Students

7.2 " REGISTØTION

Note 5 The courses of study must be appropriate to the stage of development and potential of each student

7.7 RURAL SCHOOLING .1 Introduction

7.7.3 Students

7.7.3.1 Access and Quality Education

Access and quality of educational delivery are the two major factors affecting educational provision for rural children in remote or isolated areas.

Physical access to schools may involve long periods of travel daily, leading to fatigue, limited time for homework and inability to participate in after-school activities. Availability, cost and safety of transport are also issues. Students may need to live away from home to attend school, with associated financial and emotional costs. Distance education and correspondence school education are also important issues arising from inability to attend school daily, while there are particular concerns resulting from distance from support services and special provision for students with special needs. Students

in

isolated areas have reduced access to wider educational, social and cultural experiences, with distance from educational decision- making centres exacerbating the problem. Recently the Minister for Education and Youth Affairs announced approaches to improve distance education facilities.

The quality of educational delivery in rural locations relates particularly to three issues:

size of school, teaching quality and continuity. Rural high schools are often small. This may result in a limited range of subject choice particularly in areas such as music and languages, in teachers on occasions teaching outside their subject area, in limited support staff and in fewer facilities and resources both in schools and in the wider community.

Students are seen as possibly having the same teacher (and vice versa) for a number of years, and as lacking peer stimulation and competition. Rural schools are further isolated by high transport and communication costs. The provision of specialist and selective high schools, and student movement between schools are not realistic options and thus in comparison with their peers in metropolitan areas, rural studeňts' freedom of school choice is limited.

Rural schools and their communities face added travel costs if they wish to provide students with the same opportunities as their city peers such as excursions, swimming lessons, sport and debating contests. Freight costs are also high.

7.7.3.2 Curriculum

The curriculum available to rural students, especially at the secondary level is regarded as an important issue. Recent research has indicated that in all but the smallest central schools curriculum offerings tend to be at least as broad as those in metropolitan schools. 13 It is argued that the depth and content are important considerations. The ability to offer higher level courses within subject areas to able senior secondary students in small rural schools may be limited. In addition, the curriculum may not be locally and culturally appropriate to students nor responsive to aspects of the specific rural community such as learning environments, student needs and community objectives, expectations and wealth. With regard to the preparation for the whole of life, some believe that an emphasis on living skills is more appropriate and that rural students need to be prepared for living in urban as well as rural environments. Closer school-TAFE links and courses relevant to the rural economy are advocated. As rural schools have difficulty in offering a range of modern languages and music, suggestions for broadening the curriculum included cluster arrangements of schools and sharing of teachers between schools (both government and non-government), use of community curriculum resources and locally available expertise, distance education and correspondence schooling: In provincial centres where there are a number of high schools, it was suggested that rather than each struggling to offer the same program, individual schools could offer, in addition to a comprehensive core, specialisation in particular subjects or subject areas. Some teachers in remote schools advocated specially developed courses or oPPortunities for gifted children, slow learners, early intervention and remedial work.

The breadth of educational and social experiences available to rural students is also a concern.

The Commonwealth Schools Commission, for example, recommends the extension of Austudy payments to allow students to undertake an additional year of secondary schooling in a larger centre of population after completing Year 12, in order to facilitate transition to employment and further study. Other recommendations include a rural-urban student exchange scheme and assistance with excursions such as the provision of a school bus.

Those concerned about the small central schools believe that there needs to be an adequate range of secondary subjects, resources and facilities, access to specialist teachers and funding fir special programs and initiatives. The narrow range of curriculum choice in remote small secondary schools is seen as limiting job and higher education opportunities. A recent study of central schools found some experimentation with various frameworks to offer as wide a range of secondary subjects and subject levels as possible. Small student numbers, however, have meant that subjects may be offered at the 2 Unit level only and that very few schools were able to offer Other Approved Studies. 14

7.7.3.3 Boarding Facilities

Students may be sent to schools in provincial and metropolitan areas to study. Parents' associations are concerned that, as a result, some parents experience real hardship but that the alternative is daily, tiring travel for their children and the inability to study some subjects.

