Secondary students meeting in Mt Isa, 7 October 1999 - notes
The students divided into groups. They were asked to identify both the good and bad things about school and some of the things they would like to change. The discussion covered a wide range of issues.
Teachers
"We get a lot of newly graduated teachers with no experience."
"We need more experienced teachers, especially for senior classes."
"There are no attractions for teachers to come and teach in this area."
"Classes are large and teachers are not always able to give us the individual attention we need."
"In some classes the staff-student ratio is quite high. In maths, for example, there are 25 students with one teacher. This makes learning difficult, particularly in complicated subjects like maths. Some classes have up to 30 students."
"They swap teachers a lot in high schools. This can be very destabilising for students."
"Sometimes you have only just established a good relationship with a teacher and they get transferred to another class or another school."
Subject choice
"Subject choice is often limited because the timetables for different subjects clash. For example, drama and physics are on the same 'line' which means that they cannot both be undertaken in the same year. There should be better planning of school curriculum so that these clashes do not occur so often and students have greater subject choice."
"We don't get to do a lot of interesting science activities."
Access to secondary and tertiary education
"Not all high schools in Mt Isa go up to year 12. This means that some students who want to do year 12 must transfer to another school or leave Mt Isa. Some go away rather than go to another local school because there is greater subject choice in city schools."
"Mt Isa Catholic School only goes up to year 10. The school should also offer years 11 and 12."
"Parents who would rather send their children to Catholic schools have to send them away to boarding school once they reach year 11."
"Kids in city schools can often complete their primary and secondary education at one school. We have to change schools when we go from primary to secondary."
"Young people in Mt Isa have less options than young people from the cities. There is no university here. There is no year 11 or 12 at the Catholic school. To get the opportunities they need their families have to pay more money. For those who don't go on to further education it can be very hard to get a job in Mt Isa."
"There are no real opportunities here. Students have to go away of they want to do well in their career."
"Its very hard to compete with city kids for university places."
Students with special needs
"Students who have a hearing impairment, speech impediment or other problems need more care and support than is currently available to them at school."
"No provision is made for wheelchair access. There are no services for students who are vision-impaired or whose first language is not English."
"There are some kids who don't attend school and spend most of their time wandering the streets. Some of them are kids who have fallen behind in their studies and have not been able to catch up."
Technology
Nearly all students indicated that they had computers at home. Some of them regularly access the internet through their home computers. They said they can access the internet through a local server for around 50 cents or one dollar per hour.
"Internet access at school is not great. There are a few computers at school but there is high demand for them and you often have to queue up. They don't always work well. They often break down and there aren't many people in town with the expertise to fix them."
"We need trained computer consultants to maintain the computers at school. Many of the computers don't work."
"We don't know enough about computers. We need to improve our skills."
"We need more access to the internet."
"There is only one dealer in Mt Isa who can service computers."
Sport
"We need better sports facilities at school like properly maintained ovals and better basketball courts."
"The school only offers the most popular sports. If you have an interest in a more specialised sport you generally don't get the opportunity to develop it."
"There are not many community based sports clubs outside of the school. There are a few but they're not very good."
Extra-curricular activities
"More funding should be allocated to rural schools to enable them to participate in statewide sporting and other competitions on the same basis as metropolitan schools."
"We are not as well-funded as some city schools. This makes it hard to send children to other places for a learning experience."
"We have to travel to Brisbane for competitions like "Tournament of Minds". It is a lot harder for us than for students in Brisbane. They don't have to worry about whether they can raise funds for travel or whether the school will cover travel costs."
"If you want to attend training course or clinics, there is a huge cost for transport and accommodation. Not enough funding is provided for these activities."
"We don't go on as many excursions and activities as we would like to. Teachers often cannot get away from classes to do these things. When we do go we mostly travel by bus. The bus trip to Brisbane takes 26 hours."
"We have good camps where we get to learn and have fun as well. Sports days are great and they help us keep fit. At sports days you feel welcome and you get to know people from many different places."
"We would like to be able to go to more camps."
School conditions
"The toilets at school are not very clean. Sometimes they are very dirty with cigarette butts and other rubbish lying around. Sometimes I would rather wait until I get home than use the school toilets."
School harmony
Students commented positively on the social aspect of school and the sense of community they feel there.
"The atmosphere at school is fairly harmonious."
"Its easy to get around and meet people here because there is not such a big crowd."
"You get to know everybody at school."
"You meet new people and teachers and you can always count on them."
"Schools have lots of great games and activities and we can always have fun and learn at the same time."
"You feel you are part of a community and everyone respects you for what you are."
Drugs and crime
"There is not a big drug problem in school. It is not as bad as down south."
"There is not as much crime here as there is in big city schools."
Co-operation between schools
"There should be more co-operation between schools in the region. They should work together to ensure that the North-west Queensland keeps up with other regions in the State. Funding should be provided to enable schools to work together more closely."
Plans for the future
Students spoke about their plans for the future. The majority of them aim to complete year 12 and pursue professional careers. Most of them do not want to stay in Mt Isa. They feel that there are limited opportunities in Mt Isa for the careers and also more generally. The students' career aspirations include working in the media, engineering, electronics, law, commerce, psychology and architecture.
[This contrasts with students the Inquiry has met with in smaller and more remote communities. Many of those students expressed a desire to stay in their communities and indicated that they would only leave if there was no other alternative.]
Last updated 2 December 2001.
