In 2018 the Federal Government released the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education, commissioned in 2017 and led by Emeritus Professor John Halsey of Flinders University. Experts respond in MCERA:
Continue Reading …MCERA_Independent Review into Regional Rural and Remote Education5
13th April 2018
The report on an extensive review to guide efforts to overcome the educational divide between capital cities and regional and rural areas is now available to the public.
The Coalition Government today released the final report of the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education, led by Emeritus Professor Dr John Halsey.
Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of The Nationals Michael McCormack said the Coalition understood the need to bridge the divide between education outcomes in the bush and in the city.
Continue Reading….180413 – McCormack Birmingham McKenzie McVeigh Joint Release- Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education
SPERA is conducting a survey of members and supporters. The survey is aimed at helping SPERA revise its mission and aims, help shape its future work, and draft a submission to the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education.
The questions are a mix of open text response, multiple choice and ranking exercises and should take approximately 10 minutes.
We would greatly appreciate it if you could complete this survey and share with your colleagues and networks.
Please find the link to the SPERA survey here.
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 country schools as far away as outback Queensland, to rural Victoria, to South Australia’s Riverland and the South-East.
Rural education is a vast undertaking, says course coordinator Professor John Halsey.
More than 4,000 Australian schools are located in rural, regional and remote locations, and educate almost 30% of all students.
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 build the skills and attributes they will need for the future.
These include a ‘Future of Work’ research report, six case studies (see below) and an online toolkit.
The Regional Australia Institute’s ‘The Future of Work – Setting Kids up for Success’ report reveals that to remain competitive in the 2030 job market, one in two Australians will need skills in programming and software development, as well as an ability to build digital technology.
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 educational results and pathways for young people born in rural communities compared to their urban counterparts.
While some policymakers might tend to look to countries such as England and the US for solutions, such models require further investigation before being adopted in to the Australian context.
Australia needs a new approach to solve the rural staffing churn, and a solution might lie closer to home in investing in teacher educators’ professional learning rather than borrowing approaches from overseas.
Fast track teacher “training” programs such as Teach First in England and Teach for America seem like an appealing solution to solve the rural (and indeed remote) staffing crisis. But the logic is somewhat flawed.
The model presupposes that some people need less preparation time before being placed in the hardest to staff schools. It also only requires these people to stay for a maximum period of two years.
From the President
Mr Brian O’Neill
Welcome to the first edition of our newsletter for the 2016. A great deal has been happening with SPERA and I am happy to highlight these activities in this edition.
Highlights featured in this Newsletter include the 31st National SPERA Conference which was held at Deakin University’s Waterfront Campus at Geelong in November 2015. A major highlight of SPERA’s activities for the year. Over recent months I have also represented SPERA at the Queensland ICPA Conference in Cloncurry and the Northern Territory Isolated Children’s Parents Association conference. Both organisation’s are important partners in the provision of pre-service scholarships.
This year’s National SPERA Conference will be combined with the International Symposium for Innovation in Rural Education (ISFIRE), hosted by CQUniversity Australia’s Ooralea Campus and supported by the University of Tasmania, the 2016 conference will bring together a range of national and international teachers, school administrators, teacher educators, academics, pre-service teachers, community members and parents who are passionate about rural education.
Continue reading SPERA Newsletter May 2016 (3MB)
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 aimed at benefiting Australia’s primary industries.
There are 11 industry Science Award categories to which you can you nominate, including:
Winners in any category will subsequently be invited to apply for the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Award, which will provide additional funding for further research.
For more information, including details on how to nominate, please visit the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website.
La Trobe Accelerator Program
On 29 August, the Victoria State Government committed $1 million through its LaunchVic initiative to fund an entrepreneur development program through La Trobe University. La Trobe, in partnership with Deakin University and Federation University Australia, will invite emerging entrepreneurs in regional Victoria to participate in what has been named the La Trobe Accelerator Program (LTAP).
