Sidney Myer Chair of Rural
Education and Communities
Professor John Halsey
School of Education
Access to Quality Education and Human Services in Australian Rural Communities:
Optional or Essential?
Developing Sustainable Societies: Challenges and Perspectives Conference
Flinders in the City, March 2011
Abstract
Vibrant, productive rural communities are integral to Australia's sustainability and indeed, globally.
Population growth and an increasing preference for urban living linked with the challenges of food
security, water supply, energy sufficiency, environmental health and territorial security underpin
this position. However, in order for rural communities to survive, prosper and be the innovative
places and spaces essential for a world with a population of 9 to 10 billion by 2050, those who live
and work there need access to high quality education and other basic human services. This paper
discusses why rural communities are central to the sustainability of the nation and then proposes
policy principles for framing human services for rural contexts in light of this imperative. Data
collected in 2010 at rural shows in South Australia, from rural principals Australia wide, the
threatened closure of a country hospital and other sources, have been used to do this.
Background and introduction
The importance of rural communities for Australia’s future, and indeed the globe’s, is going to
increase over the next 4 decades- this is the premise upon which this paper is based. The
fundamental driver of the premise is population growth. By the middle of the 21st century, the
world’s population will be between 9 and 10 billion and Australia’s will have increased from 22.5
million to around 35 million. To bring a personal perspective to the magnitude and impact of these
figures, during my working life of 45 years the world’s population has doubled. People being
educated in our universities and other tertiary institutions today and into the future, many of whom
will play a major role in the policy settings of governments, international bodies like the United
Nations and global private sector enterprises, will be advising and deciding on how ‘best’ to
respond to another 40+ % population increase including all of the pressures associated with raising
standards of living for the marginalised and those in poverty. As well as population growth,
Brugmann (2009) and others have argued that by 2050, up to two thirds of the world’s population
will live in urban centres, thus creating novel and far reaching consequences for global, individual
nation and community sustainability. Put another way, renewable resources and the spaces and
places which nurture and regenerate them have generally been treated as though they are infinite. A
brief examination of a photograph of Earth taken from outer-space reveals a planet that is finite,
though imbued with systems and natural laws that have an apparent inexhaustible capacity for
regeneration—for sustainability.
Definitions of rural abound and can be broadly categorised as those of a quantitative kind which
emphasize population size and density and the like, and those of a qualitative kind which focus
more on cultural and relational characteristics. In this paper, rural is being used in a broad brush
way to mean contexts and communities outside of the population centres of 100,000 or more, of
which there are less than 20 in Australia, including each of the capital cities (see Hugo 2005 for a
detailed discussion of rural populations). Like rural, definitions of sustainability are varied,
contested and complex. Notwithstanding, in this paper sustainability is being used in the sense of
taking actions now and meeting needs of the present, while continuously evaluating their
implications for the future. The definition of a sustainable society by Meadows, Meadows &
Page 1 of 20 Randers (1992) cited in Black (2005, p.24), as “one that can persist over generations, one that is farreaching enough, flexible enough and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social
systems of support” captures well the essences of sustainability for the purposes of this paper.
Why sustainability?
There are at least five fundamental reasons why developing sustainable societies is such a critical
imperative. These are summarized in the next four paragraphs which are extracts from a paper I
presented at the 2010 Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia conference.
As Pretty (2002) argues, food security is really not a choice item—“[w]ithout food, we are clearly
nothing. It is not a lifestyle or add-on fashion statement. The choices we make about food affect
both us, intrinsically, and nature, extrinsically. In effect, we eat the view and consume the
landscape. Nature is amended and reshaped through our connections—both for good and bad”
(p.11). Second is the issue of energy—much of what is consumed daily is sourced from non-urban
areas—and the pressure to move from fossil based sources of energy to green renewable sources
continues to grow. Third is the issue of water and water management. Cullen (2005) argues that
“[w]ater is the key to living and to economic development in Australia [and elsewhere]” and that a
“sustainable future will entail extensive collaboration between governments and stakeholders to
ensure that the true costs of water use are borne equitably and accountably in both rural and urban
areas” (p.79). Fourth is the profoundly important matter of arresting the decline of the natural
environment, which includes climate change, and developing new paradigms of valuing it so that it,
in turn, can do what it has always done—sustain life in all its complexity and diversity. “…an
intimate connection to nature is both a basic right and a basic necessity…we have shaped nature,
and it has shaped us, and we are an emergent property of this relationship. We cannot simply act as
if we are separate. If we do so, we simply recreate the wasteland inside of ourselves” (Pretty, 2002,
pp.10–11). Finally there is the issue of managing territorial security in a context of escalating
population growth and likely impacts of climate change. My intention in making this point is not to
hark back to the days of Australia’s ‘populate or perish’ focus. Rather it is to draw attention to the
fact that the combined consequences of world population growth and population displacement due
to climate change (and other events) may result in millions of people having to find somewhere new
to live or, in a comparatively short timeframe, become water based citizens of the 21st century
because their land has been claimed by the sea.
