I do plan to do that in the future, just not the near future

Key Question Being Explored in This Insight:

Tim Fish and Ondine Bradbury examines pre-service teachers (PSTs) from two Australian universities regarding their involvement in rural professional experience (PE) placements and their potential impact on future career choices.

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Institution: Monash University

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This video discusses the current shortage of teachers in Australia, particularly emphasizing the pronounced issue in regional and rural areas compared to metropolitan settings. It highlights that a significant majority of registered teachers reside in major cities, leaving only a small percentage in remote areas, which face challenges in attracting pre-service and in-service teachers due to lifestyle factors and misconceptions about rural living.

Research conducted in Victoria involved semi-structured interviews with pre-service teachers from both metropolitan and regional universities. The study identified three key themes: pedagogical development, connection to place, and engagement with the community. Pre-service teachers reported having more opportunities for professional growth, feeling a stronger sense of belonging in rural schools, and being more engaged with families compared to their experiences in urban placements.

Factors influencing teachers' decisions regarding future employment included stage of life, teaching experience, fear of isolation, and employment conditions. Many pre-service teachers expressed a preference for larger institutions with more support as they begin their careers. Additionally, financial incentives for relocating to rural positions were mentioned, though personal circumstances often had a greater impact on final employment decisions.

The research advocates for long-term strategies to enhance teacher recruitment in rural areas, such as increasing access to teacher education programs locally and promoting the positive experiences of those who have taught in these settings. The study aims to inform future research on the intentions of teachers regarding rural placements and employment, ultimately seeking to address staff shortages in regional and remote schools.

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Here are five key points from the video:

1. **Teacher Shortage in Rural Areas**: There is a significant shortage of teachers in regional and remote areas of Australia, particularly in Victoria, compared to metropolitan areas. Statistics indicate that a large proportion of school teachers reside in major cities, which intensifies the staffing issues in less populated regions.

2. **Impact of Placement Experiences**: Research involving pre-service teachers highlights that placements in rural settings enhance pedagogical development and community engagement. Participants reported feeling more accepted in rural schools, having better support from mentors, and experiencing closer ties with families and local communities, which can enrich their teaching experiences.

3. **Barriers to Relocation**: Several factors influence pre-service teachers' decisions to remain in urban areas after graduation. These include family responsibilities, fear of isolation, perceived lack of professional support, and concerns about teaching in unfamiliar conditions. Many view relocating to rural areas as suitable later in life when they may have more flexibility and support.

4. **Graduate Employment Intentions**: The research found that rural placements often confirm pre-service teachers' original plans to stay in metropolitan areas after graduation rather than pursuing opportunities in rural or remote schools. Their decisions are influenced by personal circumstances and previous educational experiences rather than by incentives or short-term benefits.

5. **Need for Long-Term Solutions**: The study indicates a need for comprehensive and sustainable strategies to address teacher shortages in rural areas, including financial incentives for pre-service and in-service teachers and enhancing access to teacher education for individuals already living in rural communities. Increasing local training opportunities could help retain educators in these areas.

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Here are some key quotes extracted from the video you :

1. **Teacher Shortage**: "So what we're seeing at the moment... is the shortage across many Australian educational settings for teachers."

2. **Urban vs. Rural Teacher Distribution**: "School teachers living in those major cities around 77%. And this is in comparison to 19% in regional areas, and even less than that, around 3.5 in outer regional areas."

3. **Application Rates**: "...when there's an advertised position in a Melbourne metro setting, they're receiving around on average four more applications than a regional."

4. **Lifestyle Factors**: "Lifestyle factors... also has a big impact on rural school staffing and some of the preconceptions... around what it's like to teach and live in rural settings."

5. **Federal Reviews**: "There have been federal independent reviews that put out this call to engage with initial teacher education providers to ensure that there were more opportunities for pre-service teachers to conduct regional, remote and rural schools in their placements."

6. **Impact of Placements**: "Some [pre-service teachers]... had undertaken a remote placement in an indigenous community in the Northern Territory."

7. **Key Themes Identified**: "Three key themes were explored within the responses from our participants, and they were pedagogical development, connection to place, and engagement with community."

