One of the most unrecognised sectors in Australia's workforce and arguably most undervalued group of people will be the focus of a new project being led by University of Southern Queensland education researchers Karen Peel, Brad McLennan and Patrick Danaher.
The team travelled to central Queensland in November to meet with remote education tutors - parents and govies - to launch a new nationwide survey that plans to capture the experiences and perceptions of those who share, with the distance education teacher, the responsibility for the schooling of children learning in remote settings.
It follows a national survey earlier in the year that involved nearly 600 participants, which found that ensuring students are supported in the schoolroom comes at an economic cost to the geographically isolated families.
This happens either through the loss of opportunity of the immediate family member to earn an income, or alternatively the imposition of a salary and living costs of employing a governess.
The earlier study showed that the remote education tutor's role is almost 100 per cent undertaken by females between 20 to 50 years of age.
The majority don't have teaching credentials nor are they studying to be a teacher, yet they're indisputably fulfilling an educator's role, one that is both crucial for distance education students, and a mandated supervisory responsibility.
Dr Peel said that because of their geographical situation in Australia, the tutors were in a unique circumstance when it comes to the provision of distance education schooling.
"Despite this however, there is an incredibly limited amount of research literature that covers the topic or has explored what it means to be a remote education tutor," she said.
"All children in Australian schools of distance education are required to have adult supervision during their school day, and as many parents found out during COVID-19 lockdowns, even when supplied with resources from your child's school, supporting the learning of those resources can be an incredibly tough job."
Dr Peel said the main purpose of the new research was to raise the profile and identity of remote education tutors, by acknowledging who represents the sector and how the role impacts on personal lifestyles and professional work.
"We really want to get a solid grasp on the issues that confront remote families and educators and then explore how to better support the people in those roles.
"We plan to look at developing a credentialing system for remote education tutors to validate the role they play in ensuring quality education regardless of location."
CQ interviews done
The USQ team visited eight remote education tutors on cattle properties based in the central Queensland region - west of Springsure, north west of Clermont, and west to Jericho - in November to hear about their distinctive experiences living and working with the children in the schoolroom on the various properties.
Tutors were encouraged to provide their opinions about a number of topics and issues.
It's anticipated that the findings from these interviews will result in a greater depth of understanding of the significance of the role of tutors, to work towards equality of education for students who are in locations where attendance to a local school is not an option.
Although the data is yet to be analysed, consistent themes emerged, largely around the desire of tutors to have their occupation recognised by the general population.
In addition, the tutors strongly voiced their support for the availability of professional learning and subsequent credentialing.
They voiced their passion for the part they play in developing children's learning and expressed the rewarding nature of their work.
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