2015 Seminars
Presentation Type
Presentation
Location
The University of Notre Dame Australia, Broome Campus
Start Date
29-7-2015 12:30 PM
Description
In the context of Australian schools, educational ‘success’ is a much sought after prize. However, in the dominant discourse, laments of failure in remote schools are explained away as a result of disadvantage, dysfunction, poverty and gaps that need closing. Magic bullets and quick fixes are often suggested as the solutions for an intractable problem. But let’s take a step back for a moment. Just what is success? And what does it look like in the minds of remote education stakeholders? This lecture responds to these basic questions in the light of findings from the Cooperative Research Centre’s Remote Education Systems project, which has engaged over 1000 remote education stakeholders over the last four years. Success in the eyes of remote education stakeholders - and more particularly, remote Aboriginal community members - is about parent and community involvement in schools. It’s about community engagement. And while academic outcomes are important for remote stakeholders, to a large extent this just means being able to read, write and count. The lecture concludes with some suggestions, based on the research data, about how schools and systems can best respond to community perceptions of success.
Recommended Citation
Guenther, John, "“Successful Remote Schools: What are they?”" (2015). Talking Heads Seminar Series. 4.
https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/nulungu_talkingheads/2015/schedule/4
“Successful Remote Schools: What are they?”
The University of Notre Dame Australia, Broome Campus
In the context of Australian schools, educational ‘success’ is a much sought after prize. However, in the dominant discourse, laments of failure in remote schools are explained away as a result of disadvantage, dysfunction, poverty and gaps that need closing. Magic bullets and quick fixes are often suggested as the solutions for an intractable problem. But let’s take a step back for a moment. Just what is success? And what does it look like in the minds of remote education stakeholders? This lecture responds to these basic questions in the light of findings from the Cooperative Research Centre’s Remote Education Systems project, which has engaged over 1000 remote education stakeholders over the last four years. Success in the eyes of remote education stakeholders - and more particularly, remote Aboriginal community members - is about parent and community involvement in schools. It’s about community engagement. And while academic outcomes are important for remote stakeholders, to a large extent this just means being able to read, write and count. The lecture concludes with some suggestions, based on the research data, about how schools and systems can best respond to community perceptions of success.