8. **Pedagogical Development**: "We saw that the pre-service teachers had been with greater opportunities... and they found that they had greater ownership over the classroom."

9. **Connection to Community**: "They felt about feeling more accepted within the school community... with students and their families outside of the school day."

10. **Local Events Influence Teaching**: "...the local community had... an impact on their classroom in the... class. For example... a local event, like a crocodile being caught... they had to sort of switch that over..."

11. **Perceived Community Dynamics**: "...our pre-service teachers did feel that it was very close knit... when they did receive pre-service teachers, they were really welcoming."

12. **Graduate Destination Reinforcement**: "...graduate destinations... reinforced the pre-service teachers' originally conceived trajectory... not to relocate straight away."

13. **Factors Affecting Relocation**: "Stage of life... family responsibilities... teaching experiences and support... fear of isolation... employment conditions."

14. **Career Growth Opportunities**: "...some... saw the teaching... as a good career move because of the opportunities that were presented to... fast track your career..."

15. **Long-term Strategies Needed**: "...we're really interested... about comprehensive and lasting solutions with long-term strategies... to support those already living in rural..."

16. **Local Access to Education**: "If we can... give more access and opportunities to people who are already living in rural and regional locations, they're gonna be more likely to... stay in those in and around, those rural locations."

17. **Country Readiness Survey**: "...developed from the pre-service teacher... looking at whether the... what's behind the decision making... of choosing to go to a regional remote rural placement."

These quotes reflect the core themes and findings regarding teacher shortages, placement experiences, community engagement, and the challenges and opportunities in rural education settings in Australia.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

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So what we're seeing at the moment, Sam,

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is the shortage across many Australian educational

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settings for teachers.

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And so it's Australian

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and globally as well as

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what we're talking about in our research,

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which is in Victoria.

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So what we're seeing is,

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although that it is a, a, a really quite extensive issue

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that in regional and remote settings, it,

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it's quite pronounced.

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So what we're, if we look at,

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population in particular in Victoria,

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there are a large amount of registered teachers,

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school teachers, living in those major cities

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around 77%.

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And this is in comparison to 19% in,

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in a regional areas,

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and even less than that, around 3.5 in outer regional areas.

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So in addition to these statistics, what we're seeing is

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that when there's an advertised position in a Melbourne

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metro setting, they're receiving

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around on average four more applications than a regional

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rural setting would

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Certainly other studies, have also suggested,

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lifestyle factors as, and sort of a lack of family

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and community networks.

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Uh, also has a big impact on, rural school staffing

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and some of the preconceptions,

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that pre-service teachers have around what it's like

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to teach and live in rural settings.

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Also influences, graduate,

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but also in-service teachers from considering living

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and working in rural schools.

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There have been federal independent reviews

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that we've looked at and a couple of other studies

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that put out this call to engage

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with initial teacher education providers to ensure

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that there were more opportunities for pre-service teachers

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to conduct regional, remote

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and rural schools in their placements, in their settings.

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Uh, and we also found that across different states

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and territories like Western Australia, they had,

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had opportunities for students to go on placements, which

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actually changed their position

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or their, their previously conceived notions on

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what it was like to live

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and work in regional, remote and rural schools.

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We conducted, semi-structured interviews with,

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20 pre-service teachers, from two universities based in,

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Victoria and in, based in,

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one was based in Melbourne, which is the capital city,

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and Victoria and the other university, was based in,

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had campuses in regional and, rural Victoria as well.

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Um, so we had a mix of, pre-service teachers, some

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who had, resided in metropolitan urban based settings,

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but also those who had, we had a few who were based in,

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rural settings as well.

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Um, the requirement of the, participants was

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that done at least one rural

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placement, during their course.

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Uh, we also had a small group of PS precept teachers

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who had undertaken a remote placement in an indigenous

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community in the Northern Territory.

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And, in terms of our, sort of analysis,

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we use a thematic analysis, we sort

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of looked over the data, coded it based on themes

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that we sort of found, from those interviews

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with the participants, three

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Key themes were explored within the responses from our

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participants, and they were p pedagogical development,

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connection to place and engagement with community.

