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Building the Early Childhood Workforce in Port Augusta

Building on the success of the Roxby Downs Early Childhood Project in 2024, The Strengthening Futures: Early Childhood Workforce Project, Port Augusta is a collaborative, locally-driven initiative addressing the shortage of qualified early childhood educators and teachers in Port Augusta and the Upper Spencer Gulf region. Led by Uni Hub Spencer Gulf in partnership with Central Queensland […]

Celebrating Community-Led Change in Regional Higher Education

SPERA is proud to acknowledge the Eastern Australia Regional University Centre Partnership (EARUCP) for receiving national recognition for its bold reimagining of university outreach in regional, rural and remote communities. Led by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Country Universities Centre (CUC), the partnership spans 25 universities and 14 Regional University Centres across […]

Highlights from The Australian Student Equity Symposium

SPERA’s Chris Ronan and Natalie Nelmes attended the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success, ‘Student Equity in an Era of Change 2025: The Australian Student Equity Symposium’ in September.  The Symposium focused on student equity in this era of change, commencing with the perspectives of higher education students with a diversity of backgrounds. It […]

AIJRE Issue: Improving Rural and Regional Student Experiences

This issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, explores the challenges and opportunities for researching and reporting student experience in rural and regional education. The articles in this issue illustrate how the voices of students can be and are represented through research. AIJRE Vol. 35 No. 2

AIJRE Issue: Rural Education for Regional and Community Development

Education in any of its forms (early years, primary, secondary, tertiary and adult education) in rural and remote communities, plays a critical role in sustaining and developing regions. In this issue the articles describe programs and approaches that work to build the regional workforce and create socially inclusive communities. AIJRE Vol.35

2024 NCRRRE Wrap Up

The full program and abstracts from the 2024 National Conference for Regional, Rural and Remote Education is now available. Many thanks to all our presenters, attendees and sponsors for making this conference such a success.We look forward to seeing you again in 2026!

AIJRE issue: Considering Diversity in Educational Research that Explores School-Community Relationships

This special issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education explores school-community relationships from a diversity perspective. The contributions originated in presentations delivered as part of the European Educational Research Association’s Network 14 sessions at the annual European Conference in Educational Research in August 2023. The papers present perspectives from a wide range of contexts: […]

2024 National Conference for Regional, Rural and Remote Education

We are excited to announce the Call for Submission and Registration for the 2024 National Conference for Regional, Rural and Remote Education (NCRRRE) is now open! The Conference theme “Growth Through Equity” aims to highlight strength-based models for regional, rural and remote education, whereby education providers recognise and partner with the rich knowledge, experiences, skills […]

The Importance of Local Voices in Rural Communities

Voices matter. The experience of the recent referendum on First Nations constitutional recognition in Australia demonstrates that local people in remote communities have a voice and want to be heard. Read the lastest issue of AIJRE.

Rural Insights: Vocational Education & Rural Industry Partnerships

In November 2023 host Samantha Avitaia from Bega NSW spoke with Julie Evans, CEO of Sapphire Coast Community Aged Care and delved into how the organisation forged local partnerships with three tiers of education: secondary, vocational and tertiary – in a simple but effective program to address a rural staffing crisis, and provide positive outcomes […]

Rural Insights – Teaching in very remote schools

This month October 2023 our host Viveka Simpson (Teach for Australia) welcomed guests Rex Meredith and Jonelle Heacock to take a closer look at teaching in very remote Australian schools. Catchup via our webinar recording here:

Rural Insights – Facilitating Student Success

Our September 2023 webinar featured Dr Marcia Devlin, CEO of the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership with Kimberley Tempest, Principal of Cobram Secondary College. They unpacked factors impacting the success of students at rural and regional institutions, at both secondary and higher education levels. Watch the webinar recording here:

AIJRE- Rural Knowledges and Curriculum: International Perspectives

In this special issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, international scholars consider how rural knowledges are – or are not – embedded in their local educational systems. They draw on their work, research, and their lived-experiences in rural education to explore the opportunities and challenges of enacting place-conscious curriculum and pedagogies.

Rural Insights – Indigenous initiatives

Indigenous initiative Wuyagiba Study Hub, is changing the landscape within the education sector. We enjoyed a wonderful webinar on Monday 31st July 2023. Watch the recording here:

Rural Insights – Jul 2023

Early Childhood Education SPERA is delighted to be launching our ‘Rural Insights’ webinar series from July 2023. At just 30 mins, these are short, sharp and fast webinars that couple research and best-practice practical approaches to rural education issues.

SPERA talks Higher Education

SPERA developed a unique submission to the Australian Universities Accord featuring a series of rural case studies. Through these examples, SPERA hope to highlight the very real challenges that students from RRR areasface in pursuing higher education and the importance of providing targeted support to help them achieve their goals. SPERA believe that by sharing […]

AIJRE: Celebration, Attraction and Retention of a Regional and Rural Workforce

In this issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, the contributingauthors explore the impact of partnerships and purposeful engagement in attracting andretaining professionals to regional and rural communities.

Australian Rural Education Awards

Australian Rural Education Awards (AREAs) have been awarded annually since 1994 to recognise excellence in rural education in Australia. Australian Rural Education Awards Categories Regional, Remote, Rural Partnership AwardDemonstrating a successful partnership for students outcomes in a RRR community of praxis Community Centric AwardRecognition of a person/project/organisation who have placed a RRR community at its’ […]

Wuyagiba Study Hub

Run by the Wuyagiba Bush Hub Aboriginal Corporation (WBHAC) in partnership with Macquarie University (in-kind support), Wuyagiba Study Hub (WSH) aims to provide Indigenous people from remote communities of Arnhem Land with the opportunity to access tertiary education and employment on-Country in a culturally supportive environment. We have developed two unique Micro-credentials with Macquarie University […]

2022 Australian Rural Education Awards

Since 1994, Australian Rural Education Awards (AREAs) have been awarded annually to an individual, institution, organisation or industry to recognise excellence in rural education in Australia. Presented by the Hon. Fiona Nash, Regional Education Commissioner, and SPERA President Chris Ronan, the 2022 AREAs were recently announced at the National Conference for Regional, Rural & Remote Education […]

AIJRE: School Communities and Partnerships

In this issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, our authors explore the impact of partnerships on education in rural communities. Schools are expected to prepare students for an unknown and uncertain future. Partnerships between schools and industry, higher education providers and the wider community can achieve greater outcomes for students than […]

2022 AREA Case Studies

SPERA is thrilled to publish the 2022 AREA Case Studies! Check out fantastic rural education projects from across the country,  proud finalists of the 2022 Australian Rural Education Awards.

AIJRE: Educating for Cultural Sustainability

Vol.32. No. 2 – Read now This July 2022 issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education brings together a selection of papers presented at the 2021 International Symposium for Innovation in Rural Education (ISFIRE).

AIJRE: Rural Professional Learning: Systemic and Student Perspectives

In this March 2022 Edition of AIJRE, these perspectives relate to teacher education, rural clinical placements, rural pathways to university, and credentialling of remote education tutors.

AIJRE Nov 2021 issue: Connecting Rural and Urban Education Research

In this special issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, a collection of international authors considers how their work and experiences in rural education research can inform, and sometimes even improve, urban-based education research.