Responding to Complex and Uncertain Times through a Ruraling of Education Research

Year: 2021

Author: Fuqua, Melyssa

Type of paper: Individual Paper

Abstract:
The opportunities and challenges afforded by rural education research can shed new light on the broader fields of education research in the wake of the global pandemic and shifting political conditions. Rural education research considers topics and phenomena contextualised not just by the fact that they occur in ‘rural’ areas but increasingly through place-conscious lenses to further explore the nuances of implications of issues such as changing demographics, economics, and policy. For rural education research, at its heart as a field, context matters.From this position, we argue the need for education research to meaningfully engage with context is integral, wherever the education and research takes place. This is a key underpinning notion of ruraling education research. Ruraling education research is a two-way undertaking – rural education researchers should bring their knowledge and approaches to other disciplines of research and researchers from other fields are encouraged to bring their theories and lines of inquiry to rural education.Drawing from, and building on, the key themes of Ruraling Education Research: Connections between Rurality and the Disciplines of Educational Research (Roberts & Fuqua, 2021), this paper aims to unpack insights from within the field of rural education research and will suggest some ways that they may shape other fields. These include developments in methodologies and theoretical considerations as well as individual disciplines of education. We offer a collaborative provocation to reimagine the role and positioning of rural education research in these complex and uncertain times.Roberts, P. & Fuqua, M. (Eds.). (2021). Ruraling Education Research: Connections between Rurality and the Disciplines of Educational Research. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0131-6

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