Brian and Nerida Egan started Aussie Helpers back in 2002 to provide assistance to Australian Farmers. The non-profit organisation provides farmers and their families financial donations, farming supplies, household necessities and educational support for children in remote areas and is also the founder of AHVISE.
For nearly 20 years Brian and Nerida have raised more than $24 million to aid over 13,000 Aussie farming families.
The AHVISE admin team is sad to hear of Brian and Nerida stepping down, but are sure the new CEO Natasha Kocks (Brian & Nerida’s daughter) will make an amazing replacement as she has been working with Sam Price (their other daughter) and the Aussie Helpers team for a few years now already.
In fact Natasha has been involved in the charity since the beginning and says she is looking forward to continuing her parent’s legacy, and continuing the support to AHVISE continuing.
AHVISE (Aussie Helpers Volunteers for Isolated Student Education) is a home-tutor support program. AHVISE was created after the close of VISE which was a similar volunteer program which ran for 28 years prior.
Long-term VISE volunteer administrator and North Queenslander, Lyn French, was determined not to let the support services fade away. She sought out a replacement sponsor in Aussie Helpers to back her desire to keep the service going. Aussie Helpers immediately provided the financial support Lyn needed for her to continue the program under the new name AHVISE.
“I knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park to set up but we have the new website up, thanks to the outside expertise sourced by Aussie Helpers,” she said.
Improvements to the AHVISE program was suggested by Lyn, including there is now no limit to the length of time a volunteer tutor can provide their help. Previously it was limited to six weeks, Lyn said that if a family needed someone for longer and a tutor was willing to stay longer, that could now be agreed to.
Also, another change was in the past families paid the tutors’ travel costs in full, which weighed more on people living the furthest away as most tutors’ homes were in southern Australia.
Now tutors can simply provide copies of their travel receipts to Aussie Helpers (via AHVISE refund portal) and they’ll be reimbursed up to $1,500 towards their travel costs. Initially there was a $500 charge to families to help cover the costs of the program, however, now Aussie Helpers waives that $500 fee, so there is no cost to families to participate in AHVISE.
AHVISE implemented a new online tutoring component in 2018 which allows families to access tutoring services via Skype. This online platform can also be used for families and tutors to keep in touch after the placement ends. The tutor can assign homework or tasks and manage the progress of their students from afar indefinitely if they like.
The “Angel system” (often the non-teaching partner of the visiting tutor) still remains in place to support family needs outside the schoolroom, whether it be helping around the house, with a younger sibling, or on station work. Often partners help with odd jobs around the property during school hours, and the couples venture out off the property to explore at other times!
“Lots of people on the land don’t like to admit when things are tough, and they are some of the proudest and most resilient people in Australia,” she said.
“But sometimes they need our help.” Aussie Helpers stays in touch with thousands of farming families around Australia to ensure their wellbeing and survival through good and bad times.
We encourage families to get online, register and create a placement so we can get you the help you need. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, make sure you refer to our website for more information.
There are almost 86,000 farming businesses in Australia and the vast majority are owned and operated by Aussies. Many of these families live in the remote outback where the population is too small for a conventional education system. Since the 1950s, education in these areas has been conducted through School of Distance Education that relies on technology to deliver classes online.
Although this delivery method has been around for decades, it presents a unique set of challenges for both students and teachers, 95% of which are the students’ own mothers. In this article, we will discuss five tips to help children in School of Distance Education improve their reading and learn letters in a more efficient way.
What is School of Distance Education?
School of Distance education means the delivery of courses of study during which students and teachers are not regularly in the presence of each other but communicate with each other in writing, use traditional means of communication like mail and telephone as well as audio-teleconferencing, video, and the Internet to cross the barriers of distance and create the bonds of a school community atmosphere.
Students in School of Distance Education usually take a one-week trip to a big city once per year in order to receive live lessons and socialise with their classmates. With this in mind, parents, older siblings, and other tutors need to provide support in order to help these kids polish their reading and writing skills.
Children are naturally curious, but we also have to help them improve basic skills they will need later on. Below, we’ve put together a few tips to help kids in remote air school better their reading skills.
