Addresses the needs of gifted children in rural New South Wales and discusses disadvantages often experienced by rural gifted students. Describes a project coordinated by the Armidale Catholic Schools Office that developed enrichment materials for gifted rural students in grades 3-10. Includes brief descriptions of learning modules and cites…

A survey of home-schooling parents and staff associated with the Longreach School of Distance Education in a remote area of Queensland (Australia) examined attitudes about the importance of drama and visual arts education. The majority of parents valued their children's participation in the arts and would like to see more arts education included…

The "Passport to Flexible Learning" project was designed to support Central Queensland University's (Australia) plan to use a variety of communication technologies for the delivery of units of study across its geographically isolated campuses. Hands-on workshops were developed to introduce first-year students to a variety of electronic…

The Broken Hill School of the Air provides distance education to isolated rural students in the far west of New South Wales (Australia). Services include correspondence study, radio lessons, home visits, and minischool meetings. A student teacher describes his 10-week experience with Broken Hill, teaching 15 students in grade 5-6. (SV)

In response to overseas economic competition and changing technologies, Australia's national vocational education and training system was recently restructured, with emphases on competency-based training and industry participation. This national training system has had little relevance for geographically remote Aboriginal communities. Issues of…

Definitions of "education" and "rural" are debunked and expanded. The three major tasks of rural education are educating people to understand their own needs, the unavoidable changes that will transform rural Australia within their lifetimes, and the range of technologies that can enhance their well-being. Presents a strategy…

This paper provides a glimpse of the current picture of education in rural Scotland. Scotland has many small schools, and not all of these are in geographically isolated areas. Although Scotland's population has decreased in the past 20 years, the decline has been mostly in urban areas. Remote areas are becoming more cosmopolitan as highly…

This paper describes the characteristics of Botswana's remote area dwellers (RADs) and the government's related rural development policies. RADS live a nomadic lifestyle, live outside the traditional village structure far from basic services, rely heavily on hunting and gathering, have low levels of literacy and little access to education, and…

In Greece, "small schools" usually means those with less than 50, and perhaps, as few as 3 children. The isolation and inaccessibility of many regions, due to Greece's many mountain ranges and islands, have resulted in many small "schools of necessity." Even with the demographic shift to urban regions since World War II, 24…

In Australia, many teachers begin their careers in rural schools, a posting for which they are often ill-prepared. This book addresses the concerns of beginning teachers or other teachers about to take up rural appointments. The first chapter examines the context of rural schools, differentiates between "rural education" (education…

This book reviews trends in household well-being in Africa during the 1990s. Using the better data sets now available, the main factors behind observed poverty changes are examined in eight countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mauritania, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. A broad view of poverty is taken, which includes income poverty and…

A study examined the unique conditions affecting quality of life for low-income rural children and their families in Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Qualitative data were gathered from 11 focus groups conducted in a variety of rural communities, including tribal reservations, across the three states, and from interviews with professional…

This study examined the relationship between a small rural school in northeast Georgia and its surrounding community. Three teachers, two community members, and three students used cameras to collect data related to their perceptions of the school-community relationship. They created photographs, then wrote about their photos, and finally, held…

During the 1996-97 school year, 63 one-teacher primary schools were identified in Great Britain and 54 of these were surveyed. Three of the schools surveyed were in England, 47 in Scotland, and 4 in Wales. The majority of teachers in these schools were female, married, and 40-49 years old; had over 20 years teaching experience, with 5-15 years in…

This manual offers practical advice to educators on conducting a job search and obtaining a position in Alaska. Alaska Teacher Placement (University of Alaska Fairbanks) is a statewide clearinghouse for the placement of educators. Although Alaska's certification requirements are similar to those of other states, school administrators are also…