Learning as rural engagement (part 2): Guest Editors Introduction to special theme issue of Education in Rural Australia

Abstract

This is the second half of a two-part special theme issue of Education in Rural Australia devoted to the theme Learning As Rural Engagement (see also Danaher, Danaher & Moriarty, 2004). The issue has been concerned with identifying and analysing, across a range of contexts and sites, some of the dilemmas encountered in promoting education in rural areas as well as a number of strategies that have proven to be effective in engaging with those dilemmas. As we elaborate below, these dilemmas and strategies resonate and articulate with many of the concerns and aspirations of the readers of this journal, including the involvement by education in strengthening networks and relationships in rural communities and the very sustainability of those communities.