“En lo rural, la realidad es diferente” – Exploring teacher agency in the context of rural Honduras

Although Honduran education frameworks categorize rural and urban schools differently, the education policies, such as curriculums and administrative organisation are homogenous for both. In turn, rural schools are expected to follow a plan which does not adjust to their contextual specificities. At the centre of these contradictions between policies and reality, we find the rural teacher as an agent that engages with the environment in which they find themselves in. The following research paper is an exploration of how teachers in rural El Paraíso, Honduras, use their agency to make decisions that adjust education processes to the rural reality. For this purpose, it describes their main challenges derived from the nature of the rural school context, and what strategies are being used to overcome them. Additionally, the research follows a qualitative methodology, delving into the perspectives of six rural teachers from two different schools in the zone. In the context of rural Department of El Paraíso, Honduras, the findings reveal that teachers are limited by material conditions, such as lack of resources, as well as structural conditions, or lack of methods and frameworks for a rural school context. However, through the interplay between empirical knowledge, the collaborative nature and space for flexible practices that characterise the rural area and schools, and the aspirations for improvements in the education there are providing, teachers have been able to overcome such challenges.