British Columbia has vastly diverse geographical contexts built around waterways and the intersections of transportation routes. Some schools are extremely remote, including those that are only accessible by water or air. Others face geographical realities of regular road closures, all adding to the sense of isolation. With the geographical challenges come additional costs both in terms of time and finances. Travel in winter is harsh, and yet important in terms of connections and relationships. The vastness of many rural and remote districts has to be experienced to be understood.
This website, the work of Dr. Leyton Schnellert, includes materials developed while holding the Rix Professorship in Rural Education, 2016 – 2025. Much of the work included intends to honour the work of rural educators in British Columbia and beyond by sharing artifacts of collaborative projects from across contexts including rural. Videos capturing some of this work are found on this website and on Dr. Schnellert’s Youtube Channel.
As the Academic Lead of the UBC Rural Teacher Education Program, Dr. Schnellert’s interests have long included interdisciplinary learning, inclusion, multi-age classrooms, place-based and place-conscious learning. This work is intended to highlight what is happening in diverse rural contexts and support rural teachers in situ while also bringing the relational approaches employed in rural contexts to urban contexts in the hopes of transforming education.
Please visit the ‘Teach’ area of this website for categorized resources including videos on topics of interest in rural education. You’ll find a full catalogue of media in ‘Video’ and on our Youtube Channel.
You’ll notice that the artifacts shared on this site are the result of diverse collaborations including the Small School Think Tank and the Pedagogy and Participation Cluster that includes both rural and urban contexts.
The collections gathered and shared on this website and, in particular, under the Teach Menu, include videos produced in rural B.C. that concern some key themes in rural education: Place, Inclusive Learning Communities; Indigenous Education; Literacy; Numeracy; Middle Years; Multi-Age Classes. You will also find works from both urban and rural context focused on themes of Assessment, Inquiry and issues of Disability Justice, Inclusion and more!
In designing this site and sharing resources related to rural education, we also wish to honour some of the work that came before including that of Dr. Linda Farr Darling, Eleanor Rix Professor of Rural Education 2009-2014 with video documentation, produced by Dr. Graham Giles. During this time, Dr. Faar Darling was responsible for the Growing Innovation Project which is captured as recordings of project work and symposiums from across B.C. Below you will find three ‘Pathways’ of documentation (on Engagement, Assessment and Curriculum) that emerged after many years of conversations with those involved in rural education in B.C. These videos, produced by Dr. Graham Giles between 2015-2018, are housed on the Rural Teachers Channel on Vimeo.
