Thinking Outside The Tank: How do we get the help we need?
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Darwin, 30 July 2014 Thinking Outside The Tank How do we get the help we need?
Transcript of Thinking Outside The Tank: How do we get the help we need?
Darwin, 30 July 2014
Thinking Outside The TankHow do we get the help we need?
Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation
Goals:
1. To develop new ways to build resilience and strengthen regional communities and economies across remote Australia.
2. To build new enterprises and strengthen existing industries that, provide jobs, livelihoods and incomes in remote areas.
3. To improve the education and training pathways in remote areas so that people have better opportunities to participate in the range of economies that exist.
Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation projects
• Regional economies• Population Mobility and Labour Markets• Enduring Community Value from Mining• Climate Change Adaptation and Energy Futures
• Enterprise development• Aboriginal Cultural Enterprise• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Economies• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism Product• Carbon Economies in Remote Australia• Plant Business• Precision Pastoral Management Tools
• Investing in people• Pathways to Employment• Interplay Between Health, Wellbeing, Education and Employment• Remote Education Systems
http://crc-rep.com/research
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RES Project data sources
• Derived from analysis of publicly available datasets• Community surveys in 10 remote communities• Observations from site visits in 3 jurisdictions• Engagement of over 180 remote education stakeholders in formal
qualitative research processes• Dare to Lead Snapshots in 31 Very remote schools • Reading of the relevant research literature• 5 Post-graduate research projects in progress
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3 years in, here are some key learnings from RES
• Success isn’t necessarily what we think it is.• Nor is the concept of ‘aspiration’.• Local people often see these things differently from non-locals.• The complexity of the context demands more than simplistic responses.• Responses need to consider an advantageous education, rather than
focusing on ‘disadvantage’.• Communities are strong influencers of educational outcomes.• The ‘pathway’ through school to economic participation is unclear.• While early years learning matters, learning for teenagers and parents
also matters.See our papers and reports for more learnings: http://crc-rep.com/remote-education-systems/project-outputs
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Red Dirt Thinking
• Thinking grounded in the context of remote Australia• Thinking which reflects the vast openness of possibilities• The utopian of the ‘blue sky’ versus the pragmatic reality of the ‘red dirt’
• Today, we’d like you to get your minds dirty with some red dirt thinking!
Our intention is to draw on the knowledge of those who have a stake in remote education….
• That’s you!• Before we begin (10 mins)
• Consent forms and information sheets• Authority to use image
• Structure of the session• Brief intro to the topic and overview of the Wilson Review (15 mins)• 45 minutes of facilitated 4 discussion in groups• Final Q&A (15 mins)
We’re not looking for the magic bullet solution!
How do we get the help we need?
[DoE] spends 52% of its budget on employee expenses. Teachers represent the bulk of this expenditure, and as Hattie’s work indicates, teachers constitute the single largest variable in student learning for which levers for improvement are available (Hattie, 2003: 1-2). Effectively resourcing, planning for, managing and training teachers and other employees is a key factor in achieving educational goals. Yet the department has no current workforce plan…
Wilson Review, p. 189 9
Recommendation 41
Engage additional expertise and experience to develop a comprehensive workforce plan as outlined in this report, aligned with the department’s Strategic Plan, the Indigenous education strategic plan proposed in this report and the Early Years Workforce Plan.
What could or should this workforce plan include or look like?
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For discussion• What role should or can our ‘local’ tertiary institutions have to play in workforce
development?• What role is there for other institutions, community groups, professional
organisations to help shape the future workforce?• To what end should Indigenous teacher recruitment strategies be directed?• If quality is important, what qualities should we look for in remote teachers, ATs
and leaders?• What strategic mechanisms should be put in place to achieve the best
workforce development outcomes?• If we were to evaluate a plan, what sort of outcomes should we be looking for in
the short and medium term? How would we measure them?
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Contact
John Guenther, 0412 125 661 [email protected] Osborne, 0408 719 939, [email protected] Disbray, 0437 330 042 [email protected]
About the RES projecthttp://crc-rep.com/remote-education-systems
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