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So when it came to pedagogical development, we saw

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that the pre-service teachers had been

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provided with greater opportunities.

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They had flexibility in those opportunities,

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so they were able to take lots

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of different learning experiences on, they also found

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that they had greater ownership over the classroom.

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So they, they were given really great support

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by those mentors in regional remote rural settings,

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and they had heaps of opportunity.

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And certainly one of the other key themes was,

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connecting to place and the engagement with community.

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That was a key factor, that the PSCs,

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the president procedural spoke about.

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So they felt about feeling more accepted within the school

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community, often in, in relation

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or, in comparison to, what that experience in some

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of their metropolitan, based, placements.

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Um, and they had in obviously greater interactions

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with students and their families sort of outside of school

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and outside of the school day.

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So especially in some of the smaller, rural communities,

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you know, you'd, they would often see, you know,

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families and students, you know, the local shops

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or, you know, out late at night at the local

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hotel and that sort of thing.

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But one of the pre-service teachers

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that was involved in the Northern Territory spoke about,

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how that sort of impact

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of the local community had on their,

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the curriculum in the, in the class.

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So they noted how, a local event,

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like a crocodile being caught,

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had an impact on their classroom lesson.

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So originally they were gonna do a classroom lesson on

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writing a procedural text,

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and suddenly they had to realize they had to sort of switch

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that over, to sort of having the children write about,

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right around crocodiles

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because they found that sort of what's happening in the sort

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of local community, tends to sort of dominate,

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and distract in many ways, what the kids were doing.

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So being able to sort of tap into that meant

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that they could still have a, a meaningful lesson rather

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than sort of just plowing on with whatever had been planned.

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Well, I think that from what we've seen in the research

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key to rural settings,

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that everyone is really close in relation

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to understanding the space.

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And, and there are, in those smaller regional remote

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and rural communities that there, it, it is a large amount

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of familiarity so that everybody knows everyone essentially.

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Now that's not for every regional remote or rural community.

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I think that, that we're, we are starting

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to break down those preconceived stereotypes when it

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comes to those settings.

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But I think that compared to metro settings, our pre-service

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teachers did feel that it was very close knit.

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And in, in that regard, there was another aspect

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that we could link is the fact that our regional remote

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and rural settings, at that partic particular time,

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were not experiencing an influx of pre-service teachers.

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So when they did receive pre-service teachers,

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they were really welcoming

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and they, they loved supporting them,

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they really enjoyed the experience.

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While professional growth from the experience in regional,

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rural and remote placements was an important finding, one

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of the critical findings from our research was linked

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to future employment intentions

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or what we termed graduate destinations.

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So our findings showed that the placement actually

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reinforced the pre-service teachers

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originally conceived trajectory, which was in the short term

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not to relocate straight away.

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So they'd experienced the regional remote rural placement,

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and it had reinforced that they were going to stay

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where they had originally decided after the graduation.

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And this was, we saw

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that there were four interrelated factors,

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and they were stage of life teaching experience

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and support, fear of isolation and employment conditions.

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So when it came to stage of life, they linked this

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to family responsibilities.

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So if they had already set down roots in a specific space

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and they had children or their partner had a job already,

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or a profession, it was more difficult for them to relocate

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or even consider it.

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Additionally, they thought about some

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of our pre-service teacher participants that need to stay

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with family and friends.

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The other, theme that we saw that factor was

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teaching experiences and support.

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So they felt that they might need more experience

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before they relocated to a setting that might be unfamiliar

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and maybe a larger team

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to support them in their early career stage.

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And certainly that maps into, one of the other,

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themes that came out with round their, their sort of fear

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of isolation and that sort of, that perceived notion that,

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in some of these rural schools that there might be sort

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of a lack of community resources, both from a

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academic point of view, but also community resources even

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from a sort of, you know, health

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and wellbeing point of view.

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Uh, and also that professional support.

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Um, so they often talked about, in sort of wanting

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to do the first few years

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after they graduated, in a school

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where they had more support in terms of, you know,

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there's sort of a bigger, a bigger school,

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so there's more staff,

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so you're gonna get not just your assigned mentor,

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but there's more sort of access to staff to mentor you

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as opposed to a smaller school

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where there might be sort of limited staff.

