STEM education is critical to Australian economic growth, prosperity and international competitiveness, but rural, regional and remote schools – which educate a quarter of school students in New South Wales – continue to face persistent gaps and uneven progress, a new paper finds.
Through an APPI Policy Challenge Grant, researchers from Charles Sturt University sought to understand the state of STEM education in rural, remote, and regional schools in New South Wales. To reduce longstanding equity gaps and strengthen pathways into future study, work and lifelong learning, Building on strength: Advancing STEM education in regional, rural and remote NSW outlines seven place-based, student-centred policy opportunities to fast-track progress.
Opportunities for the NSW Government include supporting STEM partnership hubs, expanding Initial Teacher Education programs and curriculum support, and improving data to enable the evaluation and sharing of STEM successes. The needs of students and teachers remain central in resourcing that leverages digital technologies to improve accessibility.
“With commitment and collaboration, the vision of a world-class non-metropolitan STEM education system can be realised,” says Dr James Deehan, lead author and Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University’s School of Education. “These schools can be engines of innovation and opportunity, but deep collaboration and place-based support need to be expanded upon. There are many great examples of STEM educational innovation in the regions, but we need to ensure that these can be sustained for the long term.”
The report argues that, with sustained commitment and collaboration across government, schools, communities, and industry, New South Wales can continue to build a high-performing STEM education system for non-metropolitan students.
“STEM education has been a priority for nearly a decade, but greater collaboration and partnerships are needed to make sustained progress. The NSW Government has made important strides in narrowing STEM attainment gaps in recent years, but we need to leverage all stakeholders in the regions to play their part in order to meet the STEM workforce needs of the future,” says Isabella Whealing, Head of Social Policy at the Australian Public Policy Institute.
