In late 2013, under the leadership of Prime Minister Abbott, the Australian Government announced a new policy designed to increase attendance rates in remote community schools--the Remote School Attendance Strategy (RSAS). The model assumed that employing local people in the program, which was designed to support parents get their children to…

The benefits of school and community partnerships are well documented in government reports and the academic literature. A number of government initiatives have been introduced to actively involve parents and the community in school matters. In addition, various agencies have produced resource kits and guidelines to assist schools and communities…

Purpose: School consolidation reforms are underway in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The purpose of this paper is to establish an evidence base of research literature on school consolidation in regional, rural and remote locations. Design/methodology/approach: A scoping study of empirical literature on school consolidation, with a…

Over the 10 years of 'Closing the Gap', several interventions designed to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have been trialled. In 2014 the Australian Government announced the 'Flexible Literacy for Remote Primary Schools Programme' (FLFRPSP) which was designed primarily to improve the literacy outcomes of…

In the journal article "Did DI do it? The impact of a programme designed to improve literacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote schools," Guenther and Osborne (2020) compare schoolwide NAPLAN reading scale scores for 25 Very Remote Indigenous schools implementing Direct Instruction through the Flexible Literacy…

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that are considered remote to metropolitan-dwelling, non-Indigenous Australians experience challenges attracting and retaining qualified teachers. Initial teacher education (ITE) is known to inadequately prepare teachers to engage Indigenous Australian students, however, we understand little about…

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to "forced innovation" in the health education industry. High-quality training of the future rural health workforce is crucial to ensure a pipeline of rural health practitioners to meet the needs of rural communities. This paper describes the implementation of an online multidisciplinary teaching…

This article explores the effect university widening participation activities have had in improving access to university of students from rural government-run schools in New South Wales, Australia. An effective effort to evaluate the success of widening participation programs in rural Australia, specifically New South Wales, has not been achieved…

In order to assess and then to identify promising approaches for school leadership within rural communities, it can be helpful to reframe struggling schools as trauma-affected schools. Acknowledging the impacts of childhood trauma on students and their learning allows school leaders to undertake professional learning both with and for their…

Training and support will be vital in developing and maintaining a skilled disability workforce in the roll-out of individualised disability funding across Australia. Technology has the potential to deliver training and support that is more accessible and cost-efficient in geographically isolated regions. The current qualitative study explored…

Effective professional learning communities are crucial for supporting and developing the practice and identity formation of beginning teachers. Professional networks facilitate collegial learning and continuous improvement of professional practice of all teachers, and are especially important for out of field teachers. Rural practice is…

Many students on the autism spectrum attend mainstream schools and face challenges coping with the demands of this complex environment. Education in rural and remote locations poses additional challenges due to limited access to additional resourcing, specialised support, and services. This case study describes a problem-solving, collaborative…

The 2016 Good University Guide demonstrated that Australian rural and regional universities are outperforming more established, and highly internationally ranked city peers in relation to student perceptions of the quality of teaching that they experience. Recently, many universities have encouraged academic staff to rethink the delivery method…

A Performance and Development Framework has been introduced by the New South Wales Department of Education, the largest provider of schooling in Australia, during a period of unparalleled reform. Engagement with the Framework is mandatory for all the Department's teachers, and is linked to improving student outcomes through enhanced teacher…

Authentic student-led inquiry and exposure to scientific research impact students' science career choices. Given Australian students decline in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] skills, knowledge of whether such programmes impact student learning is critical. This research examined the short-term impact of an authentic,…