Perceptions of Educational Opportunities in Small Schools in Rural Australia and Canada
Abstract Australia and Canada are large countries with small populations relative to their size, in which a not inconsiderable number of citizens live beyond major centres of population. In both resource-based economies, the provision of quality education in rural schools is an important part of the national social and economic infrastructure. This article draws attention to post-compulsory educational opportunities, firstly as an issue for rural students in Australia, and, based on Australian research, its relevance for Canadian young people. Secondly, attention is directed to the realities of rural schools for urban university students and ways that the schools and a university teacher education program can be linked through past and current students of the faculty. Rural students considering urban education and urban teachers considering rural schools are both engaged in building new realities based on perceptions of non-local worlds.
Objective and Subjective Engagement with the Non-Local Worldby Rural School Leavers
The aim of this study was to explore how senior students in a rural Australian high school made post year ten educational decisions, given they may have little access to knowledge concerning their future communities. Lack of access to information to inform these choices underscores the social and educational isolation of many of these students. 
 
The study revealed disparities within rural communities based on the nature and quality of contact with the non-local world. The study identified several implications for professionals and educational researchers around post-year ten decision-making. No evidence of ability differences between types 1, 2 and 3 students was found but the awareness contexts - the horizons students have both locally and beyond - needs to be closely examined in relation to post school educational and career decision-making.
Initial Teacher Training: the French view
ABSTRACT This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.