The Importance Of Equal Education Opportunity

It is agreed that all students ought to receive equal education opportunity. Students face other life factors which include but are not limited to, isolation, limited access to resources and socio-economic status. This means that some students may have to work harder to access their academic opportunities.

Isolation of communities in Australia is an issue for the education of students. Australia is such a large country and so sparsely populated. Meaning that some communities in very remote areas often have small populations which can have more limited academic funding available to schools. A lot of these communities find it extremely hard to attract and retain good quality educators. Most isolated towns have less income available to the

The educators must have the confidence that schools and communities will support them. The administrators of remote schools must receive the identical recourses in these community areas as in the city. Dr. Lietz (Lietz, 2015) said “schools that are further away from the major centres find it harder to access resources even in the digital age “and that “one of the reporting variables is always the location of schools in rural and remote areas perform at lower levels.” (Lietz, 2015, pp.18/19). The students of these remote areas need to be learning the same technological advances at the same speed, equal to the education curriculum in other countries around the world. This is supported by Dr. Sara Glover of the Mitchel Institute who says “Education needs to be more future-oriented, and, more than ever, we need our education system to foster capable, curious, resilient and adaptable young people”. Murdoch (2008), touches on the need for teachers and schools to be made accountable for the performances of students, teachers, and schools. “Evidence suggests that providing student teachers with practicum placements in rural schools has a positive impact on their attitudes toward living in rural communities. Strategies that encourage students to train in rural areas may improve recruitment and retention of quality teachers in these areas”, NSW Department

Low socio economic status along with isolation and limited resources are matters that need immediate attention as Mr. Murdoch touches on (2008). The Mitchell Institute have done a comprehensive study on these related issues it was discovered that “At all stages of learning and development, there remains a strong and persistent link between a young person’s socio economic status and educational outcomes”, Mitchell institute fact sheet