Sydney, Australia – Ahead of NSW Education Week 2023, the James Martin Institute for Public Policy (JMI) is pleased to present its latest report, “Local links and learning: resilience in regional, rural and remote schools.”

In recent years, schools in regional, rural, and remote New South Wales (NSW) have been affected by floods, drought, bushfires, animal plagues and other major disruptions, including COVID-19.

In response, school communities have launched effective, locally-led initiatives to enhance their ability to withstand and recover from such disruptions.

Drawing on these local experiences and examples from other parts of Australia and abroad, the report outlines how resilience can be boosted by fostering community ties and harnessing learning opportunities.

“It is vital that a school community’s local capabilities are leveraged and boosted, so that they are ready to deal with future disruptions,” the report argues.

The report identifies four policy areas where further efforts would be most effective: 1) Student development and learning; 2) the leadership capacity of principals and teachers; 3) a whole-of-school resilience approach; and 4) the ties between schools and their communities.

Focussing on these policy areas can help school communities build up and nurture the social, logistical, resource and knowledge supports required for them to contend with future disruptions, thereby strengthening their overall resilience.

The report is the result of JMI’s highly collaborative approach to generating innovative policy solutions. The policy opportunities identified are based on an analysis of existing research, consultations, futures exercises, and workshops involving more than 50 people, including academic experts, school principals, local councils, public servants, and service providers across NSW, Australia and internationally.

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Media contact:
Andreas Kaufmann
Senior Manager, Communications and Engagement, JMI
M: 0420 592 329
E: [email protected]