In addition to the issues briefly outlined above, there are other facts and consequences of human
interactions with nature that accentuate the importance of the sustainability of rural communities
being a major national and international priority. As already stated, during the working life of the
Baby-boomer generation, the world’s population has nearly doubled. This growth has been
matched, and in some ways driven, by wave after wave of new discoveries and the rapid adoption
of technology of myriad kinds. Paralleling this growth has been an increasing use of natural
resources, many of which are non-renewable like fossil fuel and minerals. Just one piece of data
provides a lens into understanding the enormity of human impact on non-renewable resources:
“concrete consumption in cities each year is equivalent to 730 Great Pyramids of Giza…[or] eight
times more than the total global automobile fleet” (Brugmann, 2009, p.12).The growth in
consumption of non-renewables has come at an enormous cost to the natural environment, and has
driven some of the systems we rely on for sustainability perilously close to the point of being
unable to recover. Further, ‘being unable to recover’ presumes we have accurate ways of measuring
pre-intervention inventories of nature’s ‘treasures’. While there may be some contention with this in
academic and research circles, many people who live closely with nature and the natural
environment—who have essentially enjoined with nature in a dance of sustainable production and
harvesting—can speak from deep and long experience that ‘things are not as they once were’ when
it comes to nature’s capacity for self-renewing and self regulating its ‘taken for granted’ abundance.
Page 2 of 20 Another way to visualise the point I am trying to make here: think of the decline that has occurred
to major fisheries and fish stocks around much of the world and, while doing so, also ask yourself is
there not something deeply ironic about farming fish when nature can ‘supply’ fish so more
effectively if given ‘half a chance’. Kurlansky’s profoundly insightful and disturbing book on the
biography of the cod and its demise overtime— “abundance turned to scarcity through determined
short sightedness” (1997, rear dust jacket)— ought to be compulsory reading for anyone who wants
to understand how human intervention can bring renewable resources to the brink of extinction. As
Diamond argues, “[m]anaging environmental [natural and renewable] resources sustainably has
always been difficult…because of ubiquitous problems…the resources initially seem inexhaustibly
abundant; that signs of their incipient depletion become masked by normal fluctuations in resource
levels between years or decades; that it’s difficult to get people to agree on exercising restraint in
harvesting a shared resource (the so-called tragedy of the commons…); and the complexity of
ecosystems often makes the consequences of some human-caused perturbation virtually impossible
to predict even for a professional ecologist” (2005.pp.9 & 10).
As well, consider what is continuing to happen in many rural areas and communities both in
Australia and many other parts of the world, as globalisation and its relentless ‘addiction’ to
economy of scale ideology and ‘natural’ ways of operating, continues to transform rural landscapes,
sucking out people and replacing them with technology and mass market franchised services and
bigger tractors, wider seeders, more efficient extraction machinery, faster turn around times and the
demise of local stores, producers and purveyors of daily staples and services. As Brugmann (2009)
asserts, “[s]cale permits the splitting of fixed costs and known risks over a large enough group of
users to make an activity attractive or service profitable in a big way… [and together with] density
that increases the sheer efficiency by which we can pursue an economic opportunity…[which in
turn] increases the range of opportunities and level of ambition that can be viably pursued…”
(p.27). Though not the a main focus of this article, it is important to recognise that one of the really
complex challenges of rural sustainability is developing economic models that are less reliant on
economies of scale to deliver efficiencies and viability.
Human services and rural spaces and places
Virtually without exception, it is in rural places and spaces where most of the world’s food is
produced, energy is sourced, minerals are extracted, water supplies originate, and the natural
environment is most abundant. Ironically though, it is rural places and spaces that are most at risk,
most vulnerable to, the rationalisation of human services (Stayner 2005; Tont, 2005). Put another
way, being able to access quality human services in rural areas without a sense of struggle ‘is a
must’ for ensuring there are people in sufficient numbers with the required skills and knowledge to
produce the food and develop the other resources for a growing world population referred to earlier.
