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Rural and Remote Education - SA

Rural and Remote

Education - SA

Public Meeting at Wudinna,

11 August 1999 - notes

Wudinna is a small

town located on the central Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, 577 km west

of Adelaide. The population of Wudinna is 650.

Wudinna Area School

has approximately 225 students from Reception through to Year 12. The

school's catchment area extends over a distance of approximately 45 km

in a north-westerly direction through to Kopi in the south and Koongawa

in the east. The majority of parents are involved in farming and associated

industries.

The meeting was attended

by 12 community members from Wudinna and other towns on the Eyre Peninsula

including Kimba, Whyalla, Elliston and Warramboo. From HREOC: Chris Sidoti,

Human Rights Commissioner; Dr Alby Jones, Inquiry Co-Commissioner for

South Australia; and two Commission staff members.

Jean Fulwood and

Veronica Matthews from the Wudinna Area School Council presented a paper

outlining their major concerns for school education in Wudinna. The major

point was that "All children are entitled to the same choices and opportunities

therefore the same resources and facilities, regardless of location if

we are to be fair and equitable for kids in education". They discussed

senior secondary school, distance education, learning styles, vocational

training, skilled teachers and educational standards, Country Areas Program,

buses, parent involvement, accessing personnel. These comments are incorporated

into the discussion below.

Secondary schooling

It is a feature of

the area that parents send their children away for schooling in the senior

secondary years. This impacts on the school and community as numbers at

the school decline which affects the quality of education for the remaining

students; fewer teachers, fewer students for other students to interact

with, and an inability to cater for special needs students.

Changes in funding

formulae affect the provision of secondary schooling.

"Smaller schools

like Elliston which is qualified as a Reception-10 school, lose one year

of our access into upper senior secondary because we are qualified as

R-10 and senior secondary is supposed to be 10, 11 and 12. So we do not

get that first year of support to go away, so those students miss out

on those lead up subjects."

Distance education

"For many parents

distance education is not seen as a good way to learn because there is

no face to face contact. Some students find this really difficult because

it relies on good time management skills and good research skills. So

obviously their learning styles are important."

It was suggested

that time management skills and research skills should be taught in primary

school so that students will be prepared for the distance education style

of learning.

Students learning

by distance education need adequate teacher support and face to face teaching.

Subject choices

Students have to

pick up a range of choices through Open Access because the subjects are

not available locally. But for students who want to do Publicly Examined

Subjects (PES) this can be difficult to cope with and it is preferable

to do it face to face with teachers in the school.

"Should our students

have to take a less favoured goal because they cannot cope with doing

PES Open Access or it's unavailable ... We are limiting their potential.

We feel that they should be able to achieve the same goals as students

in metropolitan areas can achieve."

"If you lose your

choices, parents lose faith and this flows on to the whole community and

they become negative towards the school. It becomes important to keep

that positive feeling there."

"We have a right

to have our children educated. We are people here. We are educated people

too. We have a right to hold a family unit together too. We know that

once kids leave home that whole family cohesion is not there. People are

forced into breaking it at a much earlier age for their children because

the choices are not here."

Vocational and technical

education

There is a small

TAFE unit in Wudinna. Some students at the school work in tandem with

TAFE, for example as part of a hospitality or agriculture certificate.

These modules can be assessed for the South Australia Certificate of Education

(SACE) level. However, there are some difficulties in trying to coordinate

the delivery of TAFE and school programs.

Teachers need to

be accredited as Workplace Assessors so that students can get their dual

credits for both the TAFE and SACE certificates. Teachers need to be supported

to access this training.

"I think what the

Education Department doesn't realise is while students are doing home

economics and technical studies they are still reading and writing. All

they see is the cut piece of wood. They don't see them measure it, they

don't see them taking some off it, they don't see them making a mess and

doing it again, all things you learn from experience. My beef is that

these things should be available in all country schools, because the kids

that aren't academically inspired are still getting their reading and

writing, and doing something that they like . country students want life

supporting lessons."

It was suggested

that the Education Department should make a point of basing TAFE and technical

teachers in a rural area rather than in Adelaide, so that students studying

these subjects have access to face to face support and assessment. A technical

teacher based in one town would need to travel over the whole area. The

government needs to commit to the costs of travel for teachers in a rural

area.

"It costs them cheaper

to have 50 or 100 teachers in Adelaide in one campus and get them all

to send their lessons in than it does to get them to do some face to face

teaching."

"A moderator for

this area in a practical technology subject was informed that he couldn't

attend moderation in Adelaide at the end of last semester and therefore

couldn't support the students from the wider area in those subject areas

because there was no money available to send him to Adelaide. This disadvantages

our Year 12 students because there has been no moderator to go around

and see their work and support them."

Special education

assistance

There is a lack of

preventative help for students with special difficulties, especially those

who are only just below average or who fall behind. Poor students need

help before they get worse.

"We had a psychologist

come and assess one of my children and he was assessed as having learning

difficulties. He is in Year 10 now and his spelling is atrocious. So even

though he is identified, there is no help for him."

