Student teacher learning in rural contexts: Challenges and opportunities

In this article, I explore particular aspects of the learning of Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) student teachers in the context of a collaborative partnership between a university and rural schools in the Wild Coast Rural Schools' Partnership Project (WCRSPP). This focus is especially important given the neglect of rural education in South Africa, and of student teacher preparation for placement in rural schools in particular. In considering how student teachers might be prepared to teach effectively in deeply rural circumstances, with its challenges and opportunities, my objectives are to understand the complexity of the process of what student teachers learned and how they learned in this context. Using case study methodology within an interpretive paradigm, I draw on the lived experiences of selected student teachers and their university tutors, as revealed in interviews and reflective journals. I frame the learning of the student teachers in the potentially generative nature of rural contexts and seek to illuminate the transformative potential of these in challenging their understanding of teaching and their motivation and performance as teachers. Therefore, I highlight the situated nature of the student teacher learning as well as the multidimensional and expansive nature of the learning that emerges through significant moments of mediation. By highlighting the potential for deep learning that can emerge in unexpected ways, I challenge the notion of student teacher learning as being clearly defined and stable.