The impact of virtual learning on students’ aspirations in rural and regional New South Wales (Australia)

Mockler Giles, Wendy

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129889 Copy

Description

Title

The impact of virtual learning on students’ aspirations in rural and regional New South Wales (Australia)

Author(s)

Mockler Giles, Wendy

Issue Date

2025-07-18

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Kalantzis, Mary

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Cope, William

Committee Member(s)

• Zhu, Xinran
• You, Yu-ling

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ed.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• rural education
• virtual learning
• educational equity
• academic achievement gap
• remote learning
• Australia education
• academic buoyancy

Abstract

In Australia, and particularly in its most populous state of New South Wales, school students from rural and regional backgrounds do not perform as well as their metropolitan-based peers on national standardized tests or high-stakes state examinations and they consistently report having lower aspirations than urban students. Behind these outcomes, rural and regional students demonstrate lower levels of engagement and attendance at school, and fewer of them complete school or study at university. This “remoteness gap” correlates with socio-economic status, but this only partly explains the stubborn and persistent educational outcome gaps. Research found that in-school factors such as school climate, access to expert teachers and high-quality curriculum materials for a broad range of subjects were as predictive of educational aspirations as school characteristics, such as size and type, and more than family and student characteristics and experiences. Critically, however, access to expert teachers and high-quality curriculum materials are not always available to rural and regional students. This study of the Virtual Learning Collaborative revealed that through a network of schools in rural and regional New South Wales, students overcame entrenched access and equity structural barriers by accessing virtual courses not available in-person at their school. They not only matriculated and then accessed their preferred university courses but also reported gains in their academic self-concept and self-regulation skills from studying a course virtually. In the analysis, academic buoyancy emerged as instrumental in developing students’ academic confidence (related to academic self-efficacy) and provided a novel theoretical contribution to addressing the rural-urban education gap through virtual learning networks.

Graduation Semester

2025-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129889

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 Wendy Mockler Giles

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