LTAP will operate from each of La Trobe Uni’s campuses – in Bendigo, Shepparton and Albury-Wodonga – helping to overcome geographical barriers faced by fledgeling entrepreneurs. The program will commence in 2017, with the selection of 10 start-up companies that will be awarded funding of $20,000 in addition to mentoring and networking opportunities, industry experience and office space, to help new entrepreneurs to innovate and grow jobs in regional areas of Victoria.
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 conference will bring together a range of national and international teachers, school administrators, teacher educators, academics, pre-service teachers, community members and parents who are passionate about rural education. The conference will be held at CQUniversity Australia’s Ooralea Campus in Mackay, Queensland between Wednesday 28 and Friday 30 September 2016. Early-bird conference registrations will open soon.
To submit an abstract, please download, complete and return the proposal template below.
Abstracts are to be written in plain English and include clear information about the aims, nature and content of the paper and, where applicable, a brief statement of results and implications. All abstracts should be linked to the conference theme or sub-themes.
Evaluation of Abstracts
Abstracts are subject to blind-review by members of the program committee. Notification of whether the abstract has been accepted for presentation will be sent to the presenter/s on or before Thursday 19 May 2016. Successful presenters will be asked for their audio visual requirements at this time and instructed to confirm their attendance via paid registration no later than Friday 3 June 2016.
Please Note
Presenter/s must be paid registrants of the conference in order to present a paper. Registrations must be paid no later than Friday 17 June 2016. No refunds will be issued for any reason after Friday 19 August 2016.
Important Dates
Call for Submission Deadline: Extended to 13 May 2016
Notification of Acceptance of Abstracts: 24 May 2016
Presenter Registration & Acceptance: 17 June 2016
2016 Conference Date: 28 – 30 September 2016
Queries or Concerns
Please email admin@spera.asn.au with any queries or concerns you may have about your abstract submission and a member of the SPERA/ISFIRE conference team will get back to you.
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.
In 2015, while 68.5 per cent of all offers for university places were made to Year 12 applicants with an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of at least 70, only 42 per cent of teacher education offers were made to Year 12 applicants with an ATAR score of at least 70. The number of entrants with ATAR scores less than 50 has more than doubled over the past four years.
Similar numbers apply to students who applied post Year 12, and we should not be taken in by academics who argue that the rising numbers of non-Year 12 entrants obviates the problem. Most non-Year 12 applicants also have an ATAR score, even if universities do not use these in determining non-Year 12 applications, and the profile of their scores is even worse.
Over the past 10 years, we have reached a point where almost everyone who applies now finds a place in a teacher education program. Over the same period, Australia’s performance on international tests of student achievements has declined significantly.
Shaun Belward wrote in The Conversation on 20th May 2016
Labor has proposed to invest $400 million to ensure that all high school science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) teachers are fully qualified.
While this education policy may look appealing, there is a distinct lack of breadth in what is on the table.
The aim of the policy is to boost STEM grades and take up of these subjects at school and university. But does research say this will help?
Why are there so few specialist teachers?
The decline in participation rates in STEM subjects in secondary school is well documented.
The number of students choosing to study advanced maths secondary school dropped from 16% in 1994 to 9% in 2012. In 1994, 38% chose to study intermediate maths, which dropped to 27% in 2012.
Similar trends have occurred in physics (falling from 21% in 1992 to 14% in 2012) and chemistry (from 23% in 1992 to 18% in 2012).
The main reasons for this include: more choice of subjects available to secondary school students; the lack of qualified teachers and the way the subjects are taught; the belief that choosing STEM subjects risks lowering the university admissions rank (ATAR) because it is difficult to get high grades in them; and the way universities prescribe prerequisites for tertiary entrance.
This has had profound implications for STEM subjects at university where participation rates are less than in comparable countries such as Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK.
This decreasing pool of STEM students is strongly linked to the lack of qualified STEM teachers in schools.
In 2013, between 11% and 29% of secondary teachers in maths, physics and chemistry had not studied second year university subjects in those disciplines.
This means that they didn’t meet the graduate standards as prescribed by the accrediting body AITSL, to teach the STEM subject as their “minor” teaching area. Let alone it be their “major” teaching area.
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 detail and how the measures stack up for regional Australia.