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So hence you're not gonna be able to,

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they're not gonna have the time to be able to sort

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of mentor your mentor or you in those sort of, you know,

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first few, years as you start your career.

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Mm-hmm. Um, so,

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and often they talked about, they first felt that,

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teaching or relocating and,

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and taking up a career in a rural school was more suited

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to a later stage of life.

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Um, and part of that was due to the lifestyle issues.

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Um, you know, sort of access to I suppose entertainment

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and leisure, et cetera,

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or different types of entertainment leisure than

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what they've experienced, especially in sort

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of the city or suburbs.

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Um, and also of course, lack of family

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and friends networks, upon relocating to a rural school.

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So you obviously picking up

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and moving to a place

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where you probably don't know any or many people.

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Um, so yeah, so,

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and that sort of perceived, I suppose the older demographic,

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both, I think also from a professional point

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of view in terms of the school community,

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but also the wider community,

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was one of the key factors.

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And then finally, employment conditions.

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So some, some

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of the pre-service teachers spoke about often when they

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graduate, sort of one or two year contracts are offered.

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And so the thought of having, taking up,

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let say a two year contract,

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but having to sort of relocate to a new community was sort

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of quite an impediment to sort

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of making that decision to do that.

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Um, but then there was also, I suppose on the other hand,

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quite a few PSTs who, I suppose sort of saw the,

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teaching or started their career, you know, a rural setting

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as a good career move

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because of the opportunities that were presented to,

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I suppose sort of fast track your career to sort

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of leadership positions.

231
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Because often, especially in sort of those small

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to medium schools, when, yeah,

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leadership roles came up, they'd be more likely to sort

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of be offered them rather than in some

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of the bigger metropolitan schools.

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Yeah. Those, those opportunities wouldn't be as prevalent.

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Mm-hmm. So for some people, they actually saw that

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as a, as a benefit Yeah.

239
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Of what they could get out of, moving

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to a rural school perhaps earlier in their career.

241
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What we can see from our research

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and from others is

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that it's very valuable in providing

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greater professional growth.

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It's also really valuable in allowing pre-service teachers

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or exposing, teach pre-service teachers

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to a different community

248
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and setting than they may, may have been used to previously.

249
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But with location being a factor, there's there,

250
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there are limitations in ensuring

251
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that pre-professional experience addresses staff shortages,

252
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especially from our research perspective.

253
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So what we have seen more often at the moment, and

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and more prevalent in Victoria in particular,

255
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are financial incentives that have been developed

256
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for both pre-service teachers and graduate teachers

257
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or in-service teachers to support pla

258
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the either the placement costs or the relocation costs.

259
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But as many rural schools are, we're really in interested

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as a research team about comprehensive

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and lasting solutions with long-term strategies such

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as program initiatives,

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supporting those already living in rural,

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remote regional communities

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and allowing for more opportunities

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to enter the te teaching profession.

267
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And certainly, part of our finding is from,

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this study were that, personal school,

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personal schooling experience

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and personal circumstances are often far more influential in

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determining sort of graduate employment destinations

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than perhaps some of these short term incentives,

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or even some of these rural experiences.

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And certainly, I suppose one of the avenues that we sort

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of advocate for and sort of looking,

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as our research continues is looking at sort of

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what opportunities can be, fostered

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to enable people based in rural locations.

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So whether they be sort of more mature age

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or even sort of the students in, you know, the end

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of their latter years of their secondary school,

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their final years of schooling to be able to access,

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initial teacher education courses

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or at least be, consider those

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and having them delivered either sort of locally

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or regionally to sort of improve that access to,

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teacher education courses to start with.

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Uh, because we think if we can sort of improve

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or give more access

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and opportunities to people who are already living in rural

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and regional locations, they're gonna be more likely to,

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obviously once they graduate, just sort of stay in those in

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and around, those rural locations

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where they'll leave rather than sort of

295
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as suppose targeting metropolitan

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or urban based pre-service teachers or in-service teachers

297
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and trying to have them sort of relocate.

