What helps students from rural, regional and remote (RRR) areas to complete school?
Background
In collaboration with researchers from the University of New South Wales, our study1 explored the longitudinal relationships between students’:
- experiences of teaching practices2
- personal resources (their motivation3 and academic ability)
- educational intentions4
- school completion.
Research question
Are there differences in how experiences of teaching practices, personal motivation and educational intentions relate to school completion for students from different locations?
Study timepoints
Year 7 – experiences of teaching practices
- Emotional support (advocacy at school)
- Instructional support (high expectations, relevance, effective learning time, explicit teaching)
- Classroom management
Year 9 – personal resources
- Motivation factors (academic self-concept, growth goal setting, valuing school outcomes)
- Academic ability
Year 10 – educational intentions
- Expects to complete Year 12
- Expects to pursue VET
- Expects to attend university
Year 12 – school completion
- HSC attainment
Study details
The study tracked 9,000 students from Year 7 to 12 (2017 to 2022) using TTFM, NAPLAN and HSC results. The study accounts for influential student characteristics such as gender, socioeconomic status and Aboriginal backgrounds.
We were particularly interested in location-based differences. The remoteness groupings used in this study are per the Australian Statistical Geography Standard:
- Major cities
- Inner regional
- Outer regional, remote and very remote.
Relevance of the research
The study findings:
Directly support actions within three pillars of Our Plan for Public Education (advancing equitable outcomes, deliver outstanding leadership, teaching and learning, and provide meaningful post-school pathways).
Reinforce and deepen the evidence-base (from a NSW perspective) that teaching supports in early high school are important for the development of educational intentions and successful school completion.
Support the strong focus that the department has placed on teacher-related initiatives in the Rural and Remote Education Implementation Plan (2021-2024).
Support the need to strengthen initiatives that bolster RRR students’ educational intentions.
Complement findings from CESE’s previous research on school completion and successful transitions from primary to high school.
Extend our understanding of what can help RRR students to complete school.
Study findings
Students’ experiences of good teaching practice in Year 7 are associated with school completion via the intervening factors. They are positively linked with motivation in Year 9 and have further indirect effects through the role of motivation on students’ intentions to complete Year 12 and/or attend university.
| Practical implications | Linkages to existing work |
|---|---|
Access to quality teaching in earliest secondary years is important. |
|
Academic ability is not the only predictor of successful completion. Students who are strong in at least one personal motivation factor (such as growth orientation) during Year 9 get a positive boost to Year 12 completion and/or university intentions, which tops up the effect of their academic ability.
| Practical implications | Linkages to existing work |
|---|---|
| Strategies that bolster student motivation will be helpful. |
For outer regional students, Year 7 teaching practice had a direct, long-term association with later completion intentions in contrast to other students. This enduring positive role of good Year 7 teaching support makes access to teaching and transition supports even more important for outer regional students.
| Practical implications | Linkages to existing work |
|---|---|
| Quality teacher supply, ongoing professional learning for teachers and high school transition support in RRR schools is important. |
For metro-based students, academic ability in Year 9 has the strongest direct link with school completion. For inner and outer regional students, the study shows that academic ability is also important but their intention to complete has a stronger role. The effect of completion intentions on actual completion for regional students is substantially more than for city-based peers.
| Practical implications | Linkages to existing work |
|---|---|
Strategies to strengthen completion intentions are important. (These could include instructional relevance and careers advice and guidance) |
For metro-based students, intentions to pursue VET have neither positive nor negative impact on school completion. However, the study shows that there is a negative association for RRR students.
Resource constraints, geographic isolation and limited infrastructure can prevent RRR schools from offering a wide range of VET course(s) or to support school-based apprentices/trainees. Additionally, since many VET courses do not require a Year 12 certificate, leaving school to attend an external provider may be viewed as a viable alternative pathway.
| Practical implications | Linkages to existing work |
|---|---|
Improving access to school-based VET pathways for students in RRR schools is important. |