Is it fair that educational achievement can depend on where you live? Anecdotally, it is known that young, inexperienced teachers fresh out of university are usually sent to unpopular destinations such as western NSW. Another assumption is that school students in these areas have uneven educational outcomes. Now these "hunches" have been verified by the Rural (Teacher) Education Project, and the search is on for some solutions. "It’s all about attracting, preparing, retaining and renewing teachers for the bush," said project leader Professor Bill Green from Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Faculty of Education. "One key issue was that location matters. You’re getting young teachers working with often the most disadvantaged groups. They have energy and enthusiasm and embrace innovation, but the downside is they don’t have experience." Some of the early recommendations to emerge include nominating certain isolated schools as professional development centres, better preparation of student teachers, changing staffing patterns so that groups of teachers are appointed to a region, and involving local communities and government agencies so that young professionals are connecting socially. More complete findings are due next month.