ERIC Number: EJ1240395
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1839-7387
EISSN: N/A
Disrupting Perception: Mapping an Understanding of Educational Attainment
Sutton, Georgia; McLeod, Catriona; Fraser, Sharon; Corbett, Michael
Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, v27 n3 p174-195 2017
Educational attainment is widely recognised as a 'wicked' problem in Australia for which a range of interventions have been developed. The North West of Tasmania is a rural and regional community, which has been a focus for such interventions due to its relatively low rates of retention to Year 12 and low tertiary participation rates. This paper seeks to move beyond narratives of deficit through a project aimed at exploring and representing the scope and range of activities undertaken in the region to address and support educational attainment. We begin with the question: 'How can communities, perceived to be deficit models, be provided with evidence of activities aimed at impacting educational attainment in a meaningful way?' We used concept mapping to re-present the variety, type and audience of activities in the region. Concept mapping provided a means of processing a dynamic assemblage of data to represent existing work and to explore possibilities. This process disrupts deficit discourses and enhances stakeholders' knowledge of educational attainment in the region and invites future mapping and more complex understandings of ongoing cultural change.
Descriptors: Educational Attainment, Rural Areas, Social Problems, School Holding Power, Concept Mapping, Social Change, Intervention, Geographic Regions, Cultural Context, Disadvantaged, Foreign Countries, Family Literacy, High School Students, Community Involvement, Community Characteristics, Stakeholders, Community Services
Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia. P.O. Box 659, Wembly, Western Australia 6913. Tel: +08-9285-0626; e-mail: admin@spera.asn.au; Web site: http://www.spera.asn.au/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A