Educational reforms: Impact on rural teachers

Colin Boylan
Charles Sturt University, Riverina NSW

Raymond J. R. King
Community Research Centre, University of Sydney

PP: 010 - 014

Abstract

A long-term challenge for educational administrators in New South Wales has been the equitable staffing of schools in rural and remote rural areas (Boylan et al 1989).

Over many years the Department of Education has awarded scholarships to encourage teacher training. As a direct consequence of this practice, many secondary students in rural communities were enabled to train as teachers. The Department bonded these scholarship teachers and determined their school placements. One consequence of this practice was that schools in remote rural areas were staffed by bonded teachers in their first few years of service. Rural appointments were also used by urban teachers as a channel for gaining rapid promotion. Under the system of preference for rural teachers, they were able to subsequently gain access to promotional positions in preferred locations, elsewhere in the state.

With the phasing out of Teachers' Scholarships in the mid 1970s, the supply of bonded teachers dried up. At the same time, the general over-supply of teachers, caused by a time lag in the reduction of quotas in teacher training courses, ensured that there were sufficient teachers who were prepared to accept an appointment to a rural area. In addition very large numbers of teacher trainees chose to wait until a preferred appointment became available.

These concurrent events led to a significant change in the (now) Department of (School) Education's staffing policy. In the early days of the bonding system, the completion of country service (usually three years) gave teachers priority if they wished to transfer to another location. Some teachers chose to remain in rural schools but the firm expectation was that when the time came for them to seek a transfer, the Department of School Education would give them preference in appointment to a school in their preferred location, as had been the case in the past. With the over-supply of teachers in the 1980s and a decrease in student population, the Department no longer faced difficulties in filling rural teaching positions and the preferred transfer for all rural teachers was no longer departmental policy. Staffing of more remote schools, however, remained a problem.

Keywords

rural education, teacher training

View references

Navigate: Archives | Contents | Top of page

Search

Translate

Related Publications from eContent Management