The research field of place-based education disadvantage is in need of more theoretical discussions (Corbett 2015). There is complexity in ‘place’ as a limiting factor in schools’ access to resources. Places can appear similar, for example coastal areas, but the experiences of the communities that live there, and the schools that serve them, can vary by country. For example, coastal towns in England have predominantly high levels of socioeconomic deprivation, with little large scale or permanent employment and declining transport networks (House of Lords 2019), which makes recruiting and retaining teachers in these areas even more challenging than in urban areas in England in their communities (Ovenden-Hope and Passy 2022). Yet coastal areas in Australia have been urbanized, with increases in large employers and community affluence, which has resulted in the schools there experiencing growth in student numbers and teachers (Anderson et al. 2007). Therefore understanding place in relation to social justice for a more inclusive education system requires a more granular approach, one that looks within a country and fully appreciates the nuance of the schools’ specific place.

This symposium explores the place-based inequities of schools in three countries - the United States, Norway and England - and offers possibilities for mitigating limitations identified for a more inclusive education system. Paper One offers a research-based approach used in Montana’s rural schools and communities that elevated local knowledge to contribute to cross-community connections (Azano et al. 2021). Paper Two explores why the core values of the Nordic education system of equality, inclusion and all-embracing social community (Lundahl 2016) are not extended to curriculum in Northern rural Norwegian schools, which is argued to be metorcentric by overlooking the cultural, spatial and contextual differences experienced in rural schools. Paper Three examines how the concept of ‘educational isolation’ (Ovenden-Hope and Passy 2019) was used by a large Multi Academy Trust in the South West of England to mitigate the challenges of place experienced by its 19 schools. Paper Four presents a new way of identifying’ educationally isolated schools’ through a multi-dimensional model designed to identify the key limitations for equity of a schools place and will support policy makers in targeting resources to schools in low-density populated areas (Ovenden-Hope, Passy and Iglehart 2022). These critical discussions will open the ‘Invisible Fences’ (Gullestad 2002) that impede social justice, creating recognition of place as a potential barrier for an inclusive education system internationally.  

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