A new Federal Government inquiry into the education of students in remote and complex environments will soon host a hearing in the New England.

Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, secured the hearing in Tamworth on April 8 through his membership with the House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training.

“This is a great opportunity for local people in our region to contribute to the national dialogue about small schools and the new challenges faced by students, families and teachers in rural and regional areas like our own,” Mr Joyce said.  

“I encourage all interested to lodge a submission on behalf of their school, community or family in the New England because every child deserves a quality education irrespective of where they live in Australia.”

To appear at the public hearing, people will need to submit a submission or be invited by the Committee Secretary. However, all submissions received will help inform the Committee’s final report to Government.

Committee Chair, Mr Andrew Laming MP, says the inquiry will examine the performance of the Australian education system in remote and regional areas, its territories and in complex circumstances like drought and post-natural disaster.

“The Committee looks forward to examining how Education meets the learning needs of students and how barriers in the education journey are overcome,” Mr Laming said.

Areas of interest include

• small remote schools; particularly in challenging areas like the tri-state area of central Australia;
• career counselling of remote students and means of connecting them to further education or local employment;
• challenges faced by regional schooling providers and initiatives in place;
• how families of vulnerable young children can access, enrol and remain in early learning, and the collaboration between early and primary education;
• the performance and monitoring of those in-home schooling to maintain national minimum standards; and
• access and support to deliver the Australian Curriculum (including STEM) in a flexible way, to meet local learning needs and interests of remote students, including examples of innovative ways in which the curriculum is being delivered in remote schools.

Submissions to the inquiry close February 28 however please contact the Secretariat if you require more time to make a submission. For more information about this inquiry visit its website where you can also make a submission and read other submissions.

(ENDS)