This in turn requires approaches to preparing human services professionals, and others, which
nurture a deep understanding and appreciation of rural contexts, and employing authorities creating
conditions that are conducive to attracting and retaining high quality human service staff for rural
communities. Rural communities want and need, ready access to these.
An analysis of data my colleagues and I collected in 2010 at 6 rural shows in South Australia from
over 900 people ranked access to local education and well qualified teachers as the two highest
priorities (primary, 6.7/7.0 & secondary, 6.2/7.0) and (6.8/7.0) respectively (see Appendix 1 for
survey). There was no difference in the scores of participants who were from a rural community, an
urban area, or who declared to themselves to be a blend of both. This result underscores that local
access to education, at least in the Australian context, is considered an entitlement of all young
people regardless of location. Given the pressure many rural schools are under to remain viable due
to declining enrolments, at state and national education policy making levels, a paradigm shift in
thinking about rural schools is needed. Over 4,000 of the approximately 9,600 schools in Australia
have an enrolment of ≤ 200 with many, and probably a majority, being in rural areas. Their
Page 3 of 20 distribution throughout the nation represents a large and complex network of, in the main,
intellectually and facilities rich sites which focus on nurturing individual capacities and also play, as
stated already, a critical role in sustaining the productive life of rural communities. Put succinctly,
rural schools and the resources required for them to operate, are more part of the nation’s
sustainability solutions than part of the problem because of their size and cost.
Also in 2010, data was collected from 683 rural education leaders in Australia via an electronic
survey comprising invitations to provide bio information, rating and ranking items dealing with
work issues, and open response questions (see Appendix 2 for survey). The data shows that while
there is much that needs to be done to improve the preparation and support of rural leaders, there is
also a reasonable base to build upon. Firstly, 82.5% said they rated their job satisfaction at ≥75%
and 23.8% rated it at 90%. Just over 7% rated their job satisfaction at 100%. Nearly 75% of
respondents prefer working in a rural, regional or remote location compared to 5.6% who indicated
a preference for urban. As well, 20% are undecided and some of these after further experience may
also prefer a non –urban work context. Thirdly, a preliminary analysis of over 1,800 comments
received shows that notwithstanding a wide range of issues and concerns, there is a large interest,
indeed passion, in being a rural education leader.
Being appointed a rural educational leader is for most individuals their induction to having
responsibility for a whole organisation. Over 82 % of survey respondents were in their first
leadership position and 46.3% said they received no preparation for it. A further 29.2% said they
received only short course preparation. These figures confirm my experience and reading of
education leadership more broadly- the country is predominantly where you go- are sent?- to learn
about becoming a leader via an apprenticeship/trial and error process. While I strongly support
learning to become a leader by doing, I also strongly support leaders acquiring a broad and deep
body of knowledge and theory about leadership and how contexts impact and can be impacted upon
in terms of the why, what and how of leadership.
Given how critical leadership is to creating and nurturing contexts for learning, and contributing
towards community sustainability, the figures show there is significant scope for doing a better job
of preparing and supporting leaders of rural schools, centres and services. Of 26 items about rural
leaders’ work, the most demanding aspect of it is accessing services for students with disabilities
(63.2%). Next and linked with this is securing adequate funds to address inequities (61.2%) and
fourth at 53%, is managing underperforming staff. Ranked at sixth (48.4%) is spending time
explaining and justifying resource needs due to location- put another way, why do you need that?
Recently I was in the Riverland in South Australia speaking with a primary principal- his story
relating to the last point is about his endeavour to secure specialised counselling for parents whose
livelihood had literally been blown away by drought, then floods and water marketing, followed by
changes to returns on their grape harvest. The response to his request?- prove these events are
having an impact on children!
Finally, 541 leaders who responded to the survey said rural educational leadership as a career
pathway needs to be improved. The 3 highest priorities for doing this are employing authorities
acknowledging and publicly recognising their work, financial incentives and valuing the experience
of rural leaders equitably when applying for a city/urban promotion/position. When asked to
nominate their top priority it was providing substantial financial incentives.
Health services in rural Australia, like education services, are vital to community and national
sustainability, and are also frequently contested sites vis a vis funding and debates and discussion
around availability, service mix and location. The intensity of these is partly fuelled by the
complexity of funding health services as well of the cost quantum. There are also other factors
which reveal a more nuanced picture underpinning much of the contestation that help to illuminate
rural struggle nested around sustainability. These can in part be demonstrated by reference to the
Page 4 of 20 current conflict between the South Australian Government and the South Eastern Community of
Keith about the future of the district’s hospital. In late 2010 I wrote a paper for the Keith and
District Hospital and the following section is drawn from it.
