Young Australians at Heywire Summit debate access to education in regional areas

Australia/Febrero de 2017/Autor: Robert Virtue/Fuente: ABC

RESUMEN: La Cumbre Regional Anual ABC Heywire de la Juventud en Canberra está discutiendo muchos de los problemas desafiantes que afectan a los jóvenes australianos regionales. Casi 40 jóvenes de diversas partes de Australia regional se han reunido para desarrollar ideas para abordar estos problemas y crear cambios positivos en sus comunidades. Bajo la oscilante bandera y los techos cubiertos de paja del Parlamento, el acceso a la educación fue un punto central en un debate transmitido en vivo por el programa Life Matters de RN. El debate se centró en la premisa: «¿Las escuelas regionales podrán dar a los estudiantes de los países las mismas oportunidades que sus primos de la ciudad?»Los debatedores participaron en el programa Heywire Trailblazers, que forma parte de la cumbre de este año.

The annual ABC Heywire Regional Youth Summit in Canberra is discussing many of the challenging issues affecting young regional Australians.

Almost 40 young people from diverse parts of regional Australia have gathered to develop ideas to tackle these problems and create positive change in their communities.

Under the fluttering flag and sloped grassed roofs of Parliament House, access to education was front and centre in a debate broadcast live on RN’s Life Matters program.

The debate centred on the premise ‘Will regional schools ever be able to give country students the same opportunities as their city cousins?’

The debaters were participants in the Heywire Trailblazers program, which is part of this year’s summit.

Regional students ‘can never have the same opportunities as city kids’

Katie McAllister from Western Australia said there were significant barriers for students in regional areas.

«We live in an information age, where Australia’s economy is changing from primary industries and moving fast into a service economy, where knowledge and wisdom and information is going to be the currency of the next couple of years,» she said.

«There is so much pressure on schools to do everything, to be everything, to prepare students for this fast-changing world.»

Ms McAllister said accepting lower ATAR scores to assist regional students enter university showed an inherent belief that rural schools were disadvantaged.

«We suffer the tyranny of distance,» she said.

«When we look at the resources of schools, we see that there’s a higher turnover of teachers, which means the teachers that are really passionate are not going to be there in the next five years.

«When we look at IT, there’s not the hardware, there’s not the internet that students need to pursue high-quality education.»

During the debate, Ms McAllister said more infrastructure and updated curriculums were needed.

«Currently schools aren’t keeping up with this fast-changing world; we have curriculums that are a little bit outdated, and they’re not plugging the gaps with information that students need to see,» she said.

«We need to see these extra-curricular opportunities offered to students, but currently they’re not in regional areas because of the lack of infrastructure.»

‘Access to education in the city and country is equal’

Arguing the opposite side of the debate was Cohen Auguston from Western Australia.

He said regional students did have equal educational opportunities as city students, and mindsets needed to change.

«Opportunity is not measured in education. Opportunity is measured in potential,» he said.

«The same opportunities are offered in regional and metropolitan Australia, but just with different methodology.

«Kids in metropolitan Australia learn resilience from being knocked back.

«They learn resilience from failing a test, from being held up in traffic and missing a meeting, whereas kids in regional Australia learn resilience from being caught in drought-ridden Queensland for five years.

«The same thing is learned, the same opportunity is reached, but just in two very different respects.»

Mr Auguston said students in regional and city areas had the same access to educational leaders.

«Teachers at regional schools are usually from the city, and they have the same education as metropolitan teachers,» he said.

«Is there a physical barrier between teachers in the regions and metropolitan centres? They teach the same things; resources are irrelevant.

«People bring change; change is not embedded in a location.

«The people of once-small regional communities that did something great stood up and said ‘I want something better’. That is why we are here.

«We are here because we have the same opportunities to make change.»

Fuente: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-08/young-australians-debate-access-to-education-in-regional-areas/8252398