Towards a good education in remote Australia: Is it just a case of moving the desks around? John Guenther Melodie Bat IRN Forum, September 2012

Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation

Goals: 1. To develop new ways to build resilience and strengthen regional

communities and economies across remote Australia.

2. To build new enterprises and strengthen existing industries that, provide jobs, livelihoods and incomes in remote areas.

3. To improve the education and training pathways in remote areas so that people have better opportunities to participate in the range of economies that exist.

Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation projects

• Regional economies • Population Mobility and Labour Markets • Enduring Community Value from Mining • Climate Change Adaptation and Energy Futures

• Enterprise development • Aboriginal Cultural Enterprise • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Economies • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism Product • Carbon Economies in Remote Australia • Plant Business • Precision Pastoral Management Tools

• Investing in people • Pathways to Employment • Interplay Between Health, Wellbeing, Education and Employment • Remote Education Systems

http://crc-rep.com/research

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Remote Education Systems sites

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What is a ‘good’ education?

• Foundations of a good education Assumption 1: A good education is built on the core

foundations of quality leaders, teachers, teaching, attendance, classrooms, curriculum, accountability, choice and associated administrative structures and infrastructure.

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What is a ‘good’ education?

• Imperatives of a good education Assumption 2: A good education (in Australia) promotes high

standards of English language and literacy, as well as numeracy—it has a global knowledge economy imperative.

Assumption 3: A good education supports the values and norms of the mainstream society—it has a socialisation imperative.

Assumption 4: A good education is a pathway to further and higher education—and is underpinned by an academic imperative.

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What is a ‘good’ education?

• Imperatives of a good education (continued) Assumption 5: A good education supports learners’ career

aspirations—it has a work imperative. Assumption 6: A good education supports learners’ emerging

independence—and is underpinned by an economic imperative.

Assumption 7: A good education is focused on individual performance—it has a competitive imperative.

Assumption 8: A good education supports learners to engage with the broader society—it has a civic participation imperative.

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Is remote education ‘good’?

Assumption Imperative Does remote education fit? 1 Schooling

foundations Tries very hard with lots of attention paid to this

2 Global knowledge economy

It tries to, but struggles

3 Socialisation Yes to some extent 4 Academic With some exceptions, no 5 Work With some exceptions, no 6 Economic With some exceptions, no 7 Competition It tries to, but struggles 8 Civic participation With some exceptions, no

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Thinking about innovation

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Leadbeater, C. and Wong, A. 2010. Learning from extremes, Cisco, San Jose. Retrieved April 2012 from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socio-economic/docs/LearningfromExtremes_WhitePaper.pdf.

Alternative thinking about the foundation assumptions

Current values Possible alternative

School improvement Disruptive innovation, informal learning

Standards for quality teaching Standards for quality learning

Success as year 12 retention Success as community contribution

Success as 80% attendance Success as learning

Accountability to funders Accountability to communities

Recreating the past Creating the future

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Alternative thinking about the imperatives

Current values Possible alternatives Economic imperative Well-being imperatives Academic imperative Identity imperative Career imperative Community aspiration imperative Knowledge performance Creative performance Competition Collaboration

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Thinking some more about innovation

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Hannon, V., Patton, A. and Temperley, J. 2011. Developing an Innovation Ecosystem for Education. White Paper, December 2011, Cisco. Retrieved August 2012 from http://gelpspace.org/sites/default/files/related_documents/developing_an_innovation_ecosystem_for_education_cisco-iu.pdf.

Contact

Melodie Bat melodie.bat@cdu.edu.au 0427 226 561

John Guenther john.guenther@flinders.edu.au 0412 125 661 Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation http://www.crc-rep.com

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