In 2015, in response to historically low rates of secondary completion and tertiary participation, the state of Tasmania launched a project to pilot the delivery of years 11 and 12 programming in rural high schools.  Previously, upper secondary programming has been only available in colleges located in cities and regional towns.  Both state and the national media and public policy discourse have focused attention on low educational attainment and low levels of upper secondary retention and completion in rural Tasmania. Analysis of this problem points to factors such as the labour market effects of a history of resource extraction and agriculture, dispersed communities with low population density, and what is considered to be a culture that does not accept or value extended formal education (West, 2013). 

Research into the culture of low educational achievement in rural Tasmania has pointed to kinship and community networks and labour market conditions that allow youth access employment without many formal educational credentials (Abbott-Chapman, 2001; Falk and Kilpatrick, 2000; Kilpatrick and Abbott-Chapman, 2002).  At the same time, the structure of upper secondary offerings makes it very difficult for economically disadvantaged and geographically isolated youth to access upper secondary and tertiary educational opportunities (Eslake, 2015; Turner and Hawkins, 2014; Watson et al, 2013).  For the most economically challenged families in the more rural and remote parts of the state, educational access, particularly to academic curriculum is most problematic (Lamb, 2011; Perry and Southwell, 2014).

Our research question concerns how expansion of educational offerings to year 12 in rural communities in the state will affect retention, achievements and cultural understandings of formal education in those communities.  The problem we are investigating here is seen through the lens of what can be termed a “wicked problem” (Rittell and Webber, 1973) that is understood differently by different actors who address and act on it.  We understand problems of educational retention and attainment using Actor Network Theory  (Fenwick and Edwards, 2011; Latour, 2007), which focuses on the way that multiple networks operate in social space to contest and frame arguments and perspectives.  Thus, we seek in this research to context and problematize structured understandings that frame behavior in terms of either the social position of groups, or the psychological disposition of individuals.

Under the established high school structure in Tasmania, the decision for rural youth to continue education beyond year 10 has typically involved either a long commute or some kind of boarding arrangement. In January of 2015 the pilot project “expanded” select rural high schools to year 12. This paper reports on data from the first year of a longitudinal research project designed to analyze the effectiveness of this initiative through its initial three-year roll-out.  Our theoretical perspective sensitizes us to the way that this initiative itself generates discourse, response, alliances, conflicts, and new configurations of power and influence both within rural communities and between members of these communities and members of state regulatory networks.  We are also sensitive to the way that key conceptual categories such as rural, remote, achievement, aspirations, community, futures and development are discursive constructions mobilized and employed to construct reality and to realize political objectives.

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