Headline Initiatives – SME Tax Cuts and Youth Jobs Plan
The most important headline initiatives of the 2016-17 budget for regional economies are the small business tax package and the youth jobs plan.
Regional Australia relies heavily on small businesses for local growth and jobs, making the small business focus of the budget important for regional Australia. We also know that a small proportion of high growth small businesses typically create around 50 per cent of the new jobs in our economy.
Continue Reading …
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 university fees, were announced in the 2014 budget and will now be delayed for another year.
The total spend on education in this year’s budget is A$33.7 billion. This includes an agreement to fund schools to the tune of $1.2 billion between 2018 and 2020, but is contingent on education reform from the states and territories in all sectors including literacy and numeracy, teaching and school leadership and student outcomes.
There will also be $118.2 million over two years for students with a disability, the funding targeted to schools with the greatest need.
However, there are also cuts of $152.2 million over four years to the Higher Education Participation Program, which funds universities to bring in students from the lowest socio-economic levels and $20.9 million over the next four years to the Promotion of Excellence in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Program.
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 range of disciplinary perspectives who are interested in space and place that speak to the key theme of unsettling, broadly conceived.
For further details please see
Please send abstracts of 200-300 words, along with a short bio, to sarah.pinto@deakin.edu.au by Monday 16 May 2016.
Article published by Regional Australia Institute
Australia’s 31 small cities are a diverse, growing and highly productive network of urban areas. They are already home to 4.5 million people and contribute 15 per cent of national economic activity as well as being the services hubs for the majority of regional Australians.
Analysis of small cities’ recent performance shows that they have been catching up to our major cities in productivity terms, now achieving 88 per cent of the productivity of the big five cities. Our small cities also outperformed the economic growth rates achieved by our major cities between 2002 and 2010. This demonstrates their potential contribution to future national economic performance.
But our convoluted, fragmented and overlapping system for governing cities is challenging small city growth. The current approach of ad hoc investment in projects in these cities through the Stronger Regions Fund and Royalties for Regions does not provide a clear opportunity to drive their future development beyond baseline projections.
Australia’s small cities also have a very diverse set of challenges and opportunities.
There is no national one size fits all policy that will ensure their future progress.
To fix this situation, the Australian Government should establish a Small City Deals policy to drive the development of our regional cities as a key part of its city agenda. City Deals are a locally led, coordinated approach to city development that includes all levels of government as well as non-government actors and private sector.
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 much as developed a tick box compliance process.
We need a major revamp of teacher education from the inside out that actually changes the model to provide all children with the education that is right for them.
When I was in school in the 1960s and 1970s, teachers had one lesson plan, one textbook, one chalkboard, one pedagogical approach, one style of desk and one discipline strategy for the whole class.
My classmates and I were expected to adjust to the teacher and the plan.
“Differentiation” at that time meant that the taller students typically sat in the back of the classroom while those who had trouble seeing the chalkboard were moved closer to the front. Those students caught being “naughty” sat next to the teacher’s desk.
This was assembly-line education. Many of us did quite well. Some of us dropped in. Some of us dropped out. It was understood that if you worked hard after you left school, even if you dropped out, you could anticipate a pretty good job in the mill, the mine or the plant.
Teacher education grew out of these assumptions of “training” for the assembly line in a two dimensional (2D -“sit and git”) education world.
But for too long schools have been places young people go to watch their teachers work.
They have relied on a deficit model of learning and teaching. They have emphasised conformity rather than personalisation. And today, in many parts of the world, they still mirror factories while the 3D printer is replacing the assembly line.
Scientists are now aware of at least ten dimensions that we must comprehend in a very dynamic, collaborative, global innovation age.
Although many of us performed well in the 2D model, those who were unable to adapt to it have very little to do today.
Many jobs available in the past for those who did not finish school have been outsourced or automated, and more will be in the near future.
We cannot afford economically or morally to continue a 2D mentality for schooling.
Current standards across Australia and the world are remarkably the same. They are really organisers of evidence that new teachers and their programs must assemble inside these agreed-upon categories.
Unfortunately they are built on and support a model of learning and teaching that is nearly obsolete.
