Understanding Change in Education: Rural and Remote Regions of Canada

George G. Ambury is an associate professor of adult education at
Queen’s University.

This book describes successful efforts to effect change in nonurban
educational settings across Canada. It makes for refreshing reading at a
time when there are many complaints about the quality of schooling and
the seemingly endless problems faced by those who provide educational
services in rural settings. Included are 12 case studies that represent
very different settings, client groups, and issues. Newton identifies
two major practical challenges facing all the stakeholders in rural
education. First, there is a need to cope with widespread
disillusionment, both with lack of support and declining population.
Second, ways must be found to facilitate cooperation between
parents/community members and educators.

For the most part, the quality of the individual presentations is high.
One of the book’s major strengths is its use of an integrating
conceptual framework based on a few simple theoretical principles,
primarily from Tichy (1980). This device proves helpful in showing how
problems addressed in one study are informed by another. In his
concluding chapter, Knight notes (i) that successful change was a
gradual adaptive process; (ii) that modifications in the original plan
were needed as the innovations progressed; and (iii) that strong
leadership (both inside and outside the community) was important.

The book’s most serious flaws are a failure to distinguish
“education” from “schooling,” and, more important, the total
absence of Quebec in its pages. A vast range of high-quality work is
going on in Quebec. Readers deserve a glimpse of that world.