Teach Children to Set Goals
Because of the way School of Distance Education is set up, teaching kids how to set objectives and work towards them from a very young age is important. Because they are not in a classroom, setting objectives will help them stay focused and understand the long-term benefit of their current assignments.
Establish a Regular Reading Routine
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, so you should help your kids better their reading skills by establishing a regular routine. Instead of doing it spontaneously, try setting up a specific time and encourage them to read more in their free time. Aside from polishing their skills, you will also show them how to manage their day effectively.
Read Out Loud and Ask Questions
Reading out loud can have a positive effect on your children’s ability to read, especially if you encourage them to ask questions. This way, you’ll be able to correct any mistakes and verify they follow the story.
Review All the Tasks Assigned
All assignments should be reviewed by the teacher or tutor after it’s been completed. In addition to catching any mistakes, you’ll encourage kids to be thorough and show them the importance of being consistent with their work.
Explain the Practical Importance of Reading and Writing
Despite the fact that our society is driven by technology, reading and writing remain an integral part of our day to day lives. More importantly, reading and writing helps us refine our verbal and written communication skills, which are highly in-demand for all types of careers – including law, business, and teaching. Explaining the practical importance of developing these skills will encourage your kids and show them the real impact it will have when they grow up.
Get in Touch with AHVISE Today!
Thanks to School of Distance Education, children in the outback and distant regions are given the same opportunities as those that grow up in urban areas. But, you need to take the different challenges into account in order to help them perfect their reading, writing, and other academic skills.
If you want to learn more about AHVISE, get in touch today and we’ll be glad to help.
The frogs upon the toilet seat They sit so neat with folded feet Quiet creatures meek and mild Don’t look like they’re living wild But when I visit and create a flush There is no more quiet and silent hush Those frogs they slide, they swim and leap Into the water, into a heap Arms and legs flying about Looks like they will all come out But no – they patiently wait For the water to stop And they climb back up onto the toilet seat!!
We hope you have had a wonderful month of March and you’re enjoying the year so far. There are a lot of exciting things happening at AHVISE for both our volunteers and families to enjoy.
Remember, thanks to Aussie Helpers (our supporters) there are no $500 Family Placement fees for 2019 – Aussie Helpers support the Volunteers for their travel refunds (so families don’t have to do that) plus they fund the running and management of the AHVISE which has massively grown in 2018 from nothing!
1. AHVISE Volunteer Poem Writing Competition 2.0
This month we will be hosting yet another competition for our volunteers starting April 1st 2019. We want you to write us a short poem about your most memorable placement experience along with a picture. We want to get to know your placement experience through your eyes so please make sure you participate. Our AHVISE organization is always happy to see the growth we have from hosting each competition and learning more about your experiences.
We are still looking for candidates for our new podcast show. If you know someone, a business representative or organisation that would be a great fit to come on our podcast show and have a chat with us?? Then we’d love to hear from them (or you!) Please email Ann or Nadege at AHVISE the relevant details, and we can take it from there!
We are looking for:
Volunteer stories
Family stories
Farming stories (good stories and challenges faced)
We are particularly interested in how this affects “kids” and their side of the perspective (for study purposes and just life in general)
Farm/remote property suppliers, service providers and businesses (relevant to kids)
3. Refer a new AHVISE Volunteer
Do you know someone who loves to travel, has an educational tutoring interest and wants to help other people?
This month AHVISE is launching a new campaign to drive more volunteers to sign up with AHVISE as a volunteer tutor.
If you know someone who you think would enjoy travelling whilst helping other people out, then we’d appreciate it if you could pass on the www.AHVISE.org.au website link to them, so they can think about joining us!
4. NEW AHVISE MENTOR PROGRAM
We have been contacted by a small group of university students based in Sydney, who have offered their mentoring services to five of our AHVISE students.
This is a trial of this service, and if things go well, this concept can grow in size. They have currently suggested only to NSW kids, but will consider applications from other States!
At this time, we are looking for five (of older primary school age) preferably high school age kids, who fit the following criteria:
Happy to chat on Skype once a week (minimum) with their “Mentor”
Choose whatever field (topic or subject) they need help with
Must have internet suitable for videoing conference during that cal
As this is a “trial” for us, we are open to flexible arrangements so all parties benefit.