We actually have very little evidence that graduates of teacher education programs use what is taught to them three years into their teaching. This has to change.
In response, academics and educators across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Canada, the UK and US have devised five new guiding questions or frameworks for teacher education. They help create a global conversation to benchmark teacher education internationally rather than in individual states or nations.
The context and environment in which children live is paramount to their success as learners in formal school settings. Mostly middle class new teachers often lack deep understandings of culture, family, diversity and community dynamics. The most innovative teacher preparation programs embed direct community and family involvement early into their education.
Article written by M
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 satisfied with their efforts, are the parents happy?
Many will be wondering if they can make it through the rest of the year.
Some will leave.
What is so hard about teaching?
Teaching is complex. A primary teacher manages the learning of around 25 students each day. A secondary teacher has around 100 individuals to connect with each day.
In primary school, the teacher must organise learning in all the curriculum areas – an expert in adverbial phrases at 9am, phonology at 10am, improper fractions at 11am, the respiratory system at 12pm, musical notation at 1.30 pm and the history of federation at 2.00pm. And that’s just Monday.
Knowing their “stuff” is just the beginning of the task – they have to turn it into learning that is both accessible and engaging for every student in their classroom. And when learning doesn’t happen for some, the teacher has to figure out why and come up with a new plan.
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 offered to eligible university students.
In 2015 the eight scholarships of $1,500 were awarded to students in the following degrees
See student reflections on their 2015 WIL experience.
2016 applications now open
(Read carefully as the criteria has changed slightly from previous years)
Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) is the professional association for practitioners and researchers from the tertiary education sector, industry, community and government who are involved in WIL in Australia.
Innovation Watch is a national network of regional Australians that have come together to share ideas about successful community-led development.
It is a platform to exchange ideas and learn from the experiences of others about what works in regional development. Discussions focus on practical initiatives that are driven by the local community.
Regional Australia is innovative and thriving. Much of this innovation is driven from within by locals who are passionate about the area, understand the opportunities and can mobilise the wider community. By sharing real success stories we hope to inspire other communities to implement locally-led initiatives in their area.
Join us as we celebrate the success our regional communities have achieved and promote a positive image of regional Australia.
IWATCHERS
We are also looking for supporters to help us find different community-led initiatives. If you are passionate about helping regional Australia grow and want to help spread the message, become an iWatcher. Contact us to find out how you can be involved.
INNOVATION WATCH BETA PHASE CAMPAIGNS
The Regional Australia Institute is showcasing local initiatives helping to attract new people to regional Australia. Share your story and get involved in the #makethemove Innovation Watch beta campaign.
Article written by Jackson Vernon for ABC News
PHOTO: A 1933 class at Newcastle East Public School, which is preparing to celebrate its 200th birthday.(Suppled: Newcastle East Primary School)
Former prime minister Julia Gillard will be part of the upcoming bicentenary celebrations for Australia’s oldest continually running school.
In February, Newcastle East Primary School will mark 200 years since it was opened in 1816.
Back then 16 students made up the first class, including a mix of children from convict and free-settler parents.
Principal John Beach has been heading the bicentenary preparations and said it was an important milestone for the nation.
“Very significant for the history of education in Australia because our school has roots going back to the early days of the settlement in Australia’s second oldest city,” he said.
“The history of the school is very fertile, reflects the history of the Hunter and the changing nature of industry and employment in the Hunter as well.
“Many of our children had seafaring parents, so quite a few of our parents and students achieved fame and fortune at sea.”
One of those is New South Wales senator Arthur Sinodinos, whose father worked as a seaman.
The cabinet secretary reflected on his time at the school as an important stepping stone on his path to Canberra.
“Having been brought up only speaking Greek at home, I only really started speaking English when I went to school,” Senator Sinodinos said.
“So that was my first experience of learning English.
About the project
The Remote Education Systems (RES) project aims to find out how remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities can get the best benefit from the teaching and learning happening in and out of schools. It is doing this by engaging with members of communities, schools, government agencies and other end users who want to find ways of improving outcomes for students in remote Australia. To date we’ve engaged directly with more than 1200 remote education stakeholders across the country. The project will conclude in June 2016. Previous project updates can be found on the Remote Education Systems pages http://crc-rep.com/remote-education-systems.
