Simulations for Teacher Transitions to Regional, Rural and Remote (RRR) Australian Schools

Simulations in education provide opportunities for preservice teachers (PSTs) to experience a low-risk approach to learning the practice of teaching in a range of educational situations and settings. Given the challenge of recruiting new teachers to regional, rural and remote (RRR) schools in countries including Australia, having opportunities for PSTs to experience rural teaching prior to graduation offers a means of increasing recruitment. Further, simulation promises to better prepare these teachers through pedagogical strategies specifically suited to rural schools. We believe that developing realistic simulations to orientate PSTs to rural teaching requires an evidence-based understanding of rural contexts experienced by beginning teachers. It also requires understanding the kinds of simulations that would be most suited to preparing PSTs for rural teaching. This chapter presents both our original research on challenges, affordances and practices of regional and rural teaching for beginning teachers, as well as a corresponding review of literature on simulation. These insights are intended to inform future work on rurally-focused simulations and to help other initial teacher education (ITE) providers intending on using simulations to consider why and how they might begin the process.