“That ICPA (Aust) advocates the Minister for Education when meeting with state education ministers to come up with a uniform solution that adequately remunerates or recognises supervisors in the distance education classroom.”
It is a requirement of state Distance Education (DE) and Schools of the Air (SOTAs) that a supervisor be present to support the delivery of the DE curriculum. No supervisor means no access to education, so this allowance is helping to address barriers of access to education for rural and remote families. This is a long overdue allowance that is so important to rural and remote families.
This issue goes to the heart of equitable access to education, which is every child’s right and speaks to the value and support for women’s equality in the remotest parts of Western Australia along with the sustainability of rural and remote communities and the vital industries they facilitate and support.
In 85% of instances, the mother is the supervisor in the geographically isolated distance education classroom. She is therefore taken out of the workforce, forgoes an income and relevant financial benefits and performs a role out of necessity for many years of her life so her children can access a compulsory education.
In some circumstances it is not possible for a mother to take on the supervisor role therefore geographically isolated families endure the excessive costs and challenges of providing a governess to fulfil the position.
Other families make the difficult decision to send their very young children to boarding school for their primary school education or relocate to a second home for their children to access mainstream schooling, when it is unmanageable for the mother to sacrifice her position in the workforce or the prospect of employing a distance education classroom supervisor is not possible. The latter option removes the family from their primary home, property and local community for the majority of the year.
We are calling for all education ministers, federal, state and territory, to come together and provide a distance education supervisors allowance that adequately covers the cost of the full-time position.
