Centres for Learning and Wellbeing have been established to provide valuable professional learning and capability development for rural and remote teachers and school leaders at all stages of their careers. The centres also support the wellbeing of staff and assist in the facilitation of inter-agency support for students and their families.
The centres are located in Mount Isa, Roma, Emerald and Atherton. Satellite centres ensure service delivery reaches the region's small rural schools, Indigenous communities and those schools in a range of remote locations.
Each centre provides the following key functions and services to
schools within their catchment:
- leadership capability development
- mentoring and coaching for beginning teachers
- coaching for mid and experienced teachers
- resilience building for staff new to rural and remote settings
- inter-agency wellbeing support for staff and students.
In 2021, the Centres for Learning and Wellbeing delivered 40,269 hours of professional learning to over 8,768 teachers and school leaders (participants may have attended multiple sessions). 34% of the professional learning focused on coaching mid and experienced teachers and 31% focused on developing leadership capability. Face-to-face delivery accounted for 72% of all professional learning.
In 2021, the Centres for Learning and Wellbeing were
awarded an
Australian Rural Education Award (AREA) by the
Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA). Since 1994, the AREA has recognised excellence in rural education, acknowledging projects based in, or benefiting, rural and remote learning communities.