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This particular research that we are talking about today

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was a springboard into further research about the intentions

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behind pre-service teachers

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and also in-service teachers into experiencing rural, remote

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and regional settings, either in placement

303
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or in their future considerations for employment.

304
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And we, we've got a working title

305
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of the country readiness survey

306
00:14:01.025 --> 00:14:04.485
and it, it was developed from the pre-service teacher

307
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thematic responses that we looked at in the paper,

308
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and essentially looking at whether the, what's

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behind the decision making of, choosing to go

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to a regional remote rural placement

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or setting future, employment.

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And so that's currently under construction

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and we are looking at the ways in which those findings

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correlate with future destinations

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that people might choose. Yeah.

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And it's also about, just sort of ascertaining what,

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people who undertake the survey,

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what their understanding is, is of what it's like to live

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and work in a rural setting.

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So I suppose ultimately we see it as a bit of a, we hope

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to sort of develop it as a bit of a, a tool.

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So, you know, whether it be sort of principals looking at,

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interviewing, you know, applicants for a job

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or pre-service teachers applying

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to do these rural placements, getting sort of a bit

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of a rundown of, you know, what their sort of, I suppose,

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00:15:04.285 --> 00:15:07.285
preconceived notions are towards what rural living

328
00:15:07.305 --> 00:15:10.085
and working in rural and regional settings. And

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So it could serve as, as a really useful tool

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for future employers,

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but also on program developers when they're thinking,

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should we develop this program for educational tourism

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or something that's going to be more of an experience,

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or should we develop this

335
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and have pre-service teachers take on the experience

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because they really want to relocate

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and then they can fashion or design the program accordingly.

Teacher Shortage in Australia's Regional Educational Settings

00:00:00 - So what we're seeing at the moment, Sam, is the shortage across many Australian educational settings for teachers. And so it's Australian and globally as well as what we're talking about in our research, which is in Victoria. So what we're seeing is, although that it is a, a, a really quite extensive issue that in regional and remote settings, it, it's quite pronounced. So what we're, if we look at, population in particular in Victoria,

00:00:33 - school teachers, living in those major cities around 77%. And this is in comparison to 19% in, in a regional areas, and even less than that, around 3.5 in outer regional areas. So in addition to these statistics, what we're seeing is that when there's an advertised position in a Melbourne metro setting, they're receiving around on average four more applications than a regional

00:01:03 - Certainly other studies, have also suggested, lifestyle factors as, and sort of a lack of family and community networks. also has a big impact on, rural school staffing and some of the preconceptions, that pre-service teachers have around what it's like to teach and live in rural settings. Also influences, graduate, but also in-service teachers from considering living and working in rural schools. There have been federal independent reviews

Enhancing Rural Teacher Education Opportunities

00:01:34 - that put out this call to engage with initial teacher education providers to ensure that there were more opportunities for pre-service teachers to conduct regional, remote and rural schools in their placements, in their settings. and we also found that across different states and territories like Western Australia, they had, had opportunities for students to go on placements, which actually changed their position

00:02:04 - what it was like to live and work in regional, remote and rural schools. We conducted, semi-structured interviews with, 20 pre-service teachers, from two universities based in, Victoria and in, based in, one was based in Melbourne, which is the capital city, and Victoria and the other university, was based in, had campuses in regional and, rural Victoria as well. so we had a mix of, pre-service teachers, some

00:02:37 - but also those who had, we had a few who were based in, rural settings as well. the requirement of the, participants was that done at least one rural placement, during their course. we also had a small group of PS precept teachers who had undertaken a remote placement in an indigenous community in the Northern Territory. And, in terms of our, sort of analysis,

Exploring Key Themes in Teacher Development and Community Engagement

00:03:06 - of looked over the data, coded it based on themes that we sort of found, from those interviews with the participants, three Key themes were explored within the responses from our participants, and they were p pedagogical development, connection to place and engagement with community. So when it came to pedagogical development, we saw that the pre-service teachers had been provided with greater opportunities. They had flexibility in those opportunities,

