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Small schools in a big world: Thinking about a wicked problem
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 15:06 authored by Michael Corbett, Tinkham, JThe position of small rural schools is precarious in much of rural Canada today. What is to be done about small schools in rural communities which are often experiencing population decline and aging, economic restructuring, and the loss of employment and services? We argue this issue is a classic "wicked" policy problem. Small schools activists have a worldview that is focused on maintaining infrastructure and even community survival, while school boards are mandated to focus on the efficient provision of educational services across wider geographies. Is it even possible to mitigate the predictable conflict and zero-sum games that arise with the decision to close small schools? That is the subject of this paper, which draws on poststructural and actor network theory. We suggest that wicked problems cannot be addressed satisfactorily through formulas and data-driven technical-rational processes. They can only be addressed through flexible, dialogical policy spaces that allow people who have radically different worldviews to create dynamic, bridging conversations. Fundamentally, we argue that what is required are new spaces and modes of governance that are sufficiently networked, open, and flexible to manage the complexity and the mutability of genuinely participatory democracy.
History
Publication title
Alberta Journal of Educational ResearchVolume
60Issue
4Pagination
691-707ISSN
0002-4805Department/School
Faculty of EducationPublisher
University of Alberta Faculty of EducationPlace of publication
CanadaRights statement
© 2014 The Governors of the University of AlbertaRepository Status
- Restricted