Rural and Remote Education - Victoria
Rural
and Remote Education - Victoria
Meeting with secondary students
in Bairnsdale, 11 November 1999 - notes
Students from Bairnsdale
Secondary College, Nagle College and Orbost Secondary School.
The following issues
were identified and discussed:
- Computers and
internet
- Austudy
- Subject choice
- Boarding
- Travel and transport
- Reconciliation
- Students with
disabilities
- Teachers
Computers and internet
"The ratio of computers
to students is pretty good. But there are problems with computers being
booked up by junior students at times when seniors are supposed to be
able to use them. In comparison with Melbourne students we are disadvantaged
in our use of computers because they have laptops. This can result in
a lack of IT skills here and a drop in marks. We need computer courses
so our IT levels are kept up."
"Internet access
is inadequate in Bairnsdale. Only 4 of our computers are on the net, so
there are not enough places. After-school access is fairly adequate. For
access at lunchtime we have to book in advance."
Austudy
"Maybe a lot of students
are deterred from going on to Uni because of accommodation costs and being
away from home. A bit more money could be added to rural children's Austudy.
That might entice them a bit more to go on."
"If they need more
money they have to get a job, which can affect their studying times. So
their work habits go down."
"When Melbourne kids
go to Uni they don't have to look for accommodation because they can just
stay at home. But kids from Bairnsdale have to find accommodation and
that costs money."
Subject choice
Orbost: "At most
schools in this district subject choices are pretty limited. There's only
one LOTE subject at our school (Indonesian). It's hard when subjects clash
as well because of the limited choices. There are a couple of compulsory
subjects."
One Orbost student
is studying Business Management via Distance Education. She reported that
"It would be better to have a classroom and a teacher that could help
with whatever you're researching. It helps getting input from someone
else. There is a support teacher but it's all my responsibility. It's
up to me to find someone."
BSC: "We have over
100 subject choices we can choose from and they're all taught at our school.
We have German and Japanese for our LOTE but they're not compulsory. We've
got three core subjects we have to do in Year 9-10: English, Maths and
Health."
Nagle: "Choice is
pretty good although there are a few clashes. We can go on exchange as
well. We have to have one science in Year 10 and we the opportunity to
do VCE subjects in Year 10. There's about 5-6 choices in Science, including
Forensic Science."
Boarding
"If students have
to board they have to find their own place. They waste time finding places.
Boarding gives the student more time for studying each day whereas if
they had to travel they'd be losing study time. There's nowhere in Bairnsdale
where students could board together. It would be easier on them and they'd
be more settled in school."
"It puts a lot of
strain on the kids being away from home. They need someone to talk to."
Travel and transport
"There are disadvantages
for rural VCE students who have to go into the city for tutorials at the
Unis and revision studies. There's the cost of travelling and it's a 4
hour drive into Melbourne. And there can be the cost of accommodation
too."
"And just travelling
to school every day from Lakes Entrance [into Nagle College in Bairnsdale]
takes 45-50 minutes by bus and then you have to come home again. It leaves
less time for studying. You can stay after school for sport but you'd
have to make your own way home. There's only one bus each way each day."
"Sometimes even getting
on a bus is a hassle. The laws on buses - you have to get on a certain
bus at a certain stop that the school has set. It works in the city but
it can't work in little towns. It affects students and anyone wanting
to get on buses to come into Bairnsdale. Only students can be on the bus.
Some buses are just for students from one school."
"Our bus has to wait
until about 4 o'clock before we can go home. That's about 35 minutes after
we finish school. Se we sit around doing absolutely nothing for half an
hour. And then it's another 20 minute, half an hour ride home. We don't
get home until 4.30. I don't know whether it's been tried to do anything
about it, like getting another bus. It also happens in the morning. We
have to go in half an hour earlier so this bus can drop us off and go
and get some other kids. It does two runs. We can only get into the library
at 8.30am."
"If you don't want
to go to school at starting time you have to pay. Say if you've got an
exam. It's $3.60 from Paynesville one way. It's so expensive. It's easier
to walk! To Lakes Entrance it's pretty expensive on the bus too. If you
need a concession card you have to buy one."
Reconciliation
"It's a really big
issue, especially in this area. There's a big lack of understanding. People
say they don't want to say 'sorry'. But they don't understand what it's
about. It's a pretty racist town. Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance. There's
a lot of fighting at the secondary college."
"The teachers generally
treat the Aboriginals differently to the white people. They don't really
discipline them as much. A few of us are in 'Voices of the Future' and
we have tried in the past to do stuff so we could come together. It worked
for a while and then it just stuffs up after a while. It's a youth group
and we do things in the community. We've just helped set up a drop-in
centre. We've got an Aboriginal youth worker working there full time.
The racial issues there are pretty good. I don't think there's been a
fight there yet. We also run band nights that are supposed to be drug
and alcohol free. A fair few fights break out at that between the white
people and the black people. Whether the white people started it or the
black people started it, no-one really knows. So we can't really do anything
to stop that. The centre was a VoF initiative. VoF was set up about three
years ago by students from both Bairnsdale secondary schools."
"You see people getting
discriminated because of their colour down the street. They don't really
want to go to school and get it there too."
A Koorie student
at Nagle College reported that "At first it was really hard because there
were hardly any Koories there. So I felt kind of out of place. But it's
gotten better and I just get treated like everybody else. Except just
a few people ..."
At Nagle, however,
"we don't have enough Koorie students to have a Koorie room. I think that's
compulsory after you have so many students. I think that's helped a lot
because they're not set out from everyone else. They have to part of everyone
else."
A BSC student responded:
"If everybody at Bairnsdale Secondary College treated Aboriginal students
like everybody else it would be ok! Including the teachers. Because it's
just ridiculous."
Students with disabilities
Both Orbost and Nagle
have ramps and the two Nagle students in wheelchairs are picked up by
a taxi and takes them home again every night. At Bairnsdale Secondary
College ramps were installed for the one student in a wheelchair. At Orbost
"students who do have mental disabilities have a special person there
to help them".
"There's one guy
with one leg shorter than the other. He wears a special shoe. The stairs
are fine for him. People tease him. Sometimes the students with intellectual
disabilities might say or do stupid things and people make fun of them
for that. Other than that it's pretty good. People know really not to
make fun of them for their problems. And they do have friends, so it's
easier for them - they're not totally isolated."
Teachers
Describe the situation:
"They don't understand us and they cannot communicate with us properly.
Some teachers don't care what happens to their pupils. If one student
is naughty the rest of the class is punished for it. They favour their
'A' students. They don't listen to us properly. They also favour the disadvantaged
people."
Recommendations:
"They need more teachers to understand students and their problems. Teachers
need to understand to treat people equally."
Describe the situation:
"Most students don't want to learn because they don't like the teacher.
They wag and get into trouble to get attention."
Recommendations:
"We need to get better teachers who understand how we feel; get more help
with our work; discuss the problems with both teachers and students in
an equal way and try to fix the problem."
Responding, one of
the other students pointed out that "Once you get to Year 10, Year 11
and 12, they understand you more, you're more on their level and you can
relate better with them. I find we work better. You learn to get along
with them. I like our teachers."
"You always get a
couple of bad ones. But most of the teachers at our school are pretty
good."
"There are some old-fashioned
teachers. And they don't understand how we feel."
Really positive
things about going to school in East Gippsland
The canteen, social
life, beautiful environment, small classes (but not all classes are small),
everyone knows each other.
Last
updated 2 December 2001.