The impact of drought on secondary education access in Australia's rural and remote areas

• inform current understanding of the impacts of drought on educational access in rural and remote areas;
• guide the development and allocation of assistance provided by the Rural Education Programme (REP) and other funding schemes; and
• identify ways in which Government programmes and policies could be adjusted to better address the specific impacts of the drought on educational access in rural and remote Australia.

The methodology for the study involved both qualitative and quantitative research, including:

• collecting and analysing existing literature and statistical information;
• interviews with national key informants including Government and rural/regional bodies;
• interviews and focus groups with rural and remote young people, their parents, teachers, welfare personnel and other community key informants in six case study sites: Hay, Balranald, Cootamundra in New South Wales; Longreach and Blackall in Queensland; and Cohuna and Kerang in Victoria.; and
• a survey of boarding schools in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.