Providing quality education and training for rural Australians is the driving force behind rural and remote educators meeting in Wagga Wagga this Sunday 8 to Wednesday 11 July for the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA) annual conference.

The conference, beginning 2pm Sunday 8 July at the Wagga Wagga RSL Club,
is an annual forum for sharing concerns, issues and experiences relating to rural and remote education.

This year it will be attended by about 100 educators from across Australia as well as the United States, New Zealand and the Cocos and Keeling Islands.
 
Keynote speakers are:

• Professor Bob Meyenn, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Charles Sturt University: Swimming against the tide. Professor Meyenn says the impact of economic change in rural and regional Australia is putting strain on schools, teachers and school communities. 
• Professor Faith Trent, Head of the Faculty of Education, Humanities Law and Theology, Flinders University: What about the aliens in the classroom? The paper looks at the need for a radical rethink in terms of schooling meeting the needs of adolescent boys. “This presentation takes the view that we need to stop ‘fixing up the boys’, labelling them as failures and setting our goals for them.” 
• Dr Paul Herschell, Senior Education Officer in the New Basics Branch at Education Queensland: Why aligning curriculum and assessment in new times is ultimately a pedagogy question? In this paper, Dr Herschell argues that the impact of school-based management on the individual teacher’s work in the classroom is becoming more and more about the bread and butter of teachers’ working lives.
• Mr Mike Frost, Executive Director of VETNETwork, the national organisation supporting vocational education and training in schools: VET in rural schools. This address will highlight how rural VET in Schools programs have been designed and implemented and the outcomes experienced by young people.

The conference will also consider recommendations from the recent Federal Government inquiry into rural and remote education by Human Rights Commissioner Chris Sidoti. 

Another highlight will be the naming of the winner of the 2001 Australian Rural Educator Award at 1pm on Monday 9 July.