00:03:36 - of different learning experiences on, they also found that they had greater ownership over the classroom. So they, they were given really great support by those mentors in regional remote rural settings, and they had heaps of opportunity. And certainly one of the other key themes was, connecting to place and the engagement with community. That was a key factor, that the PSCs, the president procedural spoke about. So they felt about feeling more accepted within the school community, often in, in relation

00:04:10 - of their metropolitan, based, placements. and they had in obviously greater interactions with students and their families sort of outside of school and outside of the school day. So especially in some of the smaller, rural communities, you know, you'd, they would often see, you know, families and students, you know, the local shops or, you know, out late at night at the local hotel and that sort of thing. But one of the pre-service teachers that was involved in the Northern Territory spoke about,

Adapting Curriculum to Local Community Events

00:04:42 - of the local community had on their, the curriculum in the, in the class. So they noted how, a local event, like a crocodile being caught, had an impact on their classroom lesson. So originally they were gonna do a classroom lesson on writing a procedural text, and suddenly they had to realize they had to sort of switch that over, to sort of having the children write about, right around crocodiles because they found that sort of what's happening in the sort of local community, tends to sort of dominate,

00:05:16 - So being able to sort of tap into that meant that they could still have a, a meaningful lesson rather than sort of just plowing on with whatever had been planned. Well, I think that from what we've seen in the research key to rural settings, that everyone is really close in relation to understanding the space. And, and there are, in those smaller regional remote and rural communities that there, it, it is a large amount

00:05:47 - Now that's not for every regional remote or rural community. I think that, that we're, we are starting to break down those preconceived stereotypes when it comes to those settings. But I think that compared to metro settings, our pre-service teachers did feel that it was very close knit. And in, in that regard, there was another aspect that we could link is the fact that our regional remote

Impact of Rural Placements on Teacher Graduate Intentions

00:06:17 - were not experiencing an influx of pre-service teachers. So when they did receive pre-service teachers, they were really welcoming and they, they loved supporting them, they really enjoyed the experience. While professional growth from the experience in regional, rural and remote placements was an important finding, one of the critical findings from our research was linked to future employment intentions or what we termed graduate destinations.

00:06:49 - reinforced the pre-service teachers originally conceived trajectory, which was in the short term not to relocate straight away. So they'd experienced the regional remote rural placement, and it had reinforced that they were going to stay where they had originally decided after the graduation. And this was, we saw that there were four interrelated factors, and they were stage of life teaching experience

00:07:23 - So when it came to stage of life, they linked this to family responsibilities. So if they had already set down roots in a specific space and they had children or their partner had a job already, or a profession, it was more difficult for them to relocate or even consider it. Additionally, they thought about some of our pre-service teacher participants that need to stay with family and friends.

Support Needs and Relocation Hesitations for New Teachers

00:07:53 - teaching experiences and support. So they felt that they might need more experience before they relocated to a setting that might be unfamiliar and maybe a larger team to support them in their early career stage. And certainly that maps into, one of the other, themes that came out with round their, their sort of fear of isolation and that sort of, that perceived notion that, in some of these rural schools that there might be sort

00:08:25 - academic point of view, but also community resources even from a sort of, you know, health and wellbeing point of view. and also that professional support. so they often talked about, in sort of wanting to do the first few years after they graduated, in a school where they had more support in terms of, you know, there's sort of a bigger, a bigger school, so there's more staff, so you're gonna get not just your assigned mentor, but there's more sort of access to staff to mentor you as opposed to a smaller school where there might be sort of limited staff.

