Finding Their Place

The tyranny of distance is often perceived as the greatest challenge for teacher retention in rural and remote schools in Australia. Perhaps more accurately, it is the tyranny of placelessness. In this paper, we explore the role of place-connectedness and racial literacy in shaping the interactions of 21 primary and secondary teachers with the social space and place of one Western Australian remote town. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups and analysed with an emergent approach. We propose three levels of place-consciousness to describe the depth of awareness, skill and integration with which a teacher might connect to place and space: place-connectedness, place-willingness, and place-ignorance. We suggest that teachers who are place-connected, considering themselves not just geographically situated in a place but intrinsically connected to the people and culture of that place, are far more likely to achieve a sense of fulfilment and commitment in their roles as rural educators. These teachers value the capital within rural communities, move beyond the teacher social space to the community social space, and respectfully respond to Indigenous space and place. From our exploration, we make recommendations for the conscientisation of place in Initial Teacher Education and graduate teacher induction.