Barriers Inhibiting the Development of a Self-Sustaining Virtual Learning Cluster of Schools in New Zealand: The case of the C-Net cluster

Abstract: Secondary school students and teachers located in remote areas are faced with barriers to educational access not seen in denser population areas. Students have the problem of accessing teachers of specialised subjects and access to the curriculum options their urban counterparts enjoy. In turn, teachers in remote locations have limited opportunities for professional learning and development, particularly for integration of ICTs into their classroom practices. Virtual clustering of local, small, rural schools using video conferencing and collaborative networks is one of the approaches adopted by some schools to overcome the barriers. Although the use of ICT for forming a collaborative cluster seems a good strategy, self-sustainability of the clusters initiated and led by the community of schools from the grass-roots level remains a problem and has generated potential for a knowledge gap. This qualitative case study research intended to identify the inhibiting factors that challenged the development of C-Net as a self-sustaining Learning Exchange cluster in New Zealand. The process of Translation from Actor-Network Theory has been used to report the findings.