The Education of Children in Geographically Remote Regions Through Distance Education

Australia is a vast sparsely populated land and from an early date this created
problems in terms of providing educational facilities. As part of the solution the
nation has had a long tradition of using distance education methods to provide
an education for its isolated primary and secondary school students. Western
Australia epitomises the problems inherent in having a large land area with a
highly urbanised population and a small but scattered rural one. Initially, the
State established a Correspondence School in 1918. There have been various
developments since then, culminating in the establishment of the Schools of Isolated
and Distance Education (SIDE) in 1995. Since then the staff at SIDE have
investigated and developed ways of providing their students with innovative educational materials in an effort to
ensure that the best possible services are provided.
Despite its innovative nature, very little research has been conducted on SIDE. The research project reported in
this book is one contribution to rectifying the deficit. It had three main aims. The first was to develop an understanding
of the emergence of SIDE. Secondly, an understanding of the key functions of SIDE was sought. The
third aim was to develop an understanding of the issues which present themselves for those working at SIDE..
Implications for policy, practice and future research in relation to the education of children in geographically
remote regions through distance education are deduced, and not just in relation
to the state of Western Australia, but internationally.