Both parents' interest groups and students believed assistance could be provided in terms of:

• a family style environment in boarding facilities for students;

• funding to assist parents to support their children in boarding schools and hostels;

• attachment of hostels to all medium size, rural high schools especially for primary correspondence school students who attended school one day a week;

• more boarding facilities for girls;

• per capita funding to boarding institutions;

• preferential placement and financial assistance for isolated students attending agricultural and selective high schools, and for gifted and talented students to attend specialist educational facilities which cannot be provided locally.

7.7.3.4 Students with Special Needs

With regard to students with special needs, suggestions were made to the Committee concerning the provision of more adequate student support services, including health and welfare agencies. Children with disabilities are seen as needing intensive, ongoing assistance, early diagnosis and intervention, and access to appropriate support and counselling personnel, possible through itinerant services. Teachers and parent interest groups are concerned about provisions in remote areas. Suggestions for improvements include the establishment of a Special Education Unit in Broken Hill as a pilot program. Facilities could include family accommodation, assessment services, instruction and training by educational and health professionals and regular home visits by itinerant teachers.

Teachers and specialist support staff have recommended the location of a number of support units attached to the same regular school in country areas to facilitate flexible support services especially for students with multiple disabilities. Planned distance education improvements include better access to special education services.

Provision for the needs of other types of disadvantaged students may also present particular problems in rural localities. Problems relating to access and quality of educational delivery are seen as combining in rural areas with distinctive attitudes and traditions and limited vocational opportunities to result in educational disadvantage and inequality in educational outcomes such as retention rates, which tend to be lower in some rural than in some urban areas.

7.7.3.5 ` Distance Education

The provision of distance education in NSW in the form of teaching and resources for students in remote areas is an important issue in rural education. It is treated briefly from the perspective of student needs here, and more fully in section 7.8 of this Report. Plans are under way to improve current provisions. Initiatives will aim to

• bring the services of the Correspondence School and TAFE much closer to isolated rural students;

• give all NSW students much better access to extra subject choices not available at their local secondary school or TAFE college.

In addition, Correspondence School students will have more opportunity to contact and regularly meet their teachers and other students through schools in their region and regional Distance Education Centres.

At present students have access through the Correspondence School and the School of the Air to a wide range of technologies, in addition to printed materials, such as radio transceivers, television, electronic mail through keylink, telephone using 008 facilities, audio and video tapes, computers and face-to-face teaching through teacher visits and student field trips.

The Correspondence School also provides a personalised pre-school program.

Parent interest groups support the application of technology to distance education, favouring access to the School of the Air for every geographically isolated child enrolled in a correspondence school. Disadvantages of current technology such as atmospheric interference with radio signals and the high capital and recurrent costs of some equipment have led to suggestions for investigation of other technology. For example, some parent interest groups favour the provision of satellite services for distance education delivery and the use of telephone modems linking computer terminals to allow isolated students access to a centrally- based teacher. There were also suggestions that the Correspondence School be decentralised, with provision for more face-to-face contact between students and teachers via home visits, mobile classroom units and mini-schools.

Trials of electronic data delivery using facsimile (fax), electronic mail and video text have been conducted as part of the Department of Education's investigation of improvements to distance education. The use of satellites and teleconferencing facilities is also being investigated. In general, various technologies such as visual and voice contact in education have the major aim of bringing the teacher closer to the student to enhance learning. Some would argue that a mix of technologies should be selected in terms of the best and most cost effective way of achieving this aim.(mn

7

.7.4 Teachers

7.7.4.1 Training and Development

The lack of adequate and specific preparation for rural school appointments has been criticised, Particularly by those who point out that for many newly trained teachers the first appointment is to schools in remote and provincial areas. Many of these people have been from urban areas, apprehensive about seeking rural teaching appointments. Once in these schools, teachers may have limited access to professional development opportunities such as in-service courses and information days, involvement in syllabus committees and public examination marking and contact with peers in other schools.

