SiMERR Final Report: Victorian Hub overview
Future of the hub
The Deakin School of Education is committed to a focus on regional and rural education, aligned with the successful activities of the SiMERR hub, and also the Deakin University core commitments to regional engagement, to partnerships, and to equity and social justice. The profile of the SiMERR work in the school, established through seminars and reports and consultations with colleagues, has led to:
- the generation of a school wide research bid for funding of a rural regional initiative (this is being refined and will aim to attract central university funds)
- the establishment of rural and regional focus within one of Deakin’s three research institutes
- a seminar series and conference planned for semester 2, 2008, focusing on rural education
- planning for a series of ARC linkage proposals linked to rural education
Thus, the work of SiMERR has contributed to the establishment of rural and regional education as a major research focus, and there is ongoing and significant planning for research initiatives by a wider set of educators within the school. The links, through SiMERR, established with academics from Ballarat and Latrobe Universities and the Australian Catholic University may well lead to further joint activity. There are well established plans to develop projects linking with the Victorian DEECD, AISV, and the Catholic Education sector on rural education projects.
It is expected, therefore, that the work begun with SiMERR will continue at a significant level.
