Context (archaeology)

Thematic analysis

Agriculture

Linguistics

Engineering

Philosophy

Neuroscience

Rural management

Public relations

Archaeology

Pedagogy

Ambiguity

Economics

Qualitative research

Psychology

Geography

Political science

Sociology

Economic growth

Rural development

Global education

Adaptation (eye)

Engineering ethics

Social science

The Rural Educator

This article synthesizes problems impacting rural primary and secondary schools and describes how schools and relevant organizations have responded to the challenges. Given the context of a globally-compressed world, the focus of the literature review is on international rural education research and strategies. The exploration took the path of topical rather than regional or methodological investigation of rural education for the purpose of thematic understanding of issues. The paper opens with a discussion of the ambiguity of the definition of “rural” to reinforce an epistemological challenge with rural education research. An adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory is used as a framework for the literature review; rural education challenges are synthesized into macro-, mezzo-, and micro-systemic level issues. The paper culminates by positing that rural education issues require inter-sectoral and collaborative responses.

A Synthesis of International Rural Education Issues and Responses