Welcome to the Virtual Education Wiki ~ Open Education Wiki
Country Areas Program
The Country Areas Program (CAP) is an equity program by the Australian Government that aims to reduce the impact of distance and improve the educational outcomes for geographically isolated schools and school communities. It provides targeted funding to non-government education authorities in each state and the Northern Territory to help their primary and secondary schools improve student learning outcomes.
Schools in isolated or remote areas can receive financial support under this program to:
- provide activities that complement, support and enrich the curriculum, including the transition to further education, training and work
- provide information and communications technology for students
- provide professional development and support that addresses the needs of teachers in geographically isolated areas
- promote information to inform CAP school communities, including school networking and group activities.
Non-government primary and secondary schools are eligible for funding under the CAP provided that they are located in geographically isolated areas, or are distance education facilities serving these areas.
To be eligible for this program schools must be:
- remote (located more than 100km from the Melbourne GPO)
- rural (located in a population centre of less than 5,000 people)
- isolated (located more than 25km from a population centre of more than 10,000 people).
From January 2009, Commonwealth funding to the states and territories for government schools is delivered through the National Education Agreement (NEA).
For more information see http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/Programs/CAP/Pages/General.aspx.
References
- Country Areas Program, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, http://www.deewr.gov.au/schooling/Programs/CAP/Pages/default.aspx, April 2012.
- Country areas program, Independent Schools Victoria, 20 April 2012, http://www.independentschools.vic.edu.au/schools/gov-programs/country.htm, April 2012.
- About, http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/about, NSW Country Areas Program, April 2012.
- Blended Learning - any time, any how, many ways' , NSWDET Country Areas Program Regional Consultants in conjunction with the NSWDET Rural and Distance Education Unit, 2010, http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/rde/ruraledu/blendlearn2010.pdf, May 2012