The Country Education Project (CEP) has been working in the area of Victorian rural education for over three decades.
Initially established in 1977 as part of the Commonwealth Schools Commission Country Area Program, CEP Inc has maintained a strong commitment to building the capacity of all rural schools and their communities through collaboration and local partnerships in locally determined geographic areas. Importantly the clustering model (Area committees in the early years) developed by CEP Inc more than three decades ago, remains as a model of best practice for rural school communities, through the encouragement of group planning and collaborative initiatives.
A central element of this approach was the intersystemic approach that the Country Education Project utilises. The three main education sectors including the government schools, catholic schools and independent schools have always been equally involved in all levels of the project. Such an approach remains central to the Project today.
CEP Inc started in Victoria with a number of rural areas of the state being identified as “rurally isolated”. Known as “Areas”, a number of rural education and community organisations were encouraged to come together within defined geographic locations to explore the educational needs of their communities and develop learning initiatives that would support the improvement, or enhancement, of education provision within these communities. Known as “Area Committees”, these representative organisations were allocated Country Area Program resources to assist them in the development and implementation of these initiatives.
In the early days of CEP the number of these areas were small but over the following ten to fifteen years, these areas grew to around twenty, ensuring that the majority of communities who were located more than 130 kilometers from Melbourne and 25 kilometers from a regional centre of 10,000 population had the opportunity to be involved.
At a state level, CEP was initially overseen by a State-wide Planning Committee, followed by the Country Education Areas Association (CEAA), and later a Ministerial State Advisory Committee. These state-wide groups were supported by a state-wide secretariat located within the state Department of Education. This unit employed state and regional staff to support the ongoing development and operation of Area Committees. This state-wide structure also provided valuable rural policy and state-wide program initiatives for the education sectors and State Governments in relation to rural education provision. Some of these initiatives are still in existence today.
In 1994 the Victorian State Government introduced system wide changes to the funding of all schools, which resulted in the Commonwealth Country Area Program funds being redistributed to individual, targeted rural schools. This was achieved through schools annual global budget as part of the Self Managing schools approach. In addition, these changes also saw the disbanding of the state-wide and regional planning and support role.
In response to these changes the rural schools from across the state held extensive consultations in 1993, and as a result the Country Education Project (Inc.) was established in 1994 as a non-profit community organisation to represent and support improvements for rural education. Throughout this process the committee of management worked hard to retain the independence of the organisation, rather than becoming a structure, or arm of the government or department. Central to this belief was the view that innovation, advocacy and support of rural schools, demanded a neutral, grass roots approach. To support its work the Country Education Project Inc. established service agreements with the three education sectors to provide support for the operation of the committee of management and provide executive support for its work.
Consequently the history of CEP Inc within this state has always been to work for and on behalf of all rural education communities – not just “declared Country Area Program” government and non-government schools. As a result the CEP Inc. plays a unique role, as an independent entity within the education sector of Victoria.
CEP Inc. is committed to collaborative and democratic processes; is active in supporting, developing and promoting innovative teaching and learning practices; has experience in networking with rural schools and their communities and is prepared to advocate ensuring the needs of rural learning communities are considered in policy development.
CEP Inc. has an elected Management Committee, with membership comprising representatives from rural education communities in Victoria, as well as people with expertise and interest in rural education. The committee meets regularly and directs the work of the organisation on behalf of the member schools.
CEP Inc. has a proven record in the development and implementation of new approaches to curriculum and professional development, as demonstrated by the range of successful projects it has undertaken at a local, state and national level. Some of these include:
- Development and production of the resource materials focusing on science and technology, literacy and maths
- Development of specific, and innovative, education programs. Eg Energy Breakthrough, E-Kids, Teaching Farms, Enterprise Learning, Group Activities in Primary Science, etc.
- Rural Education Bursaries and Scholarships
- Parents involvement programs in maths and literacy
- National Professional Development Program and National Rural Education Conference
- P-12 education support, professional development and research
- Post compulsory provision in rural communities
- Research projects specific to rural education
- Professional Development and Conference focusing on rural education
- Education forums on specific issues. Eg post compulsory provision
- The establishment of the Rural Educators Network focusing on teacher recruitment and retention initiatives
- Papers and submissions in relation to government policy impacting on rural education.
- The support of a range of digital learning initiatives as part of its E Kids initiative.
- The provision of, and support of, education leadership within rural Victoria.
- The introduction of the Baillieu Myer Rural Education Leadership Scholarship
- A range of professional development activities; conference and experiences.
Whilst these projects highlight a strong practical understanding of current educational issues, they also focus on the development and implementation of solutions relevant to the needs of 21st century rural learning communities.
A significant development of CEP Inc role within the state saw the introduction Life Membership recognising those people who have provide significant support and involvement in enhancing the learning provision in rural communities. The first of these Life Memberships were allocated in 2007 and a total of five Life Memberships have been allocated thus far.
In addition, in 2008 CEP Inc was pleased to announce that Mr Baillieu Myer AC was nominated as the organisation inaugural Patron. Mr Myer has had a long standing interest in rural and remote education where he has supported a number of initiatives to support the provision of rural education throughout Australia. As an indication of his commitment to rural and remote education, he established the Baillieu Myer Rural Education Leadership Scholarship in 2009 in recognition of people from rural Victoria who have provide outstanding contribution to the provision of rural education within the state.
Throughout the past three years, CEP Inc has been heavily involved in the development of a “framework” for the ongoing provision of rural education within Victoria. In 2007, it developed the Working Together Framework which highlights a number of key areas of focus needed to ensure that rural education within Victoria is maintained at a high level. Key areas include:
- whole of community, place based approaches to planning and development of education.
- supporting education provision through a collaborative approach
- supporting the recruitment and retention of high quality education leaders and staff throughout rural Victoria
- supporting innovative and creative approached to the development and pro vision of learning. Eg digital learning
This work has grown over recent times with CEP Inc having significant input into the development of a State Rural Education Framework currently under development by the State Government within Victoria.
A significant area of work that CEP Inc has focused in the past two years, has been that within the early years learning and development areas. As a result of the development of the State Governments Blueprint for Education and Early Childhood Development, CEP Inc has been involved in exploring a range of ways in which early learning and development services and programs can be enhanced and further developed through a local partnership approach.
In addition to its work within Victoria, CEP Inc has also been involved in supporting rural and remote education provision within other states and territories and nationally. These involvements have included:
- the provision of education leadership development for remote community principals within the Northern Territory.
- Involvement within the Society for the Provision of Rural Education in Australia
- Rural Education Forum of Australia.
CEP Inc has also developed strong links and relationships with rural organisation within other countries, thus providing an enrichment of knowledge and skills to support the learning provision within Victoria. Links with people and organisations within Canada, New Zealand, UK and USA have been developed and maintained.
There are currently approximately 400 education provision organisations throughout rural Victoria who are members of CEP Inc. All these organizations are invited to become financial members of the Country Education Project Inc – over 80% of eligible members are current financial members.