The savings announced by the South Australian Government from changes to funding of the Keith
Hospital are miniscule (approximately $300K) in comparison to the overall state budget. In fact,
collecting outstanding traffic fines would reap the Government far more than it will by reducing
funding for the Keith (and other) hospitals. When Government’s reduce funding and services,
individuals in rural communities pick up real but hidden costs of decisions made by others which
impact on their lives and livelihoods. When costs are hidden from or unrealised by administrators,
funding decisions can be based on incomplete information, and this may lead to more severe
economic decisions than if these costs are made explicit. The cost saving action being pursued by
the Government gives rise to a series of questions like:
• What makes a country town a viable and attractive place to live?
• What signals are sent to a rural community and further afield when funding of an essential
service like health is reduced?
• Why are cities privileged over country towns and districts?
• When governments reduce expenditure in rural communities on essential services like health, are
there hidden costs which others pay for?
• Is there a relationship between the size and scale of a service and a government’s willingness to
underwrite its survival?
Given the withdrawal and consolidation of many services both in the public and private sectors that
has been happening widely throughout rural Australia for about 2 decades or more, the signals are
not good ones. Essentially the signals cluster around raising doubt about a town’s future and in
particular, its capacity to attract young people who are typically focussed on building their future
and careers. For many, a proposed downgrading or closing of a hospital will be read as the town is
going through a major transformation. Are we on the slippery slope towards closure as a town may
sound extreme, but will nevertheless be in the mix of reactions.
Hospitals (like schools for example) as well as providing essential services are powerful symbols
within communities about life, about caring, about nurturing, about hope. Hospitals cover the full
spectrum of life- pre-birth, birth, our journey and death. Unlike specialist commercial operations
where people go for a particular purchase or advice, hospitals are very communal places because
virtually everyone at some stage of their life will have need of a service they provide.
Threatened closure of a critical community asset like a hospital is a very disruptive, disturbing and
dislocating event for a community to experience. The decision projects individuals into unknown
territory- what will our town, our community be like if we do not have a hospital? This can be quite
unsettling and can set in motion discussion about contingency planning for life after a hospital
closes which may well include moving out of a community.
For local businesses, closure of a hospital is not a good news story, especially if businesses want to
grow or a town wants to attract new enterprises. Attracting skilled workers into a small country
community is an increasingly difficult thing to do. The same applies to attracting and retaining
professional workers to a rural community which is very clearly described in the following
quotation:
Page 5 of 20 In selecting a community within which to practice, the adequacy of professional
infrastructure is relevant to attractiveness. A rural/regional area which has gaps in its
services infrastructure may not appeal to many professionals, making long-term professional
engagements within that community unattractive. Few family focused professionals are
likely to place a priority around practice in a community where this places at risk the health
or education of their children, or the welfare of their older family or even themselves.
Practice in areas where complementary practice skills are lacking (such as specialists or
supporting practitioners), or where the opportunity for a locum or associate to takeover the
load is not available, is also likely to be unappealing to the professional. (2008, Australian
Centre for Agriculture and Law, p.2)
Downgrading a hospital in a country community as I have already stated, can impact negatively on
how residents and businesses see their future in a town. If as a consequence, demand for housing
and business services decline, so too will the capital assets of homes and businesses. Debt to equity
ratios are affected as well. Individual residents of a community as a result of a decision made by
others who do not have to live with the consequences of it, pay two prices- loss of access to a
service and a likely decline in the value of their capital asset(s). Without a hospital, a town is
broadly seen as a less attractive option than one with a hospital, other things being comparable.
Assuming only a very modest reduction in the value of a house in Keith of $5,000 generates at least
$1.75 million which residents are collectively paying for the decision. The figure would probably
increase if detailed economic studies were done on the loss potential of the 120 businesses in the
town and the surrounding farms which use Keith as their base.
One important factor in making economic determinations is to ensure that all of the hidden costs of
any decision are illuminated early and explicitly. Magen, Dweck & Gross (2008) demonstrated that
when hidden costs are stated unambiguously, decision makers were less impulsive. Further, the
authors state that: “The way alternatives are represented matters: By simply mentioning the
‘obvious’ downsides of alternatives, one can help decision makers choose in a more informed and
balanced manner, thereby helping them place more weight on the achievement of their long-term
goals, rather than on immediate gratification.” (p.649).
