The State Government will invest $13.5 million in new funding for country education over the next three years.

This will help ensure all children and young people can have the same opportunities in every community across South Australia.

The new Country Education Strategy will focus on:

• Bolstering teacher numbers, by actively recruiting and offering incentives to encourage early career teachers to live and work in the country.
• Expanding subject choice, by using technology to connect country students to specialist teachers.
• Supporting country students to access new educational experiences, including financial assistance for camps and excursions.
• Supporting students to build their understanding of post-school pathways.

These four focus areas were identified by a collaborative group of country teachers and leaders as being the most important for country education over the coming years.

More than 9,500 staff work in the regions, representing over 30 percent of the public school workforce. Of the more than 174,000 students enrolled in public schools, around 50,000 are enrolled in country schools.

Another key component will be a trial of an excursion fund for Year 7 country students on a school card, to experience camps and field trips.

The trial is aimed at Year 7 students to assist them with transitioning into a secondary school by helping them to get to know their peers outside of a school setting. Excursions help support a sense of connection and belonging with their new school and peers.

Significant progress has been made to improve the supports available to country schools and preschools across a broad range of areas including staffing, allied health services, ICT infrastructure, and housing.

A hub model has been introduced to provide better access to speech pathology and psychology services in areas where these were previously scarce, combining face-to-face and tele-health services.

Recent upgrades to ICT infrastructure have led to better internet connectivity, enabling more engaging digital learning experiences.

Principals and site leaders have received greater support to access housing for educators moving to the country and managing short-term, unexpected teacher absences through centrally coordinated approaches.

New approaches have been developed to attract early career teachers to country schools, including support for pre-service teachers to undertake placements and the ‘Teach First in Country’ initiative for teachers taking up their first role in a regional location.

Coober Pedy Area School Principal Maurice Saah said the Coober Pedy Area School and community are very appreciative of this valuable initiative.

"Last year, we received extensive fly-in fly-out teacher support as part of an innovative program launched by the strategy to address short-term teacher vacancies in country regions".

"In addition to ensuring the effective operation of the school, these teachers have contributed to improved educational outcomes including supporting students through SACE and NAPLAN".

"The program has ensured continuity of learning for our students as well as provided a stable staffing position for our school".

Learn more about the Country Education Strategy.