Education Reform: The Effects of School Consolidation on Teachers and Teaching

At least as early as the nineteenth century, the two most related approaches to societal improvement have been restructuring and systemic reform. For education, that has meant school closures as well as consolidation of schools and school districts. Although there exists a substantive literature on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAlberta journal of educational research Vol. 60; no. 4; pp. 674 - 690
Main Author Barter, Barbara G
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published University of Alberta, Faculty of Education 01.12.2014
Subjects
Consolidated Schools
Cultural Influences
Educational Change
Educational Finance
Educational Research
Knowledge Base for Teaching
Rural Education
School Closing
School Districts
Social Influences
Teaching Conditions
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Summary:At least as early as the nineteenth century, the two most related approaches to societal improvement have been restructuring and systemic reform. For education, that has meant school closures as well as consolidation of schools and school districts. Although there exists a substantive literature on educational reform there appears to be little discussion on the impact such actions have on schools. This paper briefly describes research on current issues in rural education with a focus on consolidation. The methodology emphasizes teachers' knowledge of practice and is followed by the findings, which highlight the impact these reforms have on practicing teachers. The argument is made that government reforms have adopted consolidation of schools and districts as a primary strategy for fiscal accountability. This focus singles out economics, while excluding the cultural and social context embedded within schools and central to the communities in which the schools are situated. In this paper, the argument put forth is that consolidation as a single-minded strategy of education reform is an inadequate framework that places teachers' work and student learning at risk. The accounts of practicing educators speak for using consolidation only where absolutely necessary and maintaining as many small schools as possible.
ISSN:0002-4805