Two 1980 surveys of school staff, team member interviews, and examination of project films and documents supplied information for final evaluation of the ROCTAPUS (Really Outstanding Color Television About Practically Unlimited Subjects) program, a closed-circuit, magazine format, videotaped, television series intended to enrich the experiential…

The National Conference on Rural Education, a major event in the 1979 calendar of the Education Department of Western Australia, was held under the auspices of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Educationalists, government, and community representatives…

Four Priority Country Area overviews, one State overview and one Project Profile are included in this report from the Priority Country Area Program (PCAP), designed to improve the educational opportunities of rural Queensland children. The program resulted from a 1977-79 Schools Commission report suggesting that rural students may be disadvantaged…

Begun in 1978 to bring manual arts experience to children in Queensland's "disadvantaged country areas," the Mobile Manual Arts Unit by the end of the 1980 school year had visited 16 separate locations, involving 25 different schools. A total of 727 students had participated (out of a target population of 992 pupils) and a total of 259…

The possibility of creating a "learning community" as a possible alternative or supplement to traditional indicators of community well-being is explored in relation to Australia's stability. It is argued that traditional economic rationalism-based indicators of community well-being, such as level of unemployment, frequently cause…

This annotated bibliography was prepared for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (Australia) to assist in its inquiry into rural and remote education in Australia. It includes highly relevant, more recent, seminal, theoretical, and policy-oriented Australian materials. Only items directly related to rural and remote education have…

This report presents synopses of case studies highlighting workable local strategies to improve employment, education, training, and children's services in rural and remote Australia. Common features of each study include a description of the local context, the targeted group for each program, significant features, sustainability factors, major…

Noting that the majority of teachers of boys are women, this book provides a series of case studies in which experienced women teachers talk about enjoying and using boys' energy in the classroom, tuning in to the ways that boys communicate, and varying lessons to suit all learning styles. Case studies from various schools in Australia illustrate…

In rural Australia, education beyond year 10 involves leaving home. Rural families may influence young people to stay home. Family influence and culture should not always be considered a deficit, for the family provides support when jobs are scarce. Rural families' social capital and rural resilience should be considered in developing rural school…

A survey of 85 rural and metro academics at two Australian universities found that rural faculty experienced more autonomy, cross-disciplinary stimulation, and connection to community. Rural disadvantages included professional isolation, fewer opportunities for research and advancement, and metropolitan management structures. Most of those with…

The Griffith Service Access Frame (GSAF) is a model used for quantifying the access disadvantage to educational services of remote and rural areas in Australia. The model was specifically developed to assist policymakers and administrators in allocating resources. The problem with the current funding formula used by the Australian federal…

Pilot projects designed to increase the access of young unemployed Australians to adult and community education (ACE) were undertaken in one rural and one metropolitan adult, community and further education region with significant rates of unemployment among individuals aged 15-24 years. Two consortia were selected to conduct the pilot programs,…

During 1985 the Education Department installed two-way radios in 44 remote secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, to improve turn-around time for correspondence assignments. Subsequently, teacher supervisors at Melbourne's Correspondence School sought ways to further augument audio interactivity with computer networking. Computer equipment was…

In late 1979 and 1980 a survey was conducted of 207 pastoral lease owners and managers in the north of South Australia to determine their education and training requirements. The pastoral industry grazes sheep and cattle on native pastures and shrubs, is beset by widely fluctuating rainfall and production, sells its products of wool and meat on a…

Case studies of local development projects in Scotland, Norway, Australia, and the United States (Minnesota) indicate that federal education programs of a "generative" nature (those linking educational improvement to other improvement efforts, emphasizing process, and stimulating grass-roots participation) are most likely to promote…