In this online webinar, Professor Ovenden-Hope presents her research on early career teacher retention and research conducted with Dr Rowena Passy that explores education isolation.

There is some disagreement emerging in academia on the relationship between school location and pupil attainment. However, school leaders face place-based challenges that are not regional, but more contextual.

Professor Tanya Ovenden-Hope has applied ten years of research with Dr Rowena Passy on coastal and rural schools, and research on teacher retention, to conceptualise ‘educational isolation’.

She will discuss the complexity in defining educational isolation beyond geographical remoteness, recognising the contextual situation of the school ‘place’, including socioeconomic and cultural opportunities in the community. She will also explore how educationally isolated schools can have limited access to educational resources, such as a high-quality teaching workforce, externally funded education grants and continuing professional development.