Rural and Remote Education - Qld

Rural

and Remote Education - Qld

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.