It is also interesting to note the literature on economic cooperation between those trained in the
economic sciences. Marwell & Ames (1981) demonstrate that economists are substantially less
likely to engage in cooperative behaviour for the common good of the larger community in public
goods games. These findings are disturbing, since the primary argument for infrastructure closures
are economic in nature. Marwell & Ames’ experiment (Experiment 12) demonstrates significantly
lower economic cooperation for the generation of additional community resources by economists,
resulting in lower economic returns for all members of the group. In terms of the Keith hospital, the
downscaling of infrastructure may provide for an immediate saving for one investor (the
government), but the overall ability to provide capital return to the community and the public good
are largely diminished by the new lack of institutional capital. Decisions regarding infrastructure
must be considered in a context wider than simple economic rationalism.
Does size play a role in decision making? The short answer is yes. State and Commonwealth
governments essentially underwrite big services and big essential institutions like the big 4 banks in
Australia because to let them fail in the market place carries too high a political price. Big banks
and big services are mostly located in cities and major regional centres- there are less than 20
population centres of 100,000 in Australia and so that in itself rules out places like Keith and a
plethora of other small country towns from any protective wash-back from ‘bigger is better is safer’.
Relating this to hospitals, though there has been a great deal of debate over the upgrade of the Royal
Adelaide versus a new hospital on a green-field site, no-one has seriously suggested that the state
does not need a major hospital in the city. Now obviously Keith is not Adelaide but it is instructive
Page 6 of 20 to reflect on the similarities and differences of the decisions being made. To return to my opening
point, the sheer size and scope of a service like a state-wide hospital is such that governments have
to maintain one and in so doing, effectively guarantee its existence. Any changes to service delivery
are inevitably about fine-tuning and improving efficiencies; rarely if ever are they about
downgrading or denying local access. Conversely, decisions in rural, regional and remote areas of
Australia quite often result in downgrades and infrastructure closure, further emphasising the ruralurban divide.
Towards policy principles for sustainability
The Australian Academy of the Social Sciences in its research on the sustainability of Australian
Rural Communities used five ‘capitals’ to measure community and social change and make
judgments about sustainability (Cocklin and Dibden, 2005). Capitals are the stocks or resources
which a community has or can marshal and manage to drive sustainability. The capitals are a very
useful set of conceptual tools for constructing arguments relating to decisions or proposed decisions
about the sustainability of communities and especially rural communities. The five capitals are:
Natural capital- “…natural resources, ecosystem services and the aesthetics or beauty of
nature”.
Human capital- “the abilities, knowledge and skills of individuals… attributes that are seen
as particularly valuable for achieving community viability- often in combination with social
capital- are leadership, ability to solve problems and commitment to the locality”.
Social capital- “Relationships between people linked in various ways… bonding… and
bridging… [t]he role of human agency in achieving community sustainability is underlined
by the distinction made in some of the social capital literature between capital (the stock of
social resources) and capacity (the ability to draw on capital for valued purposes)”.
Institutional capital- “… the institutional structures and mechanisms present in a
community…the public sector…the private enterprise sector… and the non-governmental,
not-for-profit organisations and institutions”.
Produced capital- “… sometimes referred to as the ‘economic capital’- [includes] harvested
or manufactured products, the built environment… communication systems and reticulation
systems for energy and water… financial resources… cultural and intellectual property…”.
(Cocklin & Dibden, 2005, pp 4-6).
With greater focus being placed upon self reliance and localisation of decision making, there has
been a tendency to play down how important it is for the future of rural towns that locals can access
services urban people can more or less take for granted. In other words, a strong focus on being
competitive, of taking full responsibility for everything that happens in and to a town has a downside; there is a sense in which the importance of enabling external survival inputs are rendered less
visible by overly concentrating on ‘what we can do about it’. As Cocklin and Dibden (2005, pp 9 &
10) have argued:
In considering sustainability, there is a tendency to focus on the internal (or endogenous)
characteristics of a particular community or region- a tendency promoted by contemporary
policy discourse of self reliance. However, a second overarching issue… is the need to
consider the exogenous factors that influence community sustainability and the extent to
which a particular location is prospectively impacted by influences operating at other levels
[in relation to hospital funding, prioritising funding to build a state of the art hospital in a
capital city]. These influences include government policy (for example, in relation to service
Page 7 of 20 provision and environmental regulation), commodity prices (which in turn are shaped by
shifts in consumer sentiment and international exchange rates), and regional and national
environmental agendas.
