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Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 42:3 (2019) ► pp.274–300

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Language programming in rural and regional Victoria

Making space for local viewpoints in policy development

ORCiD logo with link | The University of Melbourne
 | The University of Melbourne
 | The University of Melbourne
 | The University of Melbourne
 | The University of Melbourne
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 10 September 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.18030.sla
Abstract
Despite decades of often ambitious policies in Australia, languages education is still characterized by intermittent commitment to the teaching of languages, with inequitable access particularly entrenched in rural and regional contexts. While research has focused on the practical and material constraints impacting on policy implementation, little research has investigated the role of the discursive terrain in shaping expectations and limitations around what seems achievable in schools, particularly, from the school principal perspective. Beginning with an overview of policy interventions and an analysis of contemporary challenges, we use Q methodology to identify and analyze viewpoints at work in similarly-positioned rural and regional schools. In doing so, we seek to determine what seems possible or impossible across settings; the role of principals in enabling and constraining pathways for the provision of school language programs, and the need for macro-level language policy to be informed by constraints specific to rural and regional contexts.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Uneven gains in policy, implementation, and quality
    • 2.1Situating contemporary challenges
  • 3.Discourse mediating the policy and practice (dis)juncture
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Schools and participants
    • 4.2Statistical procedure
  • 5.Viewpoint 1: No excuses? Committed but stymied
  • 6.Viewpoint 2: Let’s get on with the job!
  • 7.Viewpoint 3: English is the language of hopes of dreams
  • 8.Discussion
  • 9.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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