Country school principals take leadership challenge

An Article in Adelaide’s Independent News Country education and regional schools around Australia are benefiting from the ‘first crop’ of rural Masters graduates, with Flinders University calling for enrollments for the second program from mid-2017. The new Master of Education (Leadership and Management) degree offers valuable career and professional advancement to current and aspiring educational leaders from […]

Congratulations! 2016 Australian Rural Education Awards (AREA) & ISFIRE Award Recipients

Since 1994 SPERA has awarded, the Australian Rural Education Awards to an institution, organisation or industry, in recognition of excellence to Australia’s Rural Education sector . It was the first national award recognising both excellence in rural education and promoting creative ways of meeting the educational needs of rural families and their communities. At the recent 32nd Annual […]

THE FUTURE OF WORK: SETTING KIDS UP FOR SUCCESS

Making sense of the competing messages surrounding the future of work can be a daunting and difficult task, particularly for parents and friends wanting to ensure their children’s success. In response, nbn and the Regional Australia Institute have partnered to build a set of practical online resources for parents and children to use today to […]

Call for Editors: The Australian and International Journal of Rural Education

The Australian and International Journal of Rural Education (AIJRE) is seeking enthusiastic members of the rural education community to join its editorial board. The Australian and International Journal of Rural Education is the Journal of the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA). It serves as an international medium for educators and […]

Improving teaching in rural schools – we need to stop borrowing approaches from overseas

Simon White wrote in The Conversation on 6th September 2016 While statistics might show Australia has an oversupply of teachers, this masks the reality that many rural schools find it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain teachers. This has dire consequences for the life opportunities for rural students, and contributes to the widening gap in […]

Grants and Opportunities – 2017 Science and Innovation Awards

Applications for the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources 2017 Science and Innovation Awards are now open. If you are aged 18 to 35, and focused on Agriculture, Fisheries and/or Forestry by way of research, innovation or science, you are invited to nominate for a grant of up to $22,000 to fund a project […]

Call for Abstracts: 2016 SPERA/ISFIRE Conference

Rural Education: Place, Pedagogies, Partnerships and Possibilities SPERA, in partnership with the SiMERR National Research Centre at the University of New England, invites you to submit abstracts for the 32nd National SPERA Conference and 4th International Symposium for Innovation in Rural Education. Hosted by CQUniversity Australia and supported by the University of Tasmania, the 2016 […]

Transparency needed in teacher recruitment: The smoke may be clearing in the ATAR battle

ACER recently reported that: In recent debates about ATARs we have lost sight of what matters most in teacher recruitment: selecting high-quality candidates to ensure a strong profession, says Lawrence Ingvarson. NSW Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli has been accused of ‘attacking students with shameful elitism’ with his plan requiring new teachers appointed to NSW […]

“The spatial distribution of curriculum in (rural) schools: broadening access” ACSA Webinar

Phil Roberts is part of the SPERA Executive and a lecturer at the University of Canberra. On Thursday 2 June 2016, 7-8pm AEST Phil will be presenting an Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) Webinar to discuss: “The spatial distribution of curriculum in (rural) NSW schools” This webinar explores access to the senior secondary curriculum […]

The Federal Budget and Regional Australia

Article published by Regional Australia Institute The Federal Budget 2016-17 has been released with a focus on creating long term growth and jobs. The measures have been described by commentators as modest, with big spending promises or cuts kept to a minimum in this year’s announcement. The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) takes a look at the […]

Federal budget 2016: education experts react

Article written for The Conversation by Glenn C. Savage, Conor King, John Fischetti, Megan O’Connell & Perter Goss The government is spruiking a focus on education to drive innovation in the 2016 budget but it has put off higher education reforms in favour of further consultation. The higher education reforms, which included the deregulation of […]

Call for Papers: Unsettling Place and Space.

Editors: Sarah Pinto, Shelley Hannigan, Emma Charlton and Bernadette Walker-Gibbs This edited collection will examine the ways in which considerations of place and/or space can be unsettling. It will draw together researchers from across the disciplines in order to chart the unsettled landscapes in which we find ourselves. We invite contributions from researchers from a […]

Pre-service Teacher Sponsorship 2016

Apply today! Sponsorships are available for pre-service educators to attend the 32nd National SPERA Conference, 28 to 30 September 2016, Mackay, Queensland. If you are a pre-service teacher and thinking about a career in rural, regional or remote education, you could receive: • complimentary attendance at the upcoming SPERA conference, being held this year at […]

Australian Rural Education Awards 2016

Call for Nominations Since 1994, the Australian Rural Education Award (AREA) has been awarded annually to an institution, organisation or industry to recognise excellence in rural education in Australia. Category 1 Existing projects that demonstrate a proven link between a rural, regional and/or remote school or learning context and the local community, and benefiting a […]

Five new frameworks that can drive teacher education reform

Written by Professor John Fischetti for The Conversation There have been more than 100 reports critiquing teacher education in Australia since the 1970s. These reports led to new tests and more accountability standards and measures of teacher behaviours. Today we have a regulated profession that has not changed the content of what is taught as […]

What’s so hard about teaching? Words of advice for new teachers

Article written by Misty Adoniou for The Conversation The first term of the school year is coming to a close. For most beginning teachers the school holidays cannot come soon enough. All of them feel exhausted. Most will be anxious about the quality of their work – have their students been learning, are their colleagues […]

2016 ACEN Student scholarships

Eight scholarships of $1,500 for remote and regional Australia Applications are now open for scholarships to provide financial support for students undertaking a work integrated learning (WIL) placement in a regional or remote area of Australia as part of their 2016/2017 university studies. Once again eight scholarships to the value of $1,500 each are being […]

2016 Grant Opportunities

Happy New Year! To help you make the most of 2016, the following are some grant opportunities that may be of interest to you or your organisation. The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) currently has four grant opportunities available, as follows: Tackling Tough Times Together: Closing on Wednesday 27 January 2016, the Tackling […]

Inspiring Educators: An Interview with Mr Brian O’Neill

The Team at Faculty recently spoke with Mr Brian O’Neill, who is principal of Calen District College and President for the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA). This 45 minute conversation provides a fascinating insight into teaching in rural Australia. Continue Reading…

RUN welcomes changes to Youth Allowance to help regional students

The Regional Universities Network (RUN) welcomes changes to Youth Allowance which will make it easier for rural and regional students to go to university. The changes, passed by the Federal Parliament on November 12, will result in all dependent children being taken into consideration in the assessment for Youth Allowance eligibility, softening the reductions in […]

Thank You Deakin

Since the first SPERA National Conference was held 31 years ago, a great deal has been achieved, many innovative practices have been celebrated and ground-breaking research around the provision of education in rural areas has been published. All of these achievements have been designed to prepare teachers to undertake careers in these areas and to provide rural students with a smorgasbord of opportunities […]

Encouraging Regional Aboriginal Students to Pursue Health Careers

Written by Bronwyn Ellis, University of South Australia A conference aimed at encouraging regional Aboriginal students to pursue careers in health, held at the University of South Australia’s Whyalla campus early this year, was timely: it came just after the release of the latest Closing the Gap report, which revealed only limited progress in areas related to […]

Student Teacher Draws on Scientific Experience to Lead Whale Shark Project

Written by Murdoch University and Dr Susan Ledger A Murdoch University education student is taking the lead on a whale shark tagging project which will see pupils from schools across WA follow the progress of several of the majestic fish. Dr Andrew Nield, who holds a PhD from Murdoch for a research project on the emu’s role in seed dispersal, […]