If you think your child is a good fit for this program, maybe they could benefit from a Mentor who can help with motivation, the social engagement, but mostly the academic help, these mentors are a fantastic opportunity for your child!
This program is IN ADDITION to our normal AHVISE volunteer placements. So if you have a placement booked or in the past, this new “AHVISE Mentor Program” is in addition to that existing (onsite Volunteer placement) because it is so different in it’s application.
Please get in touch with Ann (Mon-Thurs) or Nadege (Fri-Sun) if you want to discuss this further, and ideally, we’d prefer the request in writing, and we can take action from there to set up a call with the Mentor to see if all parties are happy to proceed.
Don’t forget to like our official AHVISE Facebook page and we will see you next week for more updates!
Have a wonderful month and please feel free to contact our AHVISE support team if you have any questions.
We are excited to announce that we will be hosting another competition for our AHVISE Volunteers startingApril 1st. This competition, we want you to write us a short poem about your most memorable placement experience along with a picture. Please include your name and where you attended your placement in your email submission.
How to enter:
Submit a poem and a picture about your most memorable placement
Send it to info@ahvise.org.au (Subject: *NAME* AHVISE Competition Submission *DATE*) or via our AHVISE Facebook Page
Rules:
You must be a registered AHVISE Volunteer for your submission to count.
Make sure you ‘LIKE’ the official AHVISE Facebook page
The photo must be from your placement or related to the poem.
1st Prize:
The winner will receive a $50 gift voucher to the store of their choice
They will be featured in our AHVISE Calendar 2020 (April)
1 x interview with AHVISE on our upcoming podcast (optional)
1 x featured blog post
2nd & 3rd Prize:
Runner up feature on our AHVISE Facebook Page & blog post
We want everyone to get involved in our competitions as it is really motivating for our AHVISE admin team to see this organisation grow together! We will be sharing the submissions on our blog, facebook & Instagram pages and we will credit people in the captions where appropriate. If you prefer to keep your name anonymous we will respect your privacy, please send us an email notifying us ahead of time. The winners will be announced once the competition closes end of February. Don’t forget to like our official AHVISE Facebook page and we will see you next week for more updates!
For our second creative kid’s competition, we wanted to know why the kids loved where they live. The task was to write a poem or story along with a drawing or a photograph. This competition we have chosen 2 winners, Georgie & Brianna who are also sisters. Below, we have included their creative poems pictures, enjoy.
Why I Like Living at My Home
By Brianna Spurdle
Working
hard all day in the sun.
Horses
are eager to get the work done.
Yarding
the weaners for the cold night ahead.
I say
goodnight and head off to bed.
Life-like
stories happen and are told.
I’m
ready for the next day to unfold.
Killing
my school work so I can go play.
Eager to
go exploring today.
Life on
a station is never really, easy.
It
always has obstacles that aren’t easy-peasy.
Very
dirty and tired we come in at night.
I sit at
the fire to watch it ignite.
Never is
there a dull moment at home.
Give me
ten reasons why its dull, have a go!
Although
it is hard in the drought on our family.
Time
will fly by and we’ll soon all be happy.
My home
is the best, I will tell you right now.
Yes, it
is true you don’t need to ask how.
Home is
the best with its trees and its grass.
Our
family will protect it like bullet proof glass.
My
friends are the horses, the dogs and the cattle.
AHVISE Volunteers Margot & Gary Chat About Being Volunteers
KATE: Welcome to the AHVISE podcast.
This is Kate and in today’s show, we’re going to talk to two volunteers, Margot
and Gary Sanders. And they have been volunteering with AHVISE since we started
and they actually have been doing it now over six years with other
organizations as well. They’re going to share their journey as volunteers,
what’s involved and how they see it as a win, win, win to be part of a program
like AHVISE and we hope it inspires you to register and become part of the
program to Okay, here’s the show.
0:36
KATE: So look, Thank you. I just wanted
to say hi to Gary and Margot who are volunteers with AHVISE and have been
working on the volunteer remote program for years basically having me so Hi
guys and thank you for coming and talking to me today.