In addition to the contributions that the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences capitals might
make towards policy principles for sustainability, there are also inputs from the National
Framework for Rural and Remote Education (2001) that are relevant. The NFRRE was developed
following the Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education by the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission in Australia in 1999-2000 which was premised on requiring education to
be available, accessible, affordable, acceptable and adaptable for all. The NFRRE is framed by a
vision statement viz “By age 18, each young person residing in rural or remote Australia will
receive the education required to develop their full potential in the social, economic, political and
cultural life of the nation” and what it names as four principles:
Students and families living in rural and remote Australia have specific needs which are the
direct result of living in particular geographic locations
The needs of rural and remote students should be met through local commitment and
ownership as well as through predictable and sustained government funded initiatives
There is a high degree of variability in the characteristics of rural and remote communities,
both within and between the States and the Northern Territory
The provision of quality education in rural and remote Australia requires creative and
flexible approaches that utilise leadership capacity at all levels, innovative technology and
methodology, and whole of government provision.
(MCEETYA, 2001, p.6)
Given the global reach and impact of population growth out to 2050, particularly in relation to
fundamentals for living like food, water and energy, the imperative to locate the role of rural places
and spaces- rural communities- centrally in the quest for sustainability has never been more urgent.
A potentially productive way of achieving this is through the formulation and subsequent adoption
of policy principles for sustainability, with particular reference to human services in and for rural
areas. It is recognised that this may be considered either naïve or an ‘over the top’ call and at the
very least, requires a great deal more consideration than has taken place to date in this paper. In
response I make two points which I also made in the 2009 Elford Lecture (Halsey, 2009).
Firstly, in times of national and international crises, ideas which confront, challenge and change
entrenched ways of thinking and doing are needed. Paraphrasing Lear (2008), who has written a
profound philosophical anthropology about the demise of the Crow Native American Nation and its
transition to another way of life, a new poetry, a new narrative, is needed that builds on the past—
rather than remains captured by it—and projects into the future. Change which deeply disrupts,
disturbs and shifts to other ways of perceiving and functioning requires “[in] the broadest
sense…creative makers of meaningful space [to catalyse change]” (p.51). Or to quote Soja (1996)
novel challenges require “set[ting] aside the demands to make an either/or choice and
contemplat[ing] instead the possibility of a both/also logic…there is always an-Other…” (pp. 5 &
7, my emphasis).
Secondly, time is of the essence; the profoundly important work of arresting the decline of the
natural environment, which includes climate change, and developing new paradigms of valuing and
utilizing the natural environment sustainably and centralizing the place and role of rural in
achieving this, is urgent. Or in the words of Ernest Callenbach in Barlow (2007, p.1), “All things
Page 8 of 20 are interconnected. Everything goes somewhere. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Nature bats
last”.
So with these few remarks, I offer the following policy principles for framing human services for
rural contexts in Australia in light of the imperative of sustainability to conclude this paper:
1. The sustainability of rural contexts and communities and those who live and work in them is
central to the sustainability of Australia
2. Rural contexts and communities require a productive blend of internal (or endogenous) and
external (or exogenous) factors and resources that influence and facilitate sustainability
3. Human services which are available, accessible, affordable, acceptable and adaptable, at the
local community level, are essential for the sustainability of rural contexts and communities
4. Resourcing of human services for rural contexts and communities is more of an investment
in sustainability than a cost of sustainability
5. Sustainability is more likely to be optimised when interconnections between human, natural,
institutional, produced and social forms of capital are recognized and used
6. Sustainability is more likely to be optimised when government funding and accountability
requirements are able to flexibly transcend portfolio boundaries.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge Dr Aaron Drummond, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, and Ms Marja
van Breda, Research and Administration Assistant, both of the Sidney Myer Chair, for their
contributions with the rural community mapping and national rural leadership research referred to
in the paper.
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Ministerial Council for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA ) (2001).
National Framework for Rural and Remote Education. Retrieved October 20 2008 from
http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/rural_file.pdf.
Pretty, J. (2002). Agri-Culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature. London: Earthscan
Publications.
Soja, E.W. (1996). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places.
USA: Blackwell.
Stayner, R. (2005). The changing economics of rural communities. In C. Cocklin. & J. Dibden,
(Eds.) Sustainability and Change in Rural Australia. Sydney: University of New South Wales
Press.