School Support Officer

(SSO) hours have been cut. The allocated hours of SSO time differ according

to the type of school. For example Area Schools have fewer SSO hours than

secondary schools. This is seen as unfair.

Health services

The lack of mental

health services in the region impacts on the health of children.

"Currently I have

to travel 200 km each way. Earlier this year it was once a week. Now it

is once every five weeks. We don't get funding for the simple fact that

we are not seeing a psychiatrist but a social worker. The SA Health Commission

ruling is that we are not entitled to Isolated Patients Assistance. And

why can't someone come into our communities to have a little chat? There

is nothing to support them."

Attracting suitable

teachers

There is a shortage

of skilled and specialist teachers in the area. It can be hard to attract

teachers to both temporary and permanent positions.

"It is always a problem.

If we advertise we don't always get someone. If we don't get skilled teachers

we have limited choices for students in terms of the subjects they do."

"I suspect that in

some cases we only get one applicant for the job. Therefore the school

will take that applicant because they don't get a choice. And that person

may not be fully qualified for what they are required to do. But what

else are you going to do?"

Currently a specialist

teacher in agriculture at Wudinna is on long service leave. Although they

advertised statewide and nationally, the school has been unable to attract

a replacement teacher. That particular subject has had to be postponed

until the teacher returns from leave.

Teachers do not always

have the skills to teach technical subjects at the senior level, such

as automotive engineering and computer aided design.

The School Council

suggests that there needs to be a system of sharing of teacher expertise

between schools. To be effective and viable this system would need to

be properly resourced because of the transport and travel costs.

There are few incentives

for teachers to come out to rural areas. "They don't get rent assistance

as they used. What is the incentive to come out here? Why not get a job

in Adelaide?"

The possibility of

bonded teacher training was raised. It was suggested bonded teaching training

or for a range of professions may be more attractive to country students.

"What's the difference

if a student has the choice of paying for their course, taking a HECS

or a loan out, or being bonded? They have three choices to get them through

college. To me the bonding is much more of an advantage if they either

don't want to be jammed into HECS or don't want it or can't afford to

in time."

"To me, if you are

going to become a teacher you must know that there are schools outside

of Adelaide. If you are a teacher you should be expected to go there."

Warramboo primary

school is currently trying to attract a Principal. They have 2.6 teachers

but it is hard to attract people in leadership roles. "It is very hard

to attract a principal to a small school of 20 students and there is not

much in the town itself, just a school and post office that is open three

days a week in the morning. That's basically it service-wise. It's a beautiful

school and the kids very keen and its very well supported by the community,

but how do you attract someone to take leadership roles?"

It is essential in

a small community that teachers want to participate in the community.

If they do not participate in the community it builds up a negative attitude

towards the teacher and eventually towards the school. "It makes it very

difficult to rebuild a positive attitude and confidence in the school

and staff."

Specialist schools

There are currently

two specialist schools set up on the Eyre Peninsula: Cleve with an agriculture

course and Cowell with an aquaculture course. Students who want to attend

these from outside the area, however, do not get Assistance for Isolated

Children (AIC) if it is determined that they can access local secondary

schooling. This 'bypassing' rule means students miss out the opportunity

of these courses.

"My son is going

to apply next year to Cleve to study agriculture. Not only is he going

there because of the Ag. He actually wants to go on and do agronomy or

be an Ag. teacher. Kids like that should have an incentive - especially

now that we are lacking specialist teachers - to go and achieve this expertise

and bring it back to country areas. At the moment the only assistance

he'll get will be rent assistance on Youth Allowance. And he will be staying

down there 7 days a week because we cannot afford for him to commute backwards

and forwards."

Partnerships 21

"Partnerships 21

[a South Australia Education Department initiative] is a worry for us

at Warramboo. We are a small farming community and the call on parents'

time to turn into accountants and lawyers and such and to have to work

out how to run the school . Who's going to have the time to do it?"

School fees

"It's not a bottomless

pit. We really do have to put money in. Parents should be forced to pay

at least something. That's a personal opinion. I don't think we'll make

up the balance without it."

"Someone has worked

out an average that should be applied statewide but that doesn't seem

to take into account isolated country schools. We pay a school fee, but

then when our children need to go on a trip, our trips are to Whyalla

or Port Lincoln, and we have to pay out money for that anyway."

"Personally I disagree

with the school fees. Unless it's something that parents want to put into

a school to make their school kids' life a bit better. But why should

parents and school councils be paying for school computers, be paying

for playgrounds, paying for school building? That's where it's going.

If they were getting something extra, maybe. But here we have no choice

between schools, so to me I disagree. We're not getting the services and

we're paying for the little bit we are getting."

Mixed classes/staffing

formulae

"Sometimes you get

down to having three classes in a group - Years 2, 3 & 4. If a child is

a bit slow in learning, we don't have much choice where to go. The teacher

is quite stretched having three levels of learning. In metropolitan areas

they can get someone to take these children aside. Here you have a volunteer

coming in to try to assist the child. There are some advantages to mixed

classes, as some kids can do higher study, but for slower kids that's

a problem in junior primary."