MARGOT: It’s a pleasure.
GARY: Hi Kate
KATE: Fantastic and I just wanted to
chat to you guys today. And I really wanted to get a bit more insight from a
volunteers point of view because this program is quite unique to match up
families with volunteers, and we do all the background checks and liase on the
phone, get everyone and then you go live with people for two-four months,
sometimes six weeks. So really wanted to get your perspective of that. And
first of all, just wanted to ask like with your current life and working as a
volunteer, doing remote work, how did you come to get to that place or that
particular volunteer work originally, like, how did you evolve? Was that
because of the teaching or what. Where did you come from in that way?
MARGOT: We were involved in education,
yes, I was teaching and Gary was involved in education towards the end of his
work life but I guess all the way through we’re now retired and have been since
some into 2010 – 2011 I guess all of our working life though we were involved
in clubs and organizations and volunteered to do different roles within those. So
I guess volunteering has always been part of our life. [Inaudible] is from our family, I guess.
KATE: So you really bought both of those
aspects of what you already did, which was training and volunteering together
in the one thing I guess, do it. [Yeah]
GARY: Yeah, we actually had a family
friend who had done it prior to us, she’d done over 10 placements over an eight
or 10 year period and we’re talking to her and she mentioned it we went Oh,
actually that sounds like a pretty good thing to do. So we you know obviously
logged onto the website at that stage seven years or so years ago and joined up
and it’s just gone from there.
MARGOT: I guess it joins our love of
travel in the outback with a passion to volunteer as well. There’s lots of
things to volunteer at or for in Australia, but that sort of suited our skill
set, I guess.
KATE: Yeah, and it brought together the travel so the adventure side of it came into it.
MARGOT: Yeah, absolutely
KATE: So that’s really awesome. So
what would you say is your favorite thing about doing it? Because it is quite a
big commitment to do. So what would you say is one of the things that you
really like about doing remote outreach work like this?
GARY: I’ll start there. I think it’s
one of the few things Kate in the world that is a win, win, win. [Right], and
I’ll expand on that by saying that it’s
obviously a win for us because we get to visit places that we wouldn’t normally
visit and we get to a real understanding of how Australia works and the issues
and there may be some good things but like just getting a real understanding of
how Australia operates. It’s a win obviously for the parents, particularly
probably the mom because she gets a break from the school room for a period of
time. And that could be because they’re busy mustering, shearing or cropping or
another baby or illness or sickness or I’ve just had enough of the kids and I
want to break whatever it is and the big one is it’s a massive win for the kids
because they love to have someone new there and I think Sonia mentioned that
that you know that love to have someone else there to be able to show around
the place trying to impress with their schoolwork to get better marks and
things like that. So we really regard is a win, win, win from my point of view.
KATE: Yeah. Is that same for your Margot?
GARY: Oh, yes. Yeah, it is.
MARGOT: Yeah. And I guess the other thing
too, it’s really great just to see the kids develop while you’re there. [Right]
just to see how they progress in the short time that you there as well just say
them really come on, and particularly the younger ones or even the older ones.
Just you know getting into their work and finding different ways of how to
learn or how to get their work done and just getting ideas from different
people I guess but you’re saying them develop is a great thing for me.
AD BREAK: [You can
visit our website at www. a h v i s e. o rg. au.]
KATE: Do you guys keep seeing the
same family each year? Have you seen a few now and how does that work?
MARGOT: We deliberately go to different
families every year? [Right] We don’t go back to the same ones. That’s a choice
that we have made. Now, I know some of the tutors do go back to the same ones.
And that’s fine. [Yeah] but we like to go to different ones. It’s different parts
of Australia. So we get to understand issues in different parts. But it’s also
just seeing different kids, I suppose you’re learning, teaching them some
different things, getting some different experiences.
KATE: Well, visiting different
locations.
6:04
GARY: I’d probably just add to that our
placement, we’ve been in a thing from a cropping station, to cattle stations,
to sheep’s and goats. We’ve been on a bush heritage conservation park, we’ve
been to a lake where the water managers and looked out and with their two children.