Tonts, M. (2005). Government policy and rural sustainability. In C. Cocklin. & J. Dibden, (Eds.)
Sustainability and Change in Rural Australia. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Page 10 of 20 APPENDIX 1
Mapping Rural Education and Communities in South Australia
“Vibrant, productive rural communities are integral to Australia’s sustainability.”
Questionnaire
Note
Completing all or part of this questionnaire is entirely voluntary and no individual will be identified in
any subsequent publications or seminars and the like.
Purpose
The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect information about rural education and rural
communities to better inform what needs to be done to support them to be vibrant and productive
places to live and work.
Background Information
1. Please select one of the following:
Female
Male
2. How old are you? ……………………………
3. What is your residential postcode, or nearest town to where you live?
…………………………………………………………………………………………..…….…
4. Please select either a, b or c and complete d:
a)
I think of myself as mainly being a country person
How long have you lived in the country? …………………………..…………………
b)
I think of myself as mainly being a city person
c)
I think of myself as mainly being a country and a city person
d)
Briefly describe how where you live has influenced your thinking about rural
communities?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
5. Do you see yourself living in a rural community for the next (please tick)?
Less than 5 years
5 years
10 years
more than 10 years
Not Applicable
Page 11 of 20 Please rate questions 6 to 23 from Not Important to Essential
by circling a number from 1 to 7
Accessing Education and Services
6. How important is it for families with young children in rural communities to have preschool services available locally?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
7. How important is it for children who live in rural communities, to be able to access
primary education without travelling for more than 1 hour each way daily?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
8. How important is it for rural students to be able to access secondary education without
leaving home?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
9. How important is it for students to have access to relevant and affordable distance
education?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
10. How important is it for rural students to have access to affordable internet services and
technology?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
Education and Rural Communities
11. How important is it to have teachers who are well qualified?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
12. How important is it to have teachers who stay in a community longer than a year?
Not important
1
Page 12 of 20 Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
Sidney Myer Chair of Rural
Education and Communities
Professor John Halsey
School of Education
13. How important is the availability of special education and specialist teachers?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
14. How important is it for school principals to work in partnership with rural communities?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
15. How important is it to have local government, businesses and schools work together for
the benefit of the community?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
16. How important is it for schools to encourage academic learning?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
17. How important is it for schools to encourage vocational learning?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
18. How important is it that there is some turnover of teachers and staff in a rural school?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
Youth and the Future of Rural Communities
19. How important is it to encourage young people to think about living locally when they
have finished their education and training?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
20. How important is it that education encourages young people to consider a range of
career pathways?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
21. How important is it for the future of rural communities to have young people who want
to be part of them?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
Page 13 of 20 22. How important is it to encourage young people to think about working
locally when they have finished their education and training?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
23. How important is it for city students to experience living and learning in a
country community before they finish their secondary education?
Not important
1
Moderately Important
2
3
4
Essential
5
6
7
24. If you lived in the city, would you allow your child to live and learn in a rural
community for a term?
Yes
No
Not Applicable
Personal Snapshots
25. What do you really value about education in your rural community?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………
26. What is one thing about education you would like to see improved?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………
27. Is there anything else you would like to say about rural education and
communities?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………
Thank you for your assistance 14 APPENDIX 2 National Mapping of Education Leaders in Rural, Regional and Remote Australia Introduction The purpose of this survey is to collect data about Australia's rural/regional/remote educational leaders to produce a comprehensive mapping of their professional preparation and experience together with their views about the key issues they have to deal with and manage. There is no comprehensive national database of the pre‐ appointment preparation, qualifications, age, gender, issues, experience and views of rural/regional/remote educational leaders from which to identify areas and issues for nationally focussed leadership research, nor to provide policy advice to governments and others. The Executive Groups of the Australian Primary Principal’s Association and the Australian Secondary Principal’s Association have participated in designing this survey and have endorsed its distribution to you. Definitions and classifications of rural, regional and remote locations as they apply to schools and education services tend to vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In this survey you are being invited to respond to the questions on the basis of the rural/regional/remote location definitions used by your employing authority. 