Primary Distance Education Population: Problems and Prospects. Research Series No. 2

Extensive fieldwork and a questionnaire were used to study the population served by primary distance education (k-6), the perceived needs of home tutors, and the adequacy of support services provided by distance primary schools in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. The fieldwork phase found two major types of primary distance schools--metropolitan correspondence schools and regional schools of the air/correspondence units. Schools were characterized by the permanence/transience of their student population and the stability/duration of their enrollments. Fieldwork confirmed the notion that the isolated child's success depends on active involvement of the home tutor--nearly always the child's mother. A questionnaire mailed to 1,800 families (all those in the study area having at least one child enrolled in primary distance education) yielded 1,226 valid returns from families for a total of 2,072 students. Support services were unevenly available for home tutors and depended on school type, family permanence/transience, and home utilities--electricity, mail, telephone. Support services involving face-to-face meetings with teachers and other home tutors were rated highest. This report included the 20-page family questionnaire, detailed analyses of student populations by region, and a chapter evaluating electronic mailing and other possible new directions in primary distance education. (JHZ)