So we try and have some variation and we’ve got another one coming up this year
where we’re going to be, you know, Native type on an island. So it’ll be
working with Aboriginal children. So we just try and come up with different
aspects if you like so we can get a broad understanding of Australia and how it
all works. [Inaudible]
MARGOT: We like to share the love, and
share our expertise I suppose as well, we’re obviously learning a lot as we go
around as well.
KATE: So if someone was listening to
this because I think a lot of people that will listen to a considering tutoring
they haven’t actually taken the leap yet what would you say is one of the
biggest challenges they need to be prepared for to do this kind of tutoring
work or this volunteering work?
MARGOT: We would look at it as an
opportunity to get out there and understand what is happening out there but
look if you’re someone who is I guess needs the coffee every day at the local
coffee shop or you need lots of people around you well it’s probably not for
you but if you enjoy that travel, if you enjoy the opportunity to just get out
there and mix with those rural people you don’t mind that space that outback
area, and if you like helping people, you like helping the younger generation I’m
pretty passionate about reading. Gary is certainly passionate about looking at
different ways, coming in different ways, the study from different angles, getting
outside to do the learning, might be with skipping or doing riding in the dirt
or walking around the property, looking at different things, but using the
literacy and numeracy not necessarily sitting at a desk. So, if you’re a bit
flexible and versatile perhaps coming a bit from left field sometimes that’s what
you need to be I think that sort of person.
KATE: I know with AHVISE you don’t have to be like
an ex-teacher you may be just a parent yourself you’re homeschooled or whatever
and so they say look as long as you’re willing to go there and help on that
farm, that, I don’t think you need to have a teaching degree. Do you what would
you say?
GARY: I’ll answer
that because I don’t have a teaching degree. I work at a
school but I work with integration with kids and their sports coordinator and
some things like that so but not as a trained teacher, however I’ve coached
Junior sports teams pretty much all my life. So I’m working with kids, so I
think you need to have a genuine love for kids, for youth if you want. I think
that is one of the things but because of my not necessarily been trained as a teacher
Margot just made the thing I look at other ways once we establish a
relationship within the first few days with the students you then work out
which ones don’t want to be in the classroom and I’d prefer to be outside doing
something that is that a quite happy to sit down and look at the computer for a
little while.
So yeah, you try and come up with what’s going to
work best for them to get the best outcome. And obviously, then the best grade
or the best mark are the best assessment at the end of that, well subject and
that project. So I think it’s good sometimes to have a slightly different
outside school approach which is what the moms do, most of the mums are not
teacher-trained, [yeah, exactly], they just follow the program that’s presented
by the school of the air teachers.
MARGOT: I think you do need to be
pretty open minded about because every family situation is going to be different.
So you need to be open minded about the family that you get to and you might
not have thought of doing things that way or you might not operate that way but
you can see that it’s actually working so you take that on board because you
can’t change anything as such when you get there like you’re there for a short
period of time. So you can’t take over necessarily run it the way you think it
should be run and that might be the best way anyway really and yeah look I
think if you can adapt into the family activities, you know I certainly join in
with those as much as you can or as much as you want to.
GARY: We certainly make sure we go
to all the school camps or the athletic sports or the swimming sports or cross
country or whatever. Last year, we went to a fundraising for the ICPA, they
were doing a fundraiser at a camp draft. So we went up there and assisted about
four or five other mums who were catering for the all the competitors and the
officials.
MARGOT: We went along with that joined
in and helped out and just to see what they do on the other end.
KATE: So do you stay in touch with
the kids in any way, even just on Facebook or that after it or do is once
you’re done, you’re done or?
MARGOT: No, we do stay in touch but I
guess that varies from family to family,[well], some families we stay in touch
with more than others. And I guess that’s just a personal thing. And what sort
of a relationship you’ve built in the time that you’re there as well. We feel
comfortable with all our placements and the results that we’ve had but yeah
there’s just some people that you gel with more than others and but certainly
we do keep in touch with them and we’ve gone back to visit some of the families
and caught up with them in various places in our travels.
KATE: How many years now we’ve been
doing this? Would you say, are we talking 10 years?
GARY: About six, six to 7 years. We did the first one in 2012.
