Conference presentation
Frontier Masculinities, gender, power and teacher attrition in regional, remote and rural Australian Schools
41st Annual WAIER Research Forum (Perth, WA, 14/08/2026–15/08/2026)
14/08/2026
Abstract
Teacher attrition in rural, regional, and remote (RRR) Australian schools is a persistent challenge, yet existing research often frames the problem in terms of individual resilience or workforce logistics, obscuring the structural and gendered dynamics that shape retention. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 21 primary and secondary teachers in a regional mining town and one remote school, this study adopts a critical feminist lens to explore how gender, frontier masculinities, and spatial inequities intersect to produce conditions of precarity for teachers, particularly teacher-mothers. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed five interrelated themes: motivations for working in RRR schools; lack of affordable housing and childcare; limited leadership opportunities for women; hegemonic frontier masculinities and drinking cultures; and exposure to violence, suicide, and trauma. Findings highlight how RRR teaching is structured by entrenched gender hierarchies, localised masculinised cultures, and policy frameworks that neglect gender equity, thereby shaping who remains in the profession and who exits. This study argues that addressing teacher attrition requires critically informed, gender-responsive, and contextually grounded policy interventions that attend to the relational, embodied, and socio-material conditions of teachers' labour in RRR schools.
Details
- Title
- Frontier Masculinities, gender, power and teacher attrition in regional, remote and rural Australian Schools
- Authors/Creators
- Kirsten Lambert (PhD) (Presenter) - Murdoch University, School of EducationChristina Gray - Edith Cowan University
- Conference
- 41st Annual WAIER Research Forum (Perth, WA, 14/08/2026–15/08/2026)
- Identifiers
- 991005910478207891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Education
- Resource Type
- Conference presentation
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