1. Name (optional) …………………………………………………………………………………….. 2. Gender M F 3. Age 1‐25, 26‐30, 31‐35, 36‐40, 41‐45, 46‐50, 51‐55, >55 4. Contact details (optional) Name of school/service Address Email Phone: 5. Postcode of current appointment location: 6. NOTE: definitions of rural, regional and remote when applied to education leadership tend to vary around Australia. Please make your response based upon how your site/service is classified by your employer. 15 Do you consider your school / centre/ service to be located in a rural, regional or remote location? Please select: Rural Regional Remote 7. Please select from the menu what best describes the kind of leadership position you currently hold: Primary School Principal Small School Principal Remote Indigenous School Principal District High School Principal High School Principal Area School Principal Senior High School Principal School Cluster Principal School Cluster Director Deputy Principal of a School Assistant Principal of a School Special Support Services Principal Special Support Services Director Distance Education Principal Other (please briefly describe) 8. How many years have you been an educational leader (include this year)? 9. How many years have you been an educational leader in rural/regional/remote Australia? 10. How many more years do you intend staying in your current leadership position? 11. Which sector employs you? Govt, Catholic, Independent, Other If chosen other please describe briefly: 16 12. Which State / Territory are you currently located in? QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS, SA, WA, NT Rural Regional Remote 14. What is your highest qualification? Diploma, Bachelors Degree, Bachelors Degree (Hons), Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Masters Degree, Doctorate 15. Select from the following statements the one which best describes the specific preparation you received prior to your first appointment as a rural/regional/remote educational leader: •
No preparation •
Short program (s) / courses run by your employing authority •
Short program (s) / courses run by consultants •
Formal qualification course(s) eg Grad Dip in Leadership •
Programs presented by as professional association •
Others (please describe) 16. Was your first education leadership position in a rural/regional/remote location? If no, please answer questions 17 and 18; if yes, process to question 19. 17. Briefly describe your leadership experience before moving to a rural,/regional/remote location. 18. Briefly describe why you applied for a rural/regional/remote leadership position. 19. What is the enrolment trend over the last 5 years of your school/service? Stable Growing Declining Fluctuating 17 20. Briefly, what are the main factors that determine the enrolment trend of your school/service? 21. Please rate how significant each of the following is in terms of your role as a rural/regional/remote educational leader? Rating Scale Not significant Very Significant 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Item a. Attracting appropriately qualified teachers b. Retaining appropriately qualified teachers c. Attracting appropriately qualified support staff d. Retaining appropriately qualified support staff. e. Attracting appropriately qualified business managers f. Retaining appropriately qualified business managers g. Balancing the expectations of the local community with regional, state and national priorities h. Maintaining the enrolment viability of your school/service i. Providing appropriate curriculum diversity for students and parents j. Securing adequate funding to address inequities k. Professional development of staff l. Ensuring that buildings meet required standards for teaching and learning m. Ensuring that ICT facilities, services and internet access meet required standards for effective teaching and learning n. Making sure your family is content with the location and conditions of your appointment o. Ensuring students with special learning needs and disabilities can access appropriate specialist / specialised services p. Ensuring that Indigenous students can access appropriate learning support 18 q. Having to spend time explaining and justifying requests for services and/or resources to others because you school/service is located in a rural/regional/remote location r. Being in a high profile position in a community s. Coping with isolation from family and friends t. Keeping up with current issues and development that impact on education u. Managing under performing staff v. Ensuring that your own children are happy and safe at school w. Ensuring that your partner has access to employment opportunities x. Managing staff absences y. The personal financial costs of being a rural/regional/remote educational leader z. The cost of housing in the metropolitan area or preferred location 22. Does becoming an educational leader in a rural community need to be made more attractive as a career pathway? Yes go to question 23 No go to question 25 23. Becoming an educational leader in a rural community could be made more attractive as a career pathway by (tick as many boxes as apply): 1. Employing authorities publicly acknowledging the value and importance of the work of rural/regional/remote educational leaders 2. Valuing equitably rural/regional/remote leadership experience when applying for a city/urban position or promotion 3. Providing specialised preparation prior to appointment 4. Ensuring the rural/regional/remote leaders can regularly update their professional skills and knowledge 5. Ensuring, where it applies, that partners of leaders are employed in the same community or within daily commuting distance 6. Providing substantial financial incentives 19 7. Improving rights of return to the metropolitan area or preferred location 8. Providing substantial assistance to support your own children access tertiary education 9. Ensuring that accommodation is of suitable size, standard and cost 10. Providing fully funded return travel to ‘home’ for the whole family yearly 11. Providing substantial career pathway incentives 12. Others: briefly describe and rate 24. From question 23, what is your top priority for making rural/regional/remote educational leadership more attractive as a career pathway? 25. Is there anything else you would like to say about being or becoming an educational leader in a rural/regional/remote community? Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. 20