundred and sixteen (116) senior-phase student teachers completed the online questionnaire. This study used convenience sampling since it was the most appropriate method to conveniently invite the participant. The findings revealed that first-year student teachers were enthusiastic and motivated to write the baseline assessment on computers for the first time. The result also showed that several first-year student teachers experienced difficulties solving mathematics problems using computers. This study recommends more intensive research on student teachers' views on online assessment regarding gender and time.

In this paper, we analyze literacy practices and representations in the comic books genre produced by undergraduates taking the Rural Education degree. The research is based on literacy theories and is situated in the applied field of language. This is a participatory research, with a qualitative-interpretative approach. The corpus consists of texts from six examples of the comic books genre, and (transcribed) excepts from three interviews conducted with research collaborators. Because this genre has a union of different language systems (verbal and non-verbal), the research revealed traces of literacy that students have in their life experiences. As the research collaborators come from different communities located in rural areas, they present diverse and peculiar literacy practices and representations.

This paper presents a qualitative pilot study program evaluation of the Leadership Initiative for Strategic (Bilingual) Teacher Acquisition (LISTA) program in a rural region of Texas. The LISTA program aimed to empower bilingual leaders in education by addressing the limited availability of leadership coaching, particularly tailored to recognize and affirm the cultural capital of Hispanic/Latino leaders. The sessions were organized and developed by an experienced leadership coach with a strong focus on equity and social justice in the education and nonprofit sectors. Through a methodology encompassing open-ended survey questions, focus groups, and reflective journals, this evaluation assesses the program's impact on the participants and explores their experiences and perspectives within the LISTA program. The findings shed light on the effectiveness and potential improvements of the program, providing valuable insights for future iterations.

Rural critical policy analysis (RCPA) goes beyond questions about whether a policy will "work" in a particular place, to examine the impact of policies on rural places. RCPA recognizes that policies represent the allocation of values--and that policy analysis cannot be separated from views of right and wrong. RCPA asks us to consider policies from a position of advocating for people who have often been disenfranchised or disempowered by policy. This means recognizing two things about rural policy--(1) that for centuries, policies have positioned places as in service to urban places--a perspective that assumes that rural places exist to provide urban centers with resources that can be harvested or mined (food, forests, energy, recreation opportunities) and; (2) accompanying this metrocentric belief is often an assumption that rural places are deficit or deficient--lacking in resources, out of step with the "modern" world, and unable to care for themselves. Devon Brenner examines RCPA which moves beyond what works and, instead, asks for whom while examining geographies alongside race, class, gender, and other demographics.

Rural undergraduate students at flagship universities in the United States are typically outnumbered by their urban and suburban peers. Students from rural demographic backgrounds bring different forms of social and cultural capital to higher education with them. This phenomenological study at a flagship university in the Deep South region of the United States examines their experiences through the lens of Constructed Environment Perspectives to assess how rural students evaluate their sense of fit at an institution of higher education. Rural students in this study noted that they began their first year of postsecondary education with a smaller social network than their nonrural peers. When necessary, rural students adapted their social and cultural capital to experience a better sense of fit by connecting with nonrural students in communal settings or by changing symbols of their cultural and social capital. Participants in this study found the residence halls to be a space that was particularly helpful in their adjustment to university life.

For education policies to be implemented most effectively in local contexts, policymakers must consider diverse school and community geographic characteristics. For example, rural geographies often present particularly important dynamics for public schooling, including challenges with school enrollment, school funding, and teacher labor markets. We focus on Missouri, where over two-thirds of its school districts are located in rural areas. Enrollment in these districts varies over 100-fold, yet little research describes the similarities and differences between these districts and how to appropriately distinguish between them to best advise contemporary policymaking. In this study, we analyze data from the American Community Survey, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to compare school, financial, teacher, and community characteristics to identify relationships between a district's size, location, and community qualities. We focus our analyses on a comparison of NCES' demarcation of rurality to one we construct based on student enrollment to highlight where conclusions may differ simply based on a lack of common definitional groundings. The findings help to distinguish rural communities and school districts and may prompt future rural education-focused research to appropriately tailor education policies to diverse rural contexts.

Students based in higher education institutions in rural settings are faced with various challenges. This literature study offers insights into the implication of "rurality" in terms of Higher Education in a rural context, considering student well-being and social work training challenges. It stresses that the University of Zululand has put in place a number of initiatives to support teaching and learning considering the above. The authors present the defining characteristics of rurality and higher education, make a historical rural-urban comparison, and discuss social work fieldwork training challenges and wellbeing. Recognizing the challenges posed, some solutions are posited to mitigate them. The article also stresses the need to be cognisant of the fact that there is not only a problem of marginalization and privilege in rural settings, but also in urban settings where in less affluent areas, the facilities are inferior and numerous other disadvantages manifest. Thus, any desired upward mobility for students from impoverished areas is challenging to say the least. The work is not based on any intellectual framework or theoretical stance but is placed in the socio-economic structure of our South African society and what "rurality" implies.