Suggested approaches to the pre-service training of teachers relating to teaching in schools in remote areas include:

• course content concerning the strengths, challenges and inconveniences of rural life, and input from teachers experienced in country teaching in pre-service course content;

• attractively produced information promoting country teaching for final year students;

• liaison between teacher employers such as the Department of Education and the teacher training institutions about ways to better prepare teachers for rural service;

• practice teaching in country areas supported by theory about teaching

in

these locations, and information on special education and work with mobile resource units;

• possible appointment of trainees to the school where practice teaching was carried out if the trainees were suitable;

• off-campus pre-service teacher education courses in rural towns to enable mature age rural residents to train as teachers;

• provision for some part of teacher training, such as the final year or semester, to be held in a country teacher training institution.

In addition to more appropriate teacher preparation, teacher induction and support during

appointments were regarded as crucial features in helping teachers to adjust to teaching in remote areas. Other suggestions for improving in-service development provisions were:

• using communication technologies to provide in-service courses;

• encouraging school-based and district-based in-service activities;

• promoting visits by consultants to assist teachers in developing and implementing special programs;

• encouraging inter-school visitation by teachers of small schools;

• allowing extra costs of time, travel, accommodation and relief arising from in-service provision for rural teachers.

7.7.4.2 Recruitment

Concern about the application of "across the board recruitment procedures to schools in remote areas has been expressed by parents, teachers and educational administrators.

While many welcome the vitality which new teachers bring to their work, these teachers' inexperience and their high percentage on staffs in remote settings such

as

central schools or their appointment to one-teacher or small primary schools cause concern. Added to the scarcity of experienced staff is the lack of executive staff such as secondary head teachers in central schools. In addition, small schools may be dependent on part-time casual teachers.

Suggested approaches to the problem of recruiting staff to rural areas share the common underlying assumption that "across the board" appointment procedures are not suitable for rural area appointments. Suggestions include:

• final year scholarships for teachers of subject areas in short supply with a country practicum during their pre-service teaching training;

• ensuring that all staff appointments to remote settings comprise people who have had at least one year's previous teaching experience in a larger school;

• staffing schools with specific needs on an individual basis by special fitness appointments;

• using contracts to attract teachers to difficult-to-staff areas;

• adding flexibility to regulations to appoint executive staff to schools with high staff turnover;

• providing greater promotional opportunities to attract experienced teachers to difficult- to-staff locations;

• establishing permanent part-time teacher positions for central schools;

• establishing a special executive structure for rural schools so that assistant teachers in faculties such as Art and Physical Education could have a supervisor in an executive position.

Some recruitment issues are being addressed in the Rural Schools Plan of the NSW Department of Education.(

16

Initiatives to attract teachers to rural areas include the award of over 100 Rural Teacher Education Scholarships in each of the years 1989 to 1992 to provide schools with teachers committed to teaching rural students. In addition, to increase the number of able, experienced teachers in small rural schools, the Department plans to appoint principals on merit to the 244 smallest primary schools as the teacher-in-charge positions become vacant.

7.7.4.3 Working Conditions and Staff Retention

Teachers in rural schools report difficulties which include poor accommodation, social and cultural isolation and lack of educational, medical and financial facilities. Some teachers working in schools in remote areas felt that their pre-service training had not helped them

in meeting problems encountered in their jobs, and that more experienced teachers were needed in these schools. Those conducting studies in remote schools, while impressed with the high level of professional commitment of the teachers, also noted that coping with isolation, either geographical, cultural, social or professional, was a problem for many of these teachers. Many were young, from urban areas and had little knowledge or experience of rural communities.c" >

Results of a study of central schools in Western Region indicated that principals saw professional advantages in teaching in remote areas. The strengths of central schools included the opportunity for making close personal links between the school and the community, and for responding to student and community needs in compensating for geographical isolation. Working with respected, hard working and professionally committed colleagues was rewarding and the smallness of central schools allowed personalised tuition, close knowledge of pupil abilities, better discipline and close links with parents. The perceived disadvantages of these schools centred on staffing issues, that is, the frequent appointment of inexperienced staff, the lack of executive staff in secondary subject areas and the high teacher turnover. Heavy workloads for principals and the limited opportunity for within- school professional development were also cited as disadvantages, but the researchers reported that most respondents believed that the advantages outweighed the disadvantagеs.(18) Obviously these were people who had adjusted to working in remote areas and derived satisfaction from their work.

