A progress report on the Country Education Strategy, which focuses on the difficulty of attracting and retaining teachers in country locations, has been released.
The Strategy Progress Report covers 2021 to 2022 and highlights the key outcomes to emerge in the first year of work.
According to the Department for Education, the Strategy includes the investment in technology to uplift country schools and preschools as well as more services to support speech pathology, mental health and wellbeing in areas where provision is limited.
The Department said it recently started a pilot program to examine how to improve access to housing for teachers in country locations.
“This reflects that accessible, affordable quality housing is an important factor in attracting and retaining quality educators to live and work in country communities,” the Department said.
In addition to the program the Department said that since 2021 it had provided financial assistance and other support for 38 pre-service teachers to undertake a country placement, and covered 1,975 relief teaching days across 67 country schools through the country relief and capacity program, supporting country schools to meet their staffing needs.
It said it also delivered infrastructure upgrades of Information and Communication Technology in many country schools, improving their connectivity and access to high-speed internet and improved access to psychology and speech pathology through tele-practice and external providers.
To connect country stakeholders, the Department said it established a Country Education Reference Group to share issues and ideas and launched the Country Education Website.
Further information from the Country Education Strategy can be accessed at this PS News link.
