Rural and Remote Education - NSW

Rural

and Remote Education - NSW

Brewarrina Public Meeting,

2 March 1999 - notes

Library facilities

"Our library is like

a dinosaur. The level of resources is very poor. It is not a place that

the children want to come to. This year we've started to rearrange things

- we're trying to get the children to feel some ownership of the building.

We want to turn them on to books and turn them on to reading so that we

can aid their long term literacy and learning skills."

"The primaries come

into the library on a regular basis because they have regular library

classes. The secondaries are starting to come down and use the library.

It's a big start to turning the secondary children around to see that

we have a valuable asset in the school, that it's a place where they can

come and that we're there to help them."

"The hurdle is the

lack of resources and the lack of motivation of the children. They don't

see that what we are doing will benefit them in the future."

"In a school of our

size, the ratio of books to students should be something like 29 items

in a library per student. We are a long way from even getting close to

that ratio. Most of the stuff that's on the shelves we wouldn't expect

our children to have to use. We have nothing to replace them with. We

have to use what would have gone to the tip years ago. We are at a big

disadvantage but we are working on it."

"We're looking at

$20,000 to $30,000 to even get it (the library) up to scratch."

"We have a total

collection of about 15 books per student."

"If I went in tomorrow

and did a cull of what should have been off the shelf 5 years ago because

it's falling apart, our collection would be about 5000 books. We'd lose

probably half."

Technology

"We do have internet

access in the school and we have a school bank of computers. There have

been problems with the line access and we've also had problems with our

operating systems which need to updated. It crashes regularly because

of the power surges."

"Every time there

is a power surge our main file server in the library goes down. In the

last week there was one day where we had four. In some cases it means

a complete recovery of the system. This is a big problem."

"This area isn't

serviced very well for mobiles or for internet access."

"In Bourke High School

they have a television and a video in every room. At the moment we have

to wheel one television from one room to the other."

Teachers reported

on Country Area Program initiatives based on the media. The program provides

literacy support using video.

"Our children (from

Brewarrina Central) are not used to technology and don't know how to use

technology to further their education. We are trying to build up computer

skills from kindergarten to Year 6. The computers that we have in the

classroom are not modern. We've got modern computers in the computer lab

but not in the classroom, so you can't access all the new software on

CD-Rom which makes it more difficult to incorporate it into your teaching

because you don't have the technology that you need in the classroom."

Discipline

"The children from

Brewarrina Central will push you to the limits every single day. This

makes it harder to teach and it makes it harder to help the children because

you are constantly trying to motivate them and get their interest."

Retention to secondary

school in Brewarrina

"My daughter is a

very sensitive child. I know if I ask her to go into Year 7 over at the

Central School she would die within four or five weeks. She's not a child

that takes hard knocks and it would be really hard for her to fit in over

there. Also she's someone that gets on her high horse if people aren't

doing the right thing. She could not cope with what goes on in the classes.

If I asked her to go there it would be devastating for her. It would ruin

everything about her."

"Behaviour plays

a big part in why parents don't send their children to Brewarrina Central."

"The long term locals

have this perception of what Brewarrina Central's like. It just seems

to be a thing (send their children away) that they've always done."

"That's not particular

to Brewarrina. Some families have a tradition of sending their children

away."

"As a parent you

want what's absolutely best for your child."

Sport

"The only sport for

children is a new netball competition and swimming club. The aim of this

town sporting taskforce is to try and get netball and football going as

a start. In April we hope to have a big gala day and have an Aboriginal

player for Australia come down."

Cultural Awareness

"We need to develop

cultural awareness. We are all white teachers and we are teaching Aboriginal

kids. I am very committed to this. We need to know and to understand and

respect them and love them as we do our own white children. I would like

to see more Aboriginal teachers."

"We had 19 new staff

last year. We had a formal induction program that was funded by the Department

of Education. It was a trial. We had beginning teachers working with mentors,

the week before school started (which didn't work out very well because

not all of the staff were appointed before school started). We talked

to them about professionalism, about Aboriginal education, took them to

the Cultural Museum, and had a lot of parents come in and speak. For the

next school development day we had a whole day where people came in and

talked about where they came from, and their educational expectations

and experiences."

"From K-10 we have

a step by step program for Aboriginal cultural awareness and we also encourage

the teachers to embed this Aboriginal culture in their teaching programs."

"The biggest problem

that we have is that we are white people teaching Aboriginal kids and

we've got 97.5% Aboriginal kids. We are constantly raising teachers' awareness

of where these kids come from. We can only try to understand. The teachers

that are experiencing the most success at our school are the ones that

get out and meet families."

"Last year for our

secondary students we had a bush camp."

The strategy of having

days where Aboriginal people take white staff fishing at the beginning

of the year was discussed. "It is a real measure of people trusting you

in this town if they tell you where their fishing holes are."

Health

"Some of the kids

have hearing problems and sight problems and we need people out here to

do something about it."

"Through community

health we have ears and eyes done every year. The AMS provides a nurse

to come several times a week, but it doesn't happen regularly."

"In some cases the

problem is finding the personnel that are trained."

"There's a lack of

personnel, and funding runs out and programs get discontinued. There's

a lack of staff and a lack of training. Maybe it's a matter of community

health and the AMS and the hospital getting together and sharing resources."

Transition

"I look at curriculum

issues as well as long term issues such as a student's ability to look

after themselves, to fit into the society, to plan their education, to

take an interest. My role is to support schools in that transition from

school to work."

"I am looking for

support for work experience type programs where local people can take

kids on. We are looking at students from year 7 to year12." Experience

of work was said to contribute to students' positive attitude towards

school.

"We are training

careers staff and special education staff."

"I have a very firm

belief that all parents have similar aspirations for their children. They

want them to succeed. They want them to be part of the community."

School and community

"Independence is

a wonderful thing and it's probably something that the school system doesn't

recognise. Some of those kids are independent from the moment they walk.

And self-sufficient in a lot of ways. That independence is sometimes at

loggerheads with the school system. It's early days in education for Aboriginal

kids I believe."

"Public schools are

obliged to accept any child. Society is becoming increasingly complex.

We are seeing students with complex family lives. The main support mechanism

for these students may be in the school."

Performance

"The data that's

coming through by the Department of School education is that the kids

that had their basic skills test in 1989 that were in Year 10 last year

are showing a significant improvement."

"I take heart in

the fact that our one year 12 student last year did so brilliantly. It's

actually lifted the spirits of a lot of the kids."

Last

updated 2 December 2001.