KATE: Seems like six months right
just flown by.
[AD Break] You can visit
our website at www.ahvise.org.au
12:34
KATE: Over the years have you seen ways
for the kids in the remote areas that could – there could be ways for them to
be better helped. Do you notice anything like that or do you think everything’s
great or?
MARGOT: Things have certainly improved
since we’ve looked at it just the communication with the school of the air and
reporting back and things like that because it used to be the kids would send
their work back by mail and then we might get to the end of a six week
placement and not had any feedback from the school at all because it just
hasn’t been marked or sent back. But now because they can scan it off and send
it back. They might get feedback that day, which is fantastic with the kids and
for us because then you sort of know whether you’re on track or not.
So that certainly has improved, but I think we just
need we need more volunteers. We just need – because there’s lots of families
that don’t get any help. So we need to get the message out somehow to get more
volunteers.
13:36
GARY: I would agree with that the
promotion of the program I think is now probably where Aussie Helpers is that
and some need to have a bit of a brainstorm perhaps as to how we can attract
the Southern state, retirees and want to get away for the winter to able to
help out and we do a little bit of public speaking and we’re involved in groups
down here but we spread the word as often as we can. And we’ve had a few people
that have said, Oh, that sounds interesting, you know, and we put them onto the
website to look it up and stuff, we try to [INAUDIBLE].
MARGOT: We contacted ABC yesterday to
see if they could do something about it.
GARY: And we’ve had a reply from
them that they’re doing a thing with Alice Springs School of the air or
something will be televised August, July or Sunday or something [mid-year,
yeah] in the winter season for an episode. [Inaudible]
MARGOT: We thought that was a way of
probably promoting it as well, and just letting people say, what does happen
and then encouraging people to sign up to get out there and I think the other
thing people need to know too, is that the length of time now is negotiable
with the families because when we were doing it early on was with the other
organization It was a six week block but now, with Aussie Helpers was it’s
negotiable with the family so if you wanted to be there for longer than that,
and like a whole term thing you could or if you wanted to be even shorter, if
you were just passing through and you just had a month, you could give family
you know that would be fine as well because the families are happy with any
length really.
KATE: Yeah, and we’re also looking
at targeting through Facebook things like you know, tourists that are you know
going through the outback and maybe want to stop off somewhere for a month. As
long as they do our background checks because that can take a few weeks, so
it’s not something they can join today and be there tomorrow. But, majority of
people are like you two actually, they’re sort of semi retired, retired, a lot
of singles, not just couples actually which is surprising. I guess just people
wanting adventure but wanting purpose at the same time.
MARGOT: Yeah, so that’s what we would
say with our travel a lot linking in with a placement I guess it gives us some
purpose for travel. It gives us a reason to go to another area or it might be
somewhere where we want to go back you can’t just, rock up to the station door
and say, we’re here can we have a look around? You have to have – and you
actually want to do something for them. So you look at the placements and you
go well, we haven’t been there or that sounds interesting or, you know, that’s
a bit different. So we’ll do that. And then you do you travel along the way. So
you have a bit of a holiday as well as doing some work on along the way.
GARY: Just anybody who does listen
to this podcast, if they can just continue to spread the word and try and
encourage people to go on to the Aussie Helpers website, AHVISE link and just see what’s
involved in it and how they can register as you said, they don’t have to be a
teacher as long – because all the all the lessons as we know are prepared by
the School of the Air whichever one you linked up to. So it’s just a matter of –
and you get a workbook and you get a cheat answer book so you can look at the
answers so you can refer back to it if you need to. [Learn yourself] or use
regularly with maths in particular, but you sort of, you just following
through, and you’re just trying to find ways to make it enjoyable for the kids
to learn. That’s the key.
MARGOT: And you don’t have to do any marking
or anything like that. Like, you don’t have to do any assessment. So, people don’t
need to be worried about oh I’m going to make up the lesson or, I have to know
all this information because it’s actually given to you, and then it gets sent
off for assessment. So the workload although while you’re there, I guess it’s
fairly full on in your school hours but you know, you’re not actually doing a
heap of work outside that.
