The hidden work of giving

Academic intermediaries' role in rural, regional, and remote teacher professional experience placements

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v36i1.811

Keywords:

Philanthropy, Professional experience, academic intermediary, Cruel optimism, Rural, Regional, Remote

Abstract

Philanthropic initiatives designed to support preservice teachers’ rural, regional, and remote placement experiences aim to ensure equitable educational opportunities for these school communities by attracting early career teachers and addressing critical teacher shortages. These initiatives provide valuable funding and placement opportunities for preservice teachers, but they also create significant work for academic and professional staff at universities that are tasked with facilitating philanthropic relationships for rural, regional, and remote placements. This paper critically examines how professional experience academics navigate the demands of rural, regional, and remote-focused philanthropic initiatives. Drawing on Berlant’s concept of cruel optimism, we explore how the promise of social good becomes entangled with institutional precarity and unsustainable workloads. We argue that in the absence of institutional support and workload recognition, philanthropic initiatives are at risk of being unsustainable.

Author Biographies

Sarah James, Queensland University of Technology

Dr Sarah James is a lecturer and the Academic Lead Professional Experience at QUT. She oversees and leads the Professional Experience team, and has a vested interest in the quality and delivery of the programs preservice teachers undertake at QUT. Sarah’s research has focused on large scale mixed methods approaches to initial teacher education, including, literacy and mentoring. She currently has research interests in early career teacher retention and attrition in rural, regional, and remote communities, and is undertaking policy analysis in this area. Sarah has led a $20,000 research project into regional school inquiry cycles that focused on evaluation of, and improvement in, student outcomes. She has 20 years of teaching and learning experience, undertaking roles such as classroom teacher (domestically and internationally), Head of Department, and Master Teacher.

Anna Hogan, Queensland University of Technology

Anna Hogan is an ARC research fellow in the School of Education. She was a secondary school teacher prior to completing her PhD at the University of Queensland in 2015. Anna's research interests broadly focus on education policy and practice. Specifically, she investigates the privatisation and commercialisation of schooling. She currently works on a number of research projects, including: philanthropy in Australian public schooling (ARC DE210100994), teacher work intensification (ARC LP190101301), and the effect of commercial AI curriculum resources on teachers' work (ARC DP250100117). She has published widely on these topics and has worked closely with school systems and teachers' unions in relation to these issues. Anna is a Lead Editor of the Journal of Education Policy and an Associate Editor of the Australian Educational Researcher.

Catherine Thiele, UniSC

Dr Catherine Thiele is a teacher, lecturer, and researcher focused on contemporary studies of education policy and practice. Her current work particularly explores the data platformization of students and schools, as well as the datafication of teachers’ work and lives. With a specific focus on affect theory and the affective intensities of teacher data relations, Catherine’s post-qualitative PhD research explores the affective capacity of student assessment data visualisations during teacher data relations. This body of work draws particular attention to how the materialisation of datafied measures of student knowledge/performance (data visualisations) is (re)shaping the roles and responsibilities of classroom teachers, particularly in relation to pedagogical responses, professional desires, subjectivity, and professional connections. More broadly, Catherine’s research interests focus on contemporary studies of educational policy, the production and representation of knowledge, educational leadership, and school/university partnership practices. Across her teaching, engagement, and research work, Catherine seeks transformative and socially responsible practices to support schools, teachers, students, preservice teachers (particularly in regional, rural, and remote education), Initial Teacher Education programs, and school/university partnerships.

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Published

06-03-2026

How to Cite

James, S., Hogan, A., & Thiele, C. (2026). The hidden work of giving: Academic intermediaries’ role in rural, regional, and remote teacher professional experience placements. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 36(1), 116–131. https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v36i1.811

Issue

Vol. 36 No. 1 (2026): What's Rural About Rural Education Research

Section

JOURNAL PAPERS

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Sarah James, Anna Hogan, Catherine Thiele

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