Many studies have highlighted the phenomenon of rural decline in parts of the developed world, summarised as a loss in agricultural employment leading to a decline in the number and size of rural settlements. This study of small towns in part of Australia's inland rural "heartland" employs the concepts of interactional rural community of…

Understanding the links between resource dependence and socio-economic wellbeing has long been a subject of interest amongst social scientists in North America. By contrast, relatively few Australian studies exist on this topic. This is despite the significant role of resource industries in shaping Australia's economic and social geography. Where…

Although any "choice" young people make about higher education incorporates a subtle interplay of individual agency, circumstance and social structure, the centrality of identity in such life choices for rural young people cannot be underestimated. Since mobility is an ontological absolute for most rural young people accessing…

Governments, schools and communities throughout Australia are working to improve school attendance among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students using strategies such as incentive programs, improvement to literacy and numeracy skills, school-family partnerships, transport to school, attendance monitoring, ensuring that school is a welcoming…

Governments, schools and communities throughout Australia are working to improve school attendance among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students using strategies such as incentive programs, improvement to literacy and numeracy skills, school-family partnerships, transport to school, attendance monitoring, ensuring that school is a welcoming…

Governments, schools, and communities throughout Australia are working to improve school attendance among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students using numerous strategies. Currently, however, little is known about the effectiveness of these strategies and the key factors which underpin programs and strategies which are successful. This…

The study is situated within a national youth organisation called the Australian Air League Inc (Air League). We examine the recent progress of the Air League in South Australia, starting as a loose network of volunteers engaged in a sporadic array of activities, to become a learning community that worked collaboratively and then developed further…

Community profiling is a tool that aims to help practitioners collect and make use of varied data to understand the diversity of stakeholders and issues in communities where they are delivering natural resource management programs. This paper will discuss some of the problems experienced with community profiling and propose a shift in the way in…

This paper aims to identify the links that show how the establishment of an Aboriginal Elders Group in the Wagga Wagga community has contributed to the social capital of the Wagga Wagga Aboriginal Community. The paper will highlight the key educational episodes: oral history program; incorporation of the Elders group; self governance of the group,…

Rural communities such as Stanthorpe on Queensland's Southern Downs, in Australia, are familiar with turbulent environmental, social, technological and economic change and the adversity that frequently accompanies such changes. The capacity of individuals and communities to bounce back from adversity is referred to as resilience. Participation in…

Educators are often torn between impositions of the institution in which they work and the imperatives of their individual courses or units and the impact this tension might have on student satisfaction with the learning experience. It is common to hear that students must graduate with multiple generic attributes or skills, yet these skills may…

Building the research capacity of the vocational education and training (VET) sector is a key concern for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). To assist with this objective, NCVER supports an academic scholarship program, whereby VET practitioners are sponsored to undertake university study at honours', master's or…

The Young People and Community Space Project documents the ways in which young people (aged 12 through 24 years) in New South Wales (Australia) use community space and explores ways in which conflicts in the use of community space can be addressed. Community space, for purposes of the study, includes privately owned places such as shopping centers…

Since the 1970s, Tamworth has become well known as Australia's "country music capital". Its annual Country and Western Music Festival has become the leading event of its type in Australia, attracting over 60,000 visitors every year. The festival, and country music more generally, have become central to the town's identity and tourism…

A study that investigated how use of community facilities and feelings of belonging were related to the quality of life of 132 Australian adolescents, half with mental retardation. Life satisfaction scores for students with mental retardation correlated significantly with reported levels of activity, friends, and support in the neighborhood.…