New Commissioner a positive step for regional education
says Catholic secto r
The appointment of Australia’ s f irst Regional Education Commissione r wil l hel p support better outcome s
for regional, rural and remote educatio n, t he National Catholic Education Commission ( NCEC) E xecutive
D irector Jacinta Collin s said today.
As Regional Education Commissioner former Senator Fiona Nash will apply her l ong – term commit ment to
regional Austr alia and oversee the implementation of recommendations from the Nation al Regional.
Rural and Remote Tertiary Education Strategy (the Napthine Review).
Ms Collins said n early 4 0 per cent of the 1,755 Catholic schools were i n regional, rural and remote a reas
of Australia.
“We know that s tudents outside of metropolitan areas are not performing as well as their peers in the
cities, ” M s Collins said.
“2019 NAPLAN data shows that student s in very remote areas are about thre e years behind their peers in
major citie s and it is critical these issues are addressed.
“The C ommissioner’s appointment will bring a greater national focus t o the challenges facing
schools in our r egional, rural a nd remote areas and the educational disadvantage students experien ce.
” These challenges, including addressing t he shortage of teacher s and specialist teachers in regional
area s, were identified in ou r recen t Catholic sector National Regional and Remote Workforc e Strategy
Summi t. ”
M s Collins said the summit focused on recruitment and retention of teacher s, formation and professional
l earning of teacher s and community partnerships to support student learnin g.
” An o ther key challenge facing school co m mu nitie s in regional, rural and remote areas i s th e increasing
need to support student mental health and wellbein g, particularl y over the past two years of the
pandemic. ”
Ms Collins said she looked forward to working closely with Ms Nash as the NCEC con tinued its advocacy
for the improvement of education policies to b etter support students in regional, rural and remote areas.