"The school has X

number of kids for X number of teachers. It's a formula. We have to use

the same formula that city schools have to work by. In the city schools

you have more numbers so you have one teacher for a whole level, whereas

in country areas you have to do vertical grouping. This stretches the

teachers much further in coping with all the needs of those kids in mixed

classes, even with special aide assistance."

Cultural activities

"Sport is seen as

the only community cultural activity. If you are in a rural community

often kids are disadvantaged in a cultural sense. We think they need to

have greater exposure to a diversity of cultural experiences within the

school and the community."

"Many students are

limited in their educational experiences as often parents have only gone

to perhaps Year 10 or 11 at school and this frequently means that the

kids don't aspire to any higher level or have higher goals . We think

this imposes limitations on children's potential. We need to expand the

horizons of the students."

"The children who

are not creative in the sporting area often have abilities in music. One

family I visit, they are paying out of their own pocket for music lessons

for their daughter, and she has a lot of talent. But that family shouldn't

be paying. It would be great if there was more available across the whole

of the Eyre Peninsula."

Music classes

It is very difficult

to study music throughout the Wudinna area. Some students travel to Cummins

every week to get a face to face music lesson. Although there are 'Share

vision' programs where the students study lessons using a video link-up,

there are technical difficulties. The picture drops out and the students

have to go back to DUCT (voice and sound telephone link) to finish their

lessons.

"How can students

learn to play saxophone over a telephone line? Share vision was supposed

to solve some of that, but it always drops out."

Students at Warramboo

study music through Whyalla. However, the previous time the teacher came

out to visit, he arrived too late in the day to visit all the students

on time.

"Currently we are

also severely limited in our music expertise. We were time sharing a music

teacher but because of funding cutbacks we now have students learning

musical instruments over the DUCT and it hasn't been successful because

they see that there isn't the number of students to run a course."

Students with High

Intellectual Potential (SHIP) program

Schools which deliver

the SHIP program only exist in Adelaide, which means that high performing

students are forced to leave school in Year 11 to go to Adelaide. It was

suggested that students could study some of those specialised courses

through Open Access.

Information technology

There is a need for

adequate technological infrastructure, service and expertise to be able

to take advantage of the global environment.

Access to the internet

is more costly than in Adelaide because of the STD charges outside the

local area.

Educational standards

There are few standards

of comparison available to reassure parents that the standard of education

at the school are as good as national standards.

Country Areas Program

The funding of education

under the Commonwealth Country Areas Program in South Australia has been

changed to the Griffiths model. Under the new model, the definition of

rural has widened which has the effect of reducing the amount available

to existing areas. CAP needs to be administered more equitably.

Buses

"My children leave

home at 7.30 in the morning to catch the school bus and some kids don't

get off the bus until 5.30 at night. We know that we can't change the

times these kids are on the bus but we believe that there should be greater

consideration of children's comfort when you are looking at the climate

conditions. Last week it was minus 5 degrees in the morning for winter,

and we have possibly 2 to 3 weeks of between 40 to 47 degrees heat."

Parents are asking

for a reduction of noise levels on the bus, two children to a seat instead

of three, adequate space for school bags and air conditioning on the buses.

"We had to fight to get off-road tyres on the buses as a trial. Some of

the roads we have to drive on are atrocious. Metropolitan people would

be surprised we have to do it. Yet we have to fight to get simple tyres,

let alone air conditioning!"

Another parent raised

bus conditions as a safety issue. The children travel on roads for an

hour and a half with big grain trucks passing by and yet the buses do

not have seat belts. There are also lots of kangaroos on the roads. Children

sit three to a seat when it should only be two to a seat.

There have been a

number of attempts to get the Department to put air conditioning on buses

in the area, without success.

Although parents

have offered to put cooling systems in buses themselves, the department

has not guaranteed that the bus will be not be sent to another school

in the future.

"We've always had

problems in Elliston because they forget that the other half of Elliston

is dirt not sea and once you get over the hill, you might as well be in

Kyancutta. So we have a bit of credibility lack there. It is regularly

over 50 degrees heat."

Many parents travel

by car to meet school buses. They get reimbursed 14c per km by the government

to do this, yet government employees can get up to 50c per km for their

travel. They cannot get school buses extended to meet these children.

Some travel over 30km one way to meet a school bus.

Parent involvement

Parents are very

involved in the school and their voluntary work is relied on in various

capacities, including transporting children to various events. This can

put too much pressure on parents.

"Currently we are

in real dilemma. We have a planned Year 12 trip to Adelaide to see a performance

as part of the English curriculum. Now a parent that had volunteered to

take the bus to Adelaide can't go, and we can't find anyone to go, which

puts the trip in jeopardy. Parents feel responsible, but should they feel

guilty or should this be solved by other agencies? In the city this would

not occur."

Education bureaucracy

It can be frustrating

for parents on the school council to deal with the education bureaucracy.

They feel isolated and powerless when they try to tell the department

what they want or are promised changes or work which fails to get done.

School maintenance

Local tradespeople

can be overworked and may not have the facilities to deal with particular

school maintenance problems. However to hire someone from outside town

can take weeks.

Last

updated 2 December 2001.