By Greg Clune
In an urban society, the question ‘who wants rural schools? may appear to be a rhetorical one.
There is no clamorously resounding response of ‘we do!’ – unless one is very close to the rural community which answers.
In the case of Catholic rural schools, that answering voice can be a relative whisper couched in tones of uncertainty.
What is the apparent evidence confronting Catholic rural schools? Falling enrolments, staffing reductions, unattractiveness to urban-oriented – especially experienced – teachers, a limited supply of teachers, comparatively inadequate plant and resources, a smaller range of curricular offerings and options, reduced funding and with falling enrolments – all these are part of the litany of rural schools and the challenges facing local and system administrators.
The mythological images of rural schools is another factor acting as a barrier to effectiveness. Urban perceptions of rural communities and schools are often negative, perhaps neutral, but only occasionally positive.
The difficulty of staffing rural schools, including those in larger towns/cities, is symptomatic of these negative perceptions.
Consequently, teachers in rural schools are often in transit – early career teachers who could not gain an offer of employment in urban schools but who will transfer to metropolitan schools as soon as possible; spouses of people for whom regular transfer is a fact of life; teachers for whom the teaching salary supplements the farm or business income; younger, urban, middle-level teachers learning the principal’s trade in the country prior to picking the tempting fruits of urban principalship (or, even, central office managerial plums).
Whilst these are people of dedication and expertise who strive on behalf of their pupils they are, largely, temporarily committed since the staff of the rural school is transient.
The perception of urban policy makers is often negative in that the statistics show the economic non-viability of rural schools which become fair game for rationalisation or closure in the safe knowledge that any rural whimpers will not be heard or, if they are, won’t persist.
If permitted to remain open, the fate of the rural school can be to suffer neglect and disrepair since the cost of maintenance is sheeted home to the local community for whom the cost of maintaining the school is beyond its means.
There is system coresponsibility support for so many rural schools but, eventually, the question of educational and economic viability has to be addressed and the tough decisions made.
In the case of Catholic rural schools, they operate with extremely tight financial margins. Neither the Church nor the system has the capacity to underwrite the school’s future ad infinutum.
Negative perceptions may be, and often are, a factor for rural school communities. Working in sometimes revamped, usually antique school buildings, teachers perceive they are disadvantaged by a comparatively unfavourable professional environment.
The constant assault of urban images on rural youth and parents reinforces a sense of social and cultural isolation in which ‘urban is best’ and ‘rural is to be endured until escaped.’
In this context, rural schools are seen to be inferior alternatives to urban education so that those who can afford to do so send their children to city boarding schools – thereby reinforcing a sense of educational inferiority and isolation.
Small Catholic rural schools are, additionally, confronted by local perceptions that they are diluting the quality of the local government school since the latter would be better staffed if it enrolled the former’s pupils – and the community would benefit educationally.
A form of siege-mentality, which affects teachers, pupils and parents, can be engendered.
Parental attitudes to a rural school can also be ambivalent. They accept schooling is linked to the possibility of employment and that a local Catholic education is better than the alternative.
However, they see the more affluent members of their community send their sons and daughters to the city where they will, it is supposed, receive ‘a better education and start in life’.
Consequently, the future horizons for rural students are narrowed or limited since they, together with their parents, perceive their education will fit them for the unglamorous jobs rather than the elite professions.
The added fact of high unemployment among rural school leavers reinforces the notion of taking the first job (or apprenticeship for the lucky ones) which comes along.
The future of rural schools is a challenge for Australia and the Church. If the Church and/or the system deems options such as country boarding are essential, then they may have to increase the level of coresponsibility to ensure it continues as a real choice for those who seek it.
While the Catholic sector in Western Australia does well for the moment, rural Catholic schools may seem to some to be an unsustainable luxury.
After Nagle College, there is only one Catholic rural boarding option remaining for country people at Catholic Agricultural College, Bindoon.