• Promoting the development of rural Australia

    SPERA acknowledges that the land we call Australia has – for tens of thousands of years – been the spiritual and physical home of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who continue to carry this unbroken cultural connection into the 21st century. We pay our respects to the ancestors and elders past, present and emerging.

Register now for the 2026 National Conference for Regional, Rural and Remote Education (NCRRRE)

Join us at the Mercure Ballarat Hotel and Convention Centre from 18 to 20 August 2026.

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Learner agency and assessment for learning in a regional New Zealand high school

Jennifer Charteris Assessment for Learning (AfL) pedagogies can have a significant impact on student learning and achievement. This paper reports on data from a study of four teachers and 48 student participants within a regional high school. An inquiry approach to teacher professional learning is explored through an AfL lens, in particular, how teacher feedback for professional learning can be nuanced and dialogic. The research draws from one reflective dialogue interview where a teacher explores student voice data to consider her learners' perceptions of how they learn and of the classroom learning practices of feedback, feedforward and self-assessment. The paper addresses learner agency as an important aspect of curriculum implementation for teachers and assessment for learning for students.
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A partnership aimed at improving Health and Physical Education at a rural school: Impacts on pupils, university students, teachers and academics.

Judith Miller, John Haynes, Jim Pennington Challenges and benefits arose when a rural school and a neighbouring university formed a partnership with the aim of improving the school's Health and Physical Education (HPE) program. The HPE programs were enhanced through two joint research projects. The first research project had two facets, including an evidence-based curriculum for Physical Education in the school, and a remediation program for children identified through the coordination testing process. The second research project was designed to investigate students' Health Education knowledge and explore any behavioural changes in and around nutritional choices. Both the projects were conducted as mutually productive partnerships within the school, resulting in beneficial changes for the school, the university and for the multiple participants. For the school, the Physical Education curriculum and pedagogies were modified and for students identified as requiring remediation, a multi-partnered intervention program was implemented. Students, teachers, parents and pre-service teacher education students benefited from the movement intervention program. The health education curriculum was enhanced when the school developed a social marketing approach to facilitate health-related decisions for pupils, teachers and ancillary staff. The university changed their pre-service teacher education curriculum, teaching methods, and achieved stronger research based outcomes by partnering with the school across both projects.
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Editorial

Welcome to the second edition of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education (AIJRE) for 2015. We are pleased to offer our readers a range of articles to stimulate discussion and creative thinking around the issues facing rural and remote learners, educators and institutions broadly grouped into areas related to relationships, overcoming isolation and curriculum.
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Rural Voices Gather in the City

A prominent K-12 Queensland school principal and a number of…
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City & Beyond

Written by Josh, Caitlin and Damien Boccamazzo, and Brent Kealy City…
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