Rural Teaching Context
Rural science teaching in developing countries poses complex challenges unique to these settings. These difficulties often stem from limited socioeconomic resources, inadequate school facilities, and a scarcity of qualified teachers, particularly in key subjects like science (White & Downey, 2021). For instance, Assey et al. (2022) explored how various rural factors influence the quality of education in the Tabora region of rural Tanzania. Their research revealed that poverty at both the family and community levels has a detrimental impact on teaching quality.
In addition, Mtsi and Maphosa (2016) outlined various hurdles related to the absence of fundamental science teaching resources in rural South African schools. They emphasized that rural educators face the significant challenge of a dearth of science infrastructure, notably laboratories. Similarly, Ramnarain and Hlatswayo (2018) highlighted how resource deficiencies impede effective science teaching in many rural South African schools. Bantwini (2017) also observed that many rural schools lack adequate resources. His observations were grounded in questionnaire responses and science lesson observations conducted in rural schools within South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. Similar findings are echoed in several other studies, including those by Ramnarain (2014), Tsakeni et al. (2019), and Shambare et al. (2022).
When examining the literature surrounding rural teaching environments, a multitude of challenges emerge. Firstly, rural areas often face political, social, and economic exclusion (Cloke, 2006; Sherman & Schafft, 2022). Consequently, secondary school teachers in rural settings find themselves marginalized, effectively sidelined from national discussions on education. Moreover, due to the curriculum’s tendency to mirror urban teaching environments, rural secondary school teachers’ unique needs are frequently neglected in policy formulation and implementation. Hence, this study explores how contextual factors affect teachers’ reception of VLs. The research seeks to comprehend and elucidate the perceptions and experiences of life sciences secondary school teachers regarding VL integration in rural teaching settings.
Another significant challenge prevalent in rural areas of developing countries, which constitutes the backdrop of this research, is their dispersed geographical nature (Du Plessis & Mestry, 2019). Consequently, schools in rural regions are often situated far from students’ residences. This geographical dispersion poses several challenges for students attending rural schools, including long travel distances, exposure to inadequate bridges and roads, and a lack of sufficient transportation options. The frequent impassability of roads during rainy days exacerbates these challenges, potentially causing students to miss classes and experiments. Furthermore, rural areas typically lack basic amenities, such as running water, sanitation facilities, electricity, and educational resources. The cumulative effect of these factors may significantly impede rural students’ access to high-quality science education.
In addition, most rural schools in developing countries face a persistently high teacher turnover rate. These schools encounter difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified science teachers with the requisite experience and expertise (Hlalele & Mosia, 2020). Furthermore, once hired, science teachers often find themselves tasked with teaching multiple subjects across various grades while contending with high teacher-to-student ratios (Du Plessis & Mestry, 2019). Given rural areas’ limited cultural and social opportunities, many secondary school science teachers may lack enthusiasm for working in such settings. Even those willing to work in rural schools often find the conditions discouraging, leading to a reluctance to remain for extended periods (Assey et al., 2022; Bantwini, 2017; Du Plessis & Mestry, 2019). Consequently, when competent teachers transfer from rural schools to urban areas, they leave behind many underqualified or unqualified teachers. Numerous studies examining teacher demographics in rural schools across developing countries corroborate this trend, revealing a significant presence of underqualified or unqualified teachers in the subjects they teach (Bantwini, 2017; White & Downey, 2021).