The Importance Of Rural Education

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Australia prides itself on being the land of the ‘fair go’, a land of equal opportunity, where everyone has a reasonable chance in life. By comparison with other countries, Australia is relatively fair in many of its social aspects. Yet, this reputation has been tarnished as the divide between rich and poor is widened. The growing gap results educational inequality in the marginalised and disadvantaged groups such as Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander students, students in the regional, rural and remote area, and low socioeconomic status students as one of its side effects.

As a direct victim of educational inequality, Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander students are facing many educational disadvantages (Dean, 2010). There is sufficient …show more content…

Historically, rural education was critical of its quality. Even today, the quality of rural education is still a concern of Australia’s society. The key quality issues concern subject choice, education delivery both teacher and technology issues and resource provision (Perry & Lubienski, 2014). With a smaller student and teacher population, the range of subjects that can be economically offered is restricted. The response of a survey shows that over 25% of the respondents (students) are not getting choices once they come to choose subjects in secondary schools. Likewise, schools in rural and remote areas have higher rates of teacher shortages and teacher turnovers than urban areas (Stokes, Stafford & Holdsworth, 2013). These issues prevent the school from delivering the full curriculum, making it difficult for schools to maintain continuity in the teaching force (Lamb, Glover & Walstab, 2014). Correspondingly, the provision of learning through new technologies is identified as one way of assistance to overcome educational difficulties associated with distance. However, substantial difficulties were also identified. For instance, many parents found the cost of providing internet access for their children at home extremely expensive. In addition, the download speed is very slow due to the types of telephone systems available in these areas (Stokes, Stafford & Holdsworth, 2013). Under those circumstances, country students are less likely to finish school, tend to have relatively lower education performance than students in metropolitan

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