And the other
thing that I just find it’s just really rewarding for yourself because we just
learned so much about rural life, that’s, that’s the reward for us. So
hopefully we’ve been useful to the family but you get that reward and that other
information I guess you get a bit of a warm fuzzy blow.
KATE: Yeah, it’s a feel good job.
You feel part of the actual family for that. I guess and then you get to leave
and not have all the stresses that they have to continue with the poor things.
GARY: Nah, what we do then Kate is
we come back and do all of our volunteering here and this time it’s about
February where we’re going, how long is it before we go again? We’ve got to get
out of here.
KATE: So, you will probably do it
for a few more years, you think?
MARGO: Absolutely. [Obviously] As
long as we’re fit and able and still sane and think we can still offer something
to the families yeah, we’d be looking forward to doing it for a few more years.
GARY: Yeah, I would suggest that is
the, the prime thing would be to get more volunteers.
KATE: Yeah, I agree.
GARY: It’ll be easier if you have
more volunteers, let’s say you fifty more volunteers. All of a sudden
volunteers are saying, well, you haven’t got the placements for me? I reckon it
would be very easy to get the message sent out via the School of Airs to say,
hang on. We’ve just had an influx of volunteers, is there anybody who would
like some assistance from a tutor? Right put your put your placement notice in
and I reckon you’d be inundated with the idea.
MARGOT: You will be flooded – It’s a
good idea because people who are heading north of you know either us grey
nomads that are getting out of the Southern climbs for winter [yes true], the
best thing to plan where they’re going if you’ve got that out there could be
something ‘yeah we could do that for a period of time’ or ‘oh I hadn’t thought
of doing that’ you know so I think it’s certainly a great idea.
GARY: A few times, as Margot said I
think would be about now sort of February to March before people go away on a
wee travel or head north and the other time would be maybe September perhaps
end of term three-ish if you’re looking at targeting teachers for the ones that
are perhaps are going to retire at the end of the school year. So they’re sort
of thinking, I’m going to retire oh, what am I going to do or they might be
going to take long service leave for 12 months or something. So what am I going
to do? So that might be another time. You know. So about now and about term 3 [until
October] just to go or hang on. Maybe I could look that up and see if that’s
something I could, you know, register for or get involved. Because as we know,
the cards take a little while to get your background checks and all that stuff.
So it does probably take three months in reality to probably have – [onboard them].
KATE: Yeah, well, it can. Yeah, but
no checks in place. Often they already do. They’ve already done volunteering.
And they come to the party with that. But I don’t get involved in that Lyn
handles that with Ann.
MARGOT: So yes, although,
see because although there’s working with Children’s Cards they’re different in
every state. Children’s Cards in Tasmania or Victoria, because you’ve had to
for your volunteering but if you go to Queensland or the Northern Territory,
it’s not relevant. You have to have one specifically for that state.
KATE: Yeah, it is a bit – [it’s
frustrating] yeah, it is a bit frustrating, it’s a shame there’s not an
Australia wide-one.
GARY: We would love that, we keep
saying that all the time. There are so many things Kate that are state based
licensing or regulations or whatever and we go, why is that not federal? Like,
just make it so easier to be consistent across the board whether it be fishing
licenses or if there’d be working with children cards, and then all the
organizations that might need to tap into that to check for federals or people
that are doing wrong things or whatever it would be much easier that’s one of
the things we’ve worked at in our travels
21:37
KATE: To prepare for, well look I’m going
to wrap it up there but I really appreciate having a chat and we’ll have a talk
again in a year’s time. Who knows every year we’ll probably have a catch up
MARGOT: I think it’s a unique thing because
I think Australia is the only place that has School of the Air.
Kate: I didn’t know about that but
as far as placing tutors and doing all the management of it, except for VISE who
did it years ago, like, I don’t think anyone does that. I think they kind of
step back maybe they just like a job placement and I don’t know it. [yeah] It’s
a bit micro-managed.
MARGOT: [Inaudible] It’s
organized. You can say you know what’s happening. You know there’s a process to
follow, which is really good.
KATE: All right. Thanks for chatting
again soon. Okay. Bye ow.
[Outro] You can visit
our website at www.ahvise.org.au