From the Bush to the City: Reversing an Australian Trend in Teacher Professional Development (original) (raw)

Australian society in the 1990s has been marked by the gradual disenfranchisement of rural communities due to the urban bias of political and economic decision-makers. In Victoria, curriculum changes based on strategic centralism, consumer capture, and educational accountability were accompanied by a more controlled, urban-biased approach to professional development that alienated many rural teachers. In South Gippsland (Victoria), a professional development working group developed "Gourmet PD," a professional development program controlled by rural teachers. Gourmet PD has been a startling success because it was developed by rural planners to meet rural needs; it remained responsive to changing rural needs; it was ignored by urban education planners until it had become so established that metropolitan interference was not an option; it emphasized continuing client and customer consultation; it hired a local teacher to be program manager; the local department of education supported the program; the Monash University, the local department of education, and two Gippsland centers for adult and community education remained partners, not owners, of the program; and it provided high-quality professional development at half the cost of other equivalent programs. As of January 1999, over 7,000 teachers were engaged in Gourmet PD activities and it has become the preferred model for professional development in both rural and urban settings. (Contains 18 references.) (TD)