Australian students from rural, remote, disadvantaged and Indigenous schools stand to benefit from a $6.9 million Turnbull Government initiative to improve digital technologies training for teachers.
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne and Minister for Education and Training, Senator Simon Birmingham announced the additional funding would provide access to a unique University of Adelaide online course for teachers of some of the most vulnerable Australians and equip them with the skills and confidence needed to better embrace the use of new technologies.
Minister Pyne said today’s announcement is part of nearly $16 million to ensure vulnerable Australians can take advantage of the National Innovation and Science agenda.
“Today’s announcement under the National Innovation and Science Agenda goes to the Turnbull Government’s vision of creating a modern, dynamic 21st century economy for Australia,” Minister Pyne said.
“This $6.9 million commitment allows the University of Adelaide to expand a program that is having a real impact on the skills of teachers in disadvantaged and Indigenous schools to implement digital technologies in their everyday teaching.
“As a key pillar of the National Innovation and Science Agenda, this funding means teachers can take advantage of cutting-edge professional development sessions that the University has developed in collaboration with international partners including Google.”
Minister Birmingham said the expansion of the University of Adelaide course came on top of a $7.9 million commitment for schools in disadvantaged areas to access specialist ICT teachers and $1 million that would see computer science summer schools target Year 9 and 10 students from low socio-economic areas.
The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) currently has four grant opportunities available, as follows:
Throughout the year, Country Arts WA provides a number of opportunities for young people and organisations to create and contribute to the arts in their local communities:
The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education‘s (NCSEHE) 2016 Student Equity in Higher Education Research Grants Program, closing Friday 19 February 2016, offers grants of between $30,000 and $40,000 for projects focused on student equity in higher education policy and practice. A core focus for the NCSEHE is students from rural, regional and remote locations and the grants on offer provide for research in this area.
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.
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 support as family income increases.
The Chair of RUN, Professor Jan Thomas, said the changes mean that more regional students will qualify for Youth Allowance to help them go to university.
“Far fewer regional Australians attend university compared to people in capital cities. The changes to Youth Allowance are great news and will encourage more people from the regions to pursue higher education,” Professor Thomas said. Regional Australians who receive an offer to go to university are more than twice as likely to defer, due to financial pressures, compared to metropolitan Australians. Providing more regional students access to Youth Allowance will help. It is critical to grow the proportion of educated professionals working in the regions, if regional Australia is to fully be part of an innovative economy in the national interest. Students who attend university in regional Australia stay and work the regions. Living costs in regional Australian towns are well below that in capitals, and offer an attractive option for students.”
Contact: Dr Caroline Perkins
Executive Director, Regional Universities Network, 0408 482 736
Find out more about the Regional Universities Network at www.run.edu.au Follow us on: Twitter: @RegUniNet Facebook: www.facebook.com/RegionalUniversitiesNetwork
Issued by: Diana Streak, RUN Media Adviser, 0422 536 064
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 to open doors for them.
The recent 31st National SPERA Conference continued the fine tradition of linking people who have a diverse range of interests but with the unifying desire to improve the educational and training opportunities for those living in the bush. The conference organising team, efficiently and effectively led by Dr Jodie Kline, put together an exciting program that included presentations by Australian Rural Health Education Network Chair Professor Sabina Knight, Charles Darwin University Centre for School Leadership Director Mr Gary Fry, Department of Education and Training (Queensland) Director-General Dr Jim Watterson, Charles Sturt University Professor of Education Jo-Anne Reid and Victoria University College of Education Professor Marie Brennan.
In recognising the innovative practices relating to rural education in educational institutions, we awarded the Australian Rural Education Awards at the conference. We received 16 high quality applications for AREAs in 2015. It is heartening to know that there are so many innovative projects taking place and that these will improve the opportunities of so many children. Special thanks to Dr Susan Ledger and Mr John Borserio for their work with organising the AREAs for us this year, and our sincerest congratulations to this year’s category 1 and 2 winners: Karratha Senior High School and the In2Uni Regional Outreach Program (Bega and Batemans Bay) at the University of Wollongong.
