Exploring metropolitan university pre-service teacher motivations and barriers to teaching in rural schools

Abstract

Staffing shortages has been a consistent problem for Australian rural schools. This paper addresses the rural staffing shortage by exploring the motivations and barriers faced by pre-service teachers in an Australian metropolitan university as they explore the prospect of teaching in a rural school. The paper examines two research ideas prevalent in the research literature. Firstly, that introducing pre-service teachers to rural placement experiences enhances their desire to seek teaching positions in rural schools. Secondly, that pre-service teachers from regional or rural backgrounds are more likely to seek teaching jobs in rural settings than their metropolitan counterparts. We draw on da..