Rural and Remote Education - Qld
Rural
and Remote Education - Qld
Meeting with Mt Isa School
of the Air, 6 October 1999 - notes
The Inquiry met with
the Director of the School of the Air and two of the School's teachers,
one primary and one secondary.
Some basic facts
about the School of the Air
The Mt Isa School
of the Air services approximately 250 children from 150 families.
The School only goes
up to year 10 because there is little demand for distance education beyond
that level. In fact, there are relatively few secondary students, only
47 in years 7-10. When children reach high school level, their parents
generally prefer to send them to boarding school because of the social
interaction.
The School provides
an integrated program involving printed material, on-air tuition and field
activities.
For a primary student,
a typical day involves one half-hour of on-air tuition with the child
spending the remainder of the school day working at home with the parent/home
tutor.
Secondary students
normally undertake five subjects involving two half-hour sessions per
day, Monday to Friday. In addition, they do life skills training once
a week.
The School is flexible
with the scheduling of on-air tuition to fit in with the needs and circumstances
of families on remote properties and communities.
Extra-curricula
programs
With limited resources,
the School of the Air operates a variety of programs to bring isolated
students together for activities. They provide activities that students
don't have ready access to in their home environment. The emphasis is
on encouraging students to mix with their peers and develop social skills.
Activities include
- citizenship camps
- leadership training
- sport programs
e.g. absailing, skating
- sport days covering
a particular region
- city weekends
- vocational training
programs for secondary students.
The School encourages
students and their families to implement some of these activities in their
local communities when they return.
Some of the funding
for these activities is provided by the Priority Country Area Program
(PCAP). Other funding comes from the School of the Air and from local
communities.
With camps and other
activities that involve travel and accommodation, financial assistance
is provided to cover some of the costs to students and their families.
The role of parents
and families in distance education
"Parents play a crucial
role in the delivery of distance education. The School of the Air provides
the technical and academic support while parents have the responsibility
to provide the work space and encourage the student to put in the hours."
"Parents are critical
to the success or failure of their children in distance education."
"It is not easy for
parents and other home tutors working in isolation to provide support
for students undertaking distance education. Without easy access to feedback,
it is difficult for them to know if they are doing a good job. It is also
hard to assess their child's progress and performance. Parents are particularly
apprehensive about secondary education. They often don't feel confident
that they have the skills or the education for that role."
"Parents, especially
mothers, are the "unsung heroes" of distance education."
"Where students do
have a sufficiently supportive environment they have very little chance
of succeeding academically. The School of the Air will not admit students
if it is not satisfied that there is sufficient support in their home
environment."
"The supportiveness
of parents is indicated by their close involvement in activities such
as P& C groups. On average 40-50 people turn up at most P & C meetings."
"There is a perception
that the Government takes home tutors for granted. The Isolated Children's
and Parents Association (ICPA) has attempted to provide some limited remuneration."
"Home tutoring is
especially difficult with youngest children experiencing their first few
years of distance education. It is also more difficult as later children
often learn a lot from and get support from their elder siblings."
Resources
"The resource material
for distance education is quite costly. For example, the Secondary English
material costs several hundred dollars per student."
Educational curricula
"The School provides
mostly standard academic subjects. We need to provide more practical subjects
for students who are not academically inclined."
Indigenous children
"The School of the
Air needs to cater more adequately for Indigenous children. The curricula
could be more relevant to their needs."
Technology
"We would like to
make greater use of teleconferencing. Telephone is about 20% better in
sound quality than radio. However, we see it as some thing to supplement
radio but not to replace it. Ideally, we would like to combine the best
aspects of radio and telephone. Also, telephone is very expensive and
in remote areas there are major problems with access to telephone lines.
We would like to make more use of e-mail and telecommunications generally
in our delivery of programs"
Vocational education
"The School of the
Air does not have a lot of contact with TAFE. This is regrettable because
there would be great benefit in sharing resources. It would enhance the
School's ability to provide good vocational training."
"Employers should
give more recognition to the vocational education country kids receive
working on properties, doing mustering and other activities."
Children in difficult
circumstances
"Increasingly, children
excluded from mainstream education are coming into distance education.
This is a problem because many of these students are from dysfunctional
families and do not have strong parental support. Yet with distance education
success is heavily dependent on parental support. This district office
is generally reluctant to admit students in these circumstances but other
offices are less so."
Home schooling
Some families who
favour home schooling seek to utilise distance education even where they
have access to a mainstream school in their area. This occurs for a rage
of reasons. Some families do it for religious reasons but increasingly
it is being done by parent who are personally very committed to having
a close involvement with their children's education. Some do it because
they are not satisfied with local schools. These cases require approval
by thew Director-General of Education. They also require a special fee
of $1,000. This can be problematic for families with limited resources,
particularly where there are serious issues relating to the local school.
Last
updated 2 December 2001.