A special program that SPERA administers each year is the awarding of sponsorships to pre-service teachers to allow them to attend our conference. The sponsorships enable students who are on the thresholds of their teaching careers to network with leaders in rural education and hear about the innovative practices that are taking place. Such sponsorships would not be possible without the generous support of the Department of Education and Training (Queensland), Teachers’ Mutual Bank, the Diocese of Toowoomba’s Catholic Education Office, Lodestone, Wykari of Clare, and the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Associations in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
We received 14 high quality applications this year, which is exciting, but did make the task of the selection panel lead by Dr Paula Jervis-Tracey, difficult. Special thanks to Paula, Mrs Louise Martin and Ms Andi Bracey for their work in this area, and congratulations to our eight pre-service teachers: Adelaide Ford, Baylee Hardwick, Kylie Cochrane, Lauren Schuller, Megan Barlow, Megan Knights, Rory Quirk and Tess Madeley.
It takes the combined efforts of a dedicated group of people to organise and run a conference, and the SPERA Executive would like to thank the following people and organisations for their generous support:
The 2016 SPERA Conference will be held at CQUniversity Australia’s Mackay campus in Queensland. We look forward to seeing you there!
Robert Whannell, Steve Tobias
There has been a steady decline in the number of secondary and tertiary students studying mathematics and science. Rural schools also report a shortage of qualified teachers in these disciplines. This paper describes the steps taken at the University of New England (UNE) to improve the provision of mathematics and science education (MS) in rural Australia. Initiatives such as the use of an online interactive digital classroom by rural NSW schools presenting MS contexts based on a SMART (sustainable, management, and accessible rural technologies) Farm will be presented. Research to improve teacher confidence and competence in these areas will be discussed along with the steps being taken to develop a Higher Education Research Facility (HERF) which will support research and engagement in the STEM domain.
Download pages 91-99 Improving mathematics and science education in rural Australia: A practice report
Sue Gregory, Lisa Jacka, Mathew Hillier, Scott Grant
This paper presents four case studies from two regional and two metropolitan Australian universities, showcasing how 3D virtual world platforms have been used to connect, engage and motivate students in both co-located and non-co-located contexts. The case studies provide practical examples of how virtual worlds and associated applications have been operationalised in real teaching and learning contexts involving a range of different disciplines. For rural educators looking for innovative ways to enrich the student learning experience, the case studies offer first hand insights into the potential and the problems of using virtual worlds for educational purposes.
Download pages 73-90 Using virtual worlds in rural and regional educational institutions
Tiffany Jones
This paper considers the different experiences for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) students from rural and urban education contexts. It draws on data from three studies of GLBTIQ students I have conducted since 2010, including a 2010 online survey of 3,134 GLBTIQ students in which one fifth came from rural areas; a 2012 study of transgender people and a 2013 study of transgender and intersex students. The different studies repeatedly showed that GLBTIQ students from rural and remote towns experienced isolation, social discrimination and a lack of appropriate services and support. They were less likely to feel safe at school, at social occasions and on the internet than their urban peers. Many aspired to leave their rural and regional homes to become the person they wanted to be in an urban environment. The paper concludes by recommending specific training, resources and contacts to improve rural education services for these students.
Download pages 44-55 Comparing rural and urban education contexts for GLBTIQ students
Bronwyn Ellis
Several projects relating to older learners have been conducted over the past decade or so, some involving the University of the Third Age (U3A) Whyalla, as well as other groups composed of older citizens. Here a wide range of learning activities, as revealed by survey data, publicly available information, and participant observation, are described. Some provide examples of engagement with the local university campus; others have this potential. Together with long-running group activities, new activities – a men’s shed and a music learning activity – have potential outcomes for participants’ health and wellbeing. Such opportunities help meet non-metropolitan lifelong learning needs. Maximising information sharing and cooperation can lead to mutual benefits, including for educational institutions. Increasing social inclusion benefits the whole community.
Download pages 28-43 Learning opportunities in the ‘Golden Years’ in a regional city