However, the high turnover of teachers is a major concern of residents in remote areas who feel that staffing stability is an important factor in quality education. Obviously teachers deriving satisfaction from their jobs are more likely to stay in them. Results of a recent study of second-year out teachers in difficult to staff schools indicated that the most important sources of job satisfaction for these respondents were support from fellow staff and interaction with students. Very few had gained satisfaction from relations with the local community and in general had not adjusted as well to it as they had to school tasks. Analysis of results suggested that acceptance by the community, quality of accommodation and the availability of cultural facilities were strong predictions of planned stability in the present job, especially for primary school teachers. For secondary school teachers, support from executive staff and peers and stress levels also influenced decisions about choosing to stay in the locality ^О9)

Thus, rural schools are generally seen to have difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified staff, with the high attrition rate leading to problems in school program continuity and systematic staff development. Particular problems occur in providing effective teaching in subject areas where there is a general shortage of teachers. A widely supported approach to retaining teachers in remote schools is the provision of incentives to stay. Teachers, educational administrators, community members and tertiary institution staff suggested similar career and personal incentives and improved working conditions:

(a) Career Incentives

accelerated progression for executive staff;

special promotion after extended service;

recognition of country service for promotion;

improved opportunities for professional development through induction programs, in-service courses, access to further study and study leave;

• continuation of the Transfer Points System;

• flexible executive staffing such as up-grading advertised positions for which no one applied;

provision of career paths for teachers who choose to stay for long periods in remote schools and "outs" for those who have stayed too long.

(b) Personal Incentives Provision of:

• better/quality housing;

• housing loans for home purchase in a more favoured area on completion of remote area service;

• subsidies to alleviate isolation such as car registration, travel, phones;

• financial incentives such as higher salaries, lump sums for remote area service completion, assistance with children's education;

• travel concessions, increased travel allowance;

• a car for access to provincial cities,

a

4 wheel drive vehicle for isolated area travel, wear and tear vehicle coverage;

• improved leave conditions such as flexible leave for travel to specialised services, extra leave after

a

specific service length, earlier long service leave.

(c) Improved Working Conditions

• time for management and administration in small schools;

• increased clerical support;

• better school facilities;

• better professional development facilities;

• access to professional assistance through, for example, the appointment of more Aboriginal Education Assistants and discretionary funding for principals, provision to deal with stress, access to regional consultants, better communication with regional and head offices.

Suggestions, other than incentives, for retaining staff in remote areas were:

• dealing with schools in remote areas on an individual needs basis concerning staffing issues;

• increasing parent, teacher and community confidence in the effectiveness and viability of central schools;

• giving the community opportunities for more involvement in their local school to increase feelings of ownership and community pride such as establishing a School Council;

• recruiting staff from the local area or region.

7.7.4.4 Flexible Staffing and Enrolment Policies

The small enrolments of schools in remote areas mean that they have smaller staffs than Iarger schools. At the secondary level, small schools, especially secondary departments of central schools, are not able to offer the same curriculum range as schools with larger enrolments and may not have executive staff providing leadership to a staff of which a high percentage are newly trained teachers. In addition, secondary teachers on occasions may have to teach outside their subject area. Suggestions for flexible staffing and enrolment policies include:

• the provision of a basic staffing allocation, including full-time librarian, counsellor, careers adviser and resource teacher, to all secondary schools;

• increased staffing and release from face-to-face teaching;