Recent reports by Australian government agencies and Indigenous organizations have highlighted the failure of education systems to meet the learning needs of Indigenous students. In response to these reports and to the concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents, the Queensland Indigenous Education Consultative Body commissioned a…

Vocational education and training (VET) has been given greater emphasis in Australian schools with the inclusion of seven Framework courses that contribute to students' Higher School Certificate and also count in students' University Admissions Index scores. A study examined the perceptions of people involved in VET programs for year 11.…

Looking at rural Australia, this paper addresses the issue of providing adequate resources to create high quality and diversified higher education environments and the need for more data on the quality of rural student life. A review of the literature shows the underrepresentation of rural students in higher education; rural barriers to…

Wesley College, a private urban secondary school, operates a campus in the small, rural town of Clunes, Victoria (Australia), where ninth-grade students can spend a term in a community-based, experientially-derived curriculum to enhance their sense of self and community. Students are accommodated in houses of eight as single-sex groups and are…

In 2001, around 1,200 of 6,700 providers in the Australian public vocational education and training (VET) system delivered adult and community education (ACE) programs, which attracted 497,500 people. ACE programs accounted for 20.7 million hours of training and 972,500 subject enrolments. Vocational ACE programs accounted for 238,700 students,…

A research project called Support Services for Flexible Delivery was commissioned by the Australian organization TAFE (technical and further education) Frontiers. Since 1995, the project has been conducted by using a research approach called the Generalizations from Case Studies (GCS) research method. The GCS method was developed, tested, and…

Australian schooling is undergoing a revolution in structure, management, and organization brought about by the advent of information and communication technologies in educational settings. This paper emphasizes the value of relationships between universities and schools in enhancing the quality of educational services provided to learning…

Case study of a small elementary school in rural New South Wales (Australia) found that the community's history, the size of the school, and the relationship between school staff, students, and stakeholders contributed to development of a learning community. Suggests that becoming a learning community involves an ongoing, developmental, and…

Recommends implementing specialized preparation for rural preschool teachers to function effectively as distance educators. Addresses differences between urban and rural environments affecting education; the important role of parents as educators in distance education; and the need for distance education preschool teachers to reconceptualize their…

The taskforce charged with developing a national framework for rural education policy in Australia reports that such a policy should allow for local differences and provide flexibility in implementation by states and territories. Essential enablers of quality education in rural locations--personnel, relevant curriculum, information communication…

Distance education has been offered to young students in Australia for about 100 years. Recently, information and communication technology has been introduced as a means to improve communication, but not all remote students have access to this new technology. This has made it difficult to arrange collaborative learning for distance-education…

This document consists of an overview and five papers examining the findings of a comparative analysis of literacy practices in urban and rural Australian communities. The study included case studies of 23 families in 6 communities and documentation of the literacy practices within the 9 schools attended by the children of those families.…

As part of the new Victorian Certificate of Education, the state of Victoria, Australia, implemented changes to secondary mathematics courses in order to cater to the needs and aspirations of all students by using a variety of teaching and assessment strategies. The first year that the changes were fully implemented for grade 12 was 1992. A…

This document summarizes the proceedings of a national forum for persons with an interest in and commitment to research into issues affecting people living in rural and remote areas across Australia. The six sub-themes of the conference were: (1) the role of the community in teacher preparation; (2) the quality of education in rural Australia; (3)…

This paper examines the tenure of teachers in the South Western, North Western, and Sunshine Coast regions of Australia. These regions provide contrasts of isolation, climate, and apparent attractiveness. Research indicates that rapid teacher turnover in rural areas is a significant concern. Data collected since 1975 suggest that the average days…