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Abstract:
A sense of community is of critical importance to educators. Community features heavily in the research literature about student belonging that stems from connections within school, between school and home and to networks beyond the school gates (Watson & Battistich, 2006). Notions of school community are influential in shaping the life and culture of schools, as those who create connection shape what it means to belong, identify and contribute (Allen, Kern, Vella-Brodrick, Hattie & Waters, 2016). Halsey (2018) states that schools are central to community more generally within regional, rural and remote places and act as an anchor point for community to build around. Campbell and Yates (2011) reiterate this by explaining that within rural and remote locations the school is the centre of the community. Community is often prominent in recruitment drives to lure graduate teachers to rural, regional and remote schools (Hazel & McCallum, 2016). This concept is also dominant in our thinking about teachers’ communities of practice and the influence that these have over the nature and products of teachers’ work and lives (Wenger, 2000). Community contributes to notions of what life is like beyond city limits. Community is conceived in various ways but often with some relationship to the glue that binds people together, the bounce that enables people to respond to hardship and adversity, and, the opportunity to connect when coming together is critical. Community captures and communicates a sense of something meaningful, influential and significant.
