A cohort of school leaders from rural Victoria have begun a Master program at Flinders University in South Australia, which aims to empower rural and regional principals to overcome the challenges of their location and harness innovative opportunities to benefit their students.
Developed with input from Emeritus Professor John Halsey, who conducted the 2017 Federal Government’s Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education, the Master of Education (Rural Leadership and Management) provides a combination of tailored face-to-face and online learning with a clear rural focus.
The 2019 intake kicked off on 8 April, with an intensive one-week program at Flinders’ Bedford Park campus.
Twelve Victorian rural school leaders are participating in the current program through a scholarship funded by Melbourne’s Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership, which chose the Flinders program to build rural Victoria’s educational leadership capacity.
In welcoming the Masters students, Emeritus Professor Halsey spoke about the challenges in managing a regionally located school within an educational model built on a metropolitan, one-size-fits-all framework.
“Coming from a rural or regional school it’s important that leaders know how to disturb and disrupt the dominant flow, which is sustained by a whole set of assumptions that often do not apply in a rural context,” he said.
Among the complex challenges faced by rural and remote schools are issues in attracting and retaining quality staff, reduced funding and resources through lower student numbers, ensuring the curriculum is relevant to their communities, and maintaining student motivation and hope for the future amid declining rural populations and the associated decline in local job opportunities.
As a result, significant disparity exists in educational outcomes for young people in rural communities in comparison to their city counterparts.
Emeritus Professor Halsey said while conceptual tools won’t make the problems go away, they can empower school leaders to shift discussions to their perspective and give them the language and tools to advocate for their schools.
Associate Professor Jim Davies is the course coordinator and says educational leadership is critically important for rural schools and the wider community.
“Vibrant and productive rural communities are integral and essential to Australia’s sustainability, and these communities want leaders and teachers who want to be in, and be attuned to their communities.” Associate Professor Davies says.
“School leaders are charting new directions and nurturing the potential of youth in these communities.”
Belinda Hudak, Principal of Mildura Senior College, who won a scholarship place on the program, is keen to build her skills in engaging with potential partners to provide opportunities for her students and community.
“Being a school in a regional community means you have an enormous responsibility to different aspects of your community,” said Ms Hudak.
“In regional communities there can be amazing goodwill, so being able to broker and bring organisations together is important in providing our students with opportunity beyond the scope of the curriculum.”
Emeritus Professor Halsey’s final report into the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education was released in April 2018, identifying four priorities, 11 recommendations and 53 actions to improve the outcomes for students living in rural and remote Australia.
