Media Release

Media Release National Education Forum Albury 2007

24 April 2007

Country Australia at risk of a lost generation

Drought and inaccessibility to schools and subjects is threatening to cripple a generation of rural Australians and embarrass the nation that supposedly offers a fair go for all, leading rural education advocates and academics have warned.

The warning comes ahead of a national forum on remote, rural and regional education that begins in Albury tomorrow.

NSW academics Margaret Alston and Jenny Kent said children forced to travel long distances or to leave home to get educated faced severe disadvantages that needed to be addressed.

They warned the gap in performance between city and country students would widen unless more was done and soon.

“We are in danger of  having a lost generation in rural and remote communities because they can’t get access to a good education and families, especially those affected  by drought, are less and less able to afford it,” said Prof Alston who heads the Centre for Rural Social Research at Charles Sturt University.

Prof Alston will attend this week’s forum that will bring together parents, teachers, academics and bureaucrats from across the nation to set priorities for tackling the education challenges facing rural Australia.

The two-day forum, hosted by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, will identify the key issues facing young people and their families in remote, rural and regional Australia in their attempts to get educated and trained.

The President of the Isolated Children’s Parents Association, Jack Beach, who will also be at the forum, said regional statistics actually watered down the horrific statistics on education outcomes in rural areas.

“Frankly our rural kids don’t have any more time,” Mr Beach said. “Their education clocks are already ticking and we can’t wait any longer.

“They have at best limited subjects and therefore limited choice, if any, in education.

I’m not talking about building more schools. I am saying if we believe that every Australian child has a right to an appropriate education, then we need to support their potential. They should be supported to exercise a choice in education and if need be, that might mean support to go to hostels or boarding schools or second homes where they can realise their potential.”

The forum, hosted by The Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, will focus on education from Prep to Year 12 but will also include tertiary, vocational and technical education.

It will produce a list of priorities and means of addressing the inequities facing young people and their families in remote, rural and regional Australia in their attempts to get educated and trained.

The Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop, is scheduled to address the forum tomorrow (Tuesday, April 17).

Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal chief executive officer Sylvia Admans said the forum was vital to the future of education opportunities for rural Australians.

“As a national philanthropic foundation with an exclusive focus in rural and regional Australia, the FRRR is concerned about the education opportunities for students in remote, rural and regional areas,” Ms Admans said.

“We know from our work throughout country areas, that many rural students are simply missing out. There is plenty of evidence to show that country children face access problems and limited choice and that’s a matter of critical importance to the nation’s future. ”

Among those represented at the forum will be federal, state and territory education departments, Australian Parents Council, Australian Council for Education Research, Australian Primary Principals Association, Australian Secondary Principals Association,  Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, Country Education Foundation of Australia, Drought Research Focus Group, Independent Schools Council of Australia, Indigenous Advisory Council, Isolated Children’s Parents Association, National Catholic Education Commission, National Farmers Federation, Rural Education Forum Australia, TAFE Directors Australia, Volunteers for Isolated Student Education and more.

The key outcomes of the forum, to be held at the Henry Nowik Theatres, Charles Sturt University in Olive St, Albury, will be finalised in the final session on day two.