Canadian Council on Learning | Conseil Canadien sur l'Apprentissage

Rural Education: A Review of Provincial and Territorial Initiatives 2009

March 27, 2009

By Dr. Dawn C. Wallin, University of Manitoba
Research assistance: Heather Anderson and Christine Penner

This study provides a profile of the progress being made in overcoming the challenges faced by Manitoba’s rural schools. In pulling together the successes and efforts undertaken in Manitoba and across the country, the findings of this review are useful for rural communities and educators throughout Canada.

This review:

• lists the range of initiatives Manitobans have undertaken to address the challenges their rural schools face
• showcases the good work being accomplished in rural Manitoban schools, and features some of the initiatives carried out by other jurisdictions that may provide future avenues of exploration
• provides a survey of initiatives implemented by ministries of education across Canada—describing projects that are directly targeted toward rural schools or have benefitted them in the areas of teaching and learning, infrastructure, educational finance and inter-jurisdictional collaboration 

Key findings

Manitoba's rural schools are becoming more sophisticated and adept at involving local expertise and collaborating with community partners. This enhances their ability to find ways to innovate and offer as many opportunities to their students as possible, and to support the local people who work so hard to ensure their children receive the best education they can offer.

A number of conclusions can be drawn from the projects being undertaken in Manitoba's rural schools:

• a clearly articulated strategic vision is needed at the community level to successfully address formal educational goals within the local context;
• organizing, managing and staffing inclusive special education have become priorities for rural schools;
• after identifying the priority training needs of their staff, school divisions concentrated their efforts on offering professional development at the local level to improve accessibility;
• programming options have focused on literacy in the early years; social development, at-risk students and student engagement activities in the middle years; career development in the senior years; and skills training and PLAR in adult education;
• the use of information and communications technology is not growing evenly across Manitoba;
• transportation costs have become instrumental in the decline of extra-curricular programs in schools;
• schools are using funds creatively and are accessing extra resources to build capacity and to offer innovative programs; however, the increasing reliance on a competitive grant structure is becoming onerous, time-consuming and costly as more administrative time is required for writing, reporting upon and managing the grants; and,
• collaboration within, between and across schools, communities, school divisions, external agencies and institutions of higher education has become the norm and is now necessary to provide program opportunities, professional growth opportunities, information sharing, and access to services, personnel and resources. 

The provinces and territories that have been most innovative in the support of rural education have a number of factors in common. These ministries have:

• clearly articulated a strategic vision that focuses specifically on rural issues;
• supported with commitment and resources the extensive development of an ICT infrastructure capable of providing access, equity and choice for coursework, professional development, and service provision;
• focused on developing incentives and initiatives to recruit, retain and develop teachers and administrators in rural communities;
• deliberately designed provincial and territorial funding structures that recognize wide range of economic, demographic and educational needs in rural areas;
• encouraged innovation to solve challenges faced by rural school divisions by resource provision, networking opportunities, and partnerships;
• promoted and protected flexibility for local options, programs and cultural innovations; and,
• developed partnerships across ministries, between ministries and local jurisdictions, and with workplaces and post-secondary institutions for service provision, career development, and recruitment and retention.

Conclusions

Quality education in Manitoba's rural and remote schools still requires additional effort. However, this study demonstrates that the following three elements will greatly support this work:

• the already existing energy and commitment to nurture local leadership and quality education within Manitoba's rural and remote schools
• the fact that Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth has established rural education as a priority
• the wealth of policy and practical innovations found in other jurisdictions—in areas such as distance education, recruitment and retention, culturally sensitive programming, and career and vocational programming

Background

Much of the international research on rural education focuses on the challenges faced by rural settings that may deter educational excellence, such as isolation from specialized services, teacher shortages and decreasing enrolments leading to a decrease in funding. This review endeavours to highlight practices that work to overcome the challenges of rural education.

In Manitoba, rural education has become a priority for Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth (MECY).

Rural Education: A Review of Provincial and Territorial Initiatives 2009 is the result of a partnership between MECY and CCL to pursue research in areas considered top priorities by Manitoba and by CCL. The Canadian Council on Learning provided 50% of the funding for this study.