00:08:53 - they're not gonna have the time to be able to sort of mentor your mentor or you in those sort of, you know, first few, years as you start your career. Mm-hmm. so, and often they talked about, they first felt that, teaching or relocating and, and taking up a career in a rural school was more suited to a later stage of life. and part of that was due to the lifestyle issues. you know, sort of access to I suppose entertainment and leisure, et cetera, or different types of entertainment leisure than what they've experienced, especially in sort

Challenges and Opportunities in Rural Teaching Careers

00:09:25 - and also of course, lack of family and friends networks, upon relocating to a rural school. So you obviously picking up and moving to a place where you probably don't know any or many people. so yeah, so, and that sort of perceived, I suppose the older demographic, both, I think also from a professional point of view in terms of the school community, but also the wider community, was one of the key factors. And then finally, employment conditions. So some, some of the pre-service teachers spoke about often when they

00:09:58 - And so the thought of having, taking up, let say a two year contract, but having to sort of relocate to a new community was sort of quite an impediment to sort of making that decision to do that. but then there was also, I suppose on the other hand, quite a few PSTs who, I suppose sort of saw the, teaching or started their career, you know, a rural setting as a good career move because of the opportunities that were presented to, I suppose sort of fast track your career to sort

00:10:28 - Because often, especially in sort of those small to medium schools, when, yeah, leadership roles came up, they'd be more likely to sort of be offered them rather than in some of the bigger metropolitan schools. Yeah. Those, those opportunities wouldn't be as prevalent. Mm-hmm. So for some people, they actually saw that as a, as a benefit Yeah. Of what they could get out of, moving to a rural school perhaps earlier in their career. What we can see from our research and from others is that it's very valuable in providing

Addressing Teacher Shortages: Long-Term Solutions and Financial Incentives

00:11:00 - It's also really valuable in allowing pre-service teachers or exposing, teach pre-service teachers to a different community and setting than they may, may have been used to previously. But with location being a factor, there's there, there are limitations in ensuring that pre-professional experience addresses staff shortages, especially from our research perspective. So what we have seen more often at the moment, and

00:11:31 - are financial incentives that have been developed for both pre-service teachers and graduate teachers or in-service teachers to support pla the either the placement costs or the relocation costs. But as many rural schools are, we're really in interested as a research team about comprehensive and lasting solutions with long-term strategies such as program initiatives, supporting those already living in rural,

00:12:03 - and allowing for more opportunities to enter the te teaching profession. And certainly, part of our finding is from, this study were that, personal school, personal schooling experience and personal circumstances are often far more influential in determining sort of graduate employment destinations than perhaps some of these short term incentives, or even some of these rural experiences. And certainly, I suppose one of the avenues that we sort

Enhancing Teacher Education Access in Rural Areas

00:12:35 - as our research continues is looking at sort of what opportunities can be, fostered to enable people based in rural locations. So whether they be sort of more mature age or even sort of the students in, you know, the end of their latter years of their secondary school, their final years of schooling to be able to access, initial teacher education courses or at least be, consider those and having them delivered either sort of locally

00:13:08 - teacher education courses to start with. because we think if we can sort of improve or give more access and opportunities to people who are already living in rural and regional locations, they're gonna be more likely to, obviously once they graduate, just sort of stay in those in and around, those rural locations where they'll leave rather than sort of as suppose targeting metropolitan or urban based pre-service teachers or in-service teachers and trying to have them sort of relocate.

00:13:38 - was a springboard into further research about the intentions behind pre-service teachers and also in-service teachers into experiencing rural, remote and regional settings, either in placement or in their future considerations for employment. And we, we've got a working title of the country readiness survey and it, it was developed from the pre-service teacher

Understanding Decision-Making for Rural Teaching Placements

00:14:08 - and essentially looking at whether the, what's behind the decision making of, choosing to go to a regional remote rural placement or setting future, employment. And so that's currently under construction and we are looking at the ways in which those findings correlate with future destinations that people might choose. Yeah.

00:14:37 - people who undertake the survey, what their understanding is, is of what it's like to live and work in a rural setting. So I suppose ultimately we see it as a bit of a, we hope to sort of develop it as a bit of a, a tool. So, you know, whether it be sort of principals looking at, interviewing, you know, applicants for a job or pre-service teachers applying to do these rural placements, getting sort of a bit of a rundown of, you know, what their sort of, I suppose, preconceived notions are towards what rural living

00:15:34 - So it could serve as, as a really useful tool for future employers, but also on program developers when they're thinking, should we develop this program for educational tourism or something that's going to be more of an experience, or should we develop this and have pre-service teachers take on the experience because they really want to relocate and then they can fashion or design the program accordingly.

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