Rural and Remote Education - Victoria

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Rural

and Remote Education - Victoria

Meeting with secondary students

in Bairnsdale, 11 November 1999 - notes

Students from Bairnsdale

Secondary College, Nagle College and Orbost Secondary School.

The following issues

were identified and discussed:

Computers and
internet
Austudy
Subject choice
Boarding
Travel and transport
Reconciliation
Students with
disabilities
Teachers

Computers and internet

"The ratio of computers

to students is pretty good. But there are problems with computers being

booked up by junior students at times when seniors are supposed to be

able to use them. In comparison with Melbourne students we are disadvantaged

in our use of computers because they have laptops. This can result in

a lack of IT skills here and a drop in marks. We need computer courses

so our IT levels are kept up."

"Internet access

is inadequate in Bairnsdale. Only 4 of our computers are on the net, so

there are not enough places. After-school access is fairly adequate. For

access at lunchtime we have to book in advance."

Austudy

"Maybe a lot of students

are deterred from going on to Uni because of accommodation costs and being

away from home. A bit more money could be added to rural children's Austudy.

That might entice them a bit more to go on."

"If they need more

money they have to get a job, which can affect their studying times. So

their work habits go down."

"When Melbourne kids

go to Uni they don't have to look for accommodation because they can just

stay at home. But kids from Bairnsdale have to find accommodation and

that costs money."

Subject choice

Orbost: "At most

schools in this district subject choices are pretty limited. There's only

one LOTE subject at our school (Indonesian). It's hard when subjects clash

as well because of the limited choices. There are a couple of compulsory

subjects."

One Orbost student

is studying Business Management via Distance Education. She reported that

"It would be better to have a classroom and a teacher that could help

with whatever you're researching. It helps getting input from someone

else. There is a support teacher but it's all my responsibility. It's

up to me to find someone."

BSC: "We have over

100 subject choices we can choose from and they're all taught at our school.

We have German and Japanese for our LOTE but they're not compulsory. We've

got three core subjects we have to do in Year 9-10: English, Maths and

Health."

Nagle: "Choice is

pretty good although there are a few clashes. We can go on exchange as

well. We have to have one science in Year 10 and we the opportunity to

do VCE subjects in Year 10. There's about 5-6 choices in Science, including

Forensic Science."

Boarding

"If students have

to board they have to find their own place. They waste time finding places.

Boarding gives the student more time for studying each day whereas if

they had to travel they'd be losing study time. There's nowhere in Bairnsdale

where students could board together. It would be easier on them and they'd

be more settled in school."

"It puts a lot of

strain on the kids being away from home. They need someone to talk to."

Travel and transport

"There are disadvantages

for rural VCE students who have to go into the city for tutorials at the

Unis and revision studies. There's the cost of travelling and it's a 4

hour drive into Melbourne. And there can be the cost of accommodation

too."

"And just travelling

to school every day from Lakes Entrance [into Nagle College in Bairnsdale]

takes 45-50 minutes by bus and then you have to come home again. It leaves

less time for studying. You can stay after school for sport but you'd

have to make your own way home. There's only one bus each way each day."

"Sometimes even getting

on a bus is a hassle. The laws on buses - you have to get on a certain

bus at a certain stop that the school has set. It works in the city but

it can't work in little towns. It affects students and anyone wanting

to get on buses to come into Bairnsdale. Only students can be on the bus.

Some buses are just for students from one school."

"Our bus has to wait

until about 4 o'clock before we can go home. That's about 35 minutes after

we finish school. Se we sit around doing absolutely nothing for half an

hour. And then it's another 20 minute, half an hour ride home. We don't

get home until 4.30. I don't know whether it's been tried to do anything

about it, like getting another bus. It also happens in the morning. We

have to go in half an hour earlier so this bus can drop us off and go

and get some other kids. It does two runs. We can only get into the library

at 8.30am."

"If you don't want

to go to school at starting time you have to pay. Say if you've got an

exam. It's $3.60 from Paynesville one way. It's so expensive. It's easier

to walk! To Lakes Entrance it's pretty expensive on the bus too. If you

need a concession card you have to buy one."

Reconciliation

"It's a really big

issue, especially in this area. There's a big lack of understanding. People

say they don't want to say 'sorry'. But they don't understand what it's

about. It's a pretty racist town. Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance. There's

a lot of fighting at the secondary college."

"The teachers generally

treat the Aboriginals differently to the white people. They don't really

discipline them as much. A few of us are in 'Voices of the Future' and

we have tried in the past to do stuff so we could come together. It worked

for a while and then it just stuffs up after a while. It's a youth group

and we do things in the community. We've just helped set up a drop-in

centre. We've got an Aboriginal youth worker working there full time.

The racial issues there are pretty good. I don't think there's been a

fight there yet. We also run band nights that are supposed to be drug

and alcohol free. A fair few fights break out at that between the white

people and the black people. Whether the white people started it or the

black people started it, no-one really knows. So we can't really do anything

to stop that. The centre was a VoF initiative. VoF was set up about three

years ago by students from both Bairnsdale secondary schools."

"You see people getting

discriminated because of their colour down the street. They don't really

want to go to school and get it there too."

A Koorie student

at Nagle College reported that "At first it was really hard because there

were hardly any Koories there. So I felt kind of out of place. But it's

gotten better and I just get treated like everybody else. Except just

a few people ..."

At Nagle, however,

"we don't have enough Koorie students to have a Koorie room. I think that's

compulsory after you have so many students. I think that's helped a lot

because they're not set out from everyone else. They have to part of everyone

else."

A BSC student responded:

"If everybody at Bairnsdale Secondary College treated Aboriginal students

like everybody else it would be ok! Including the teachers. Because it's

just ridiculous."

Students with disabilities

Both Orbost and Nagle

have ramps and the two Nagle students in wheelchairs are picked up by

a taxi and takes them home again every night. At Bairnsdale Secondary

College ramps were installed for the one student in a wheelchair. At Orbost

"students who do have mental disabilities have a special person there

to help them".

"There's one guy

with one leg shorter than the other. He wears a special shoe. The stairs

are fine for him. People tease him. Sometimes the students with intellectual

disabilities might say or do stupid things and people make fun of them

for that. Other than that it's pretty good. People know really not to

make fun of them for their problems. And they do have friends, so it's

easier for them - they're not totally isolated."

Teachers

Describe the situation:

"They don't understand us and they cannot communicate with us properly.

Some teachers don't care what happens to their pupils. If one student

is naughty the rest of the class is punished for it. They favour their

'A' students. They don't listen to us properly. They also favour the disadvantaged

people."

Recommendations:

"They need more teachers to understand students and their problems. Teachers

need to understand to treat people equally."

Describe the situation:

"Most students don't want to learn because they don't like the teacher.

They wag and get into trouble to get attention."

Recommendations:

"We need to get better teachers who understand how we feel; get more help

with our work; discuss the problems with both teachers and students in

an equal way and try to fix the problem."

Responding, one of

the other students pointed out that "Once you get to Year 10, Year 11

and 12, they understand you more, you're more on their level and you can

relate better with them. I find we work better. You learn to get along

with them. I like our teachers."

"You always get a

couple of bad ones. But most of the teachers at our school are pretty

good."

"There are some old-fashioned

teachers. And they don't understand how we feel."

Really positive

things about going to school in East Gippsland

The canteen, social

life, beautiful environment, small classes (but not all classes are small),

everyone knows each other.

Last

updated 2 December 2001.