Steve was born in England and is of Irish descent. He immigrated to Australia in April 1970 and is married to Maria. They have two sons, Luke (25) and Mark (26).
Steve studied psychology at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) (now Curtin UniversitY and following this he went to Teachers College where he studied to become a secondary school teacher. After graduating Steve worked as a design and technology teacher.
In his spare time Steve has previously enjoyed kayaking for many years and has completed several Avalon Descent white water events. More recently (over the past 3 years) Steve has taken up flying gliders, a past time which he thoroughly enjoys.
Steve has been working for the Western Australian School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) for the past 10 years.
Part 1-FROM THE PAST TO THE PRESENT-HOW SIDE EVOLVED
The Correspondence School was established in 1918, it is now known as The School of Isolated and Distance Education and is currently celebrating 100 years of educational services to tens of thousands of students in Western Australia over the past 100 years.
In 1918 the primary purpose of The Correspondence School was to provide an education for rural students living too far away to attend traditional schools. The alternative was no school, home schooling or boarding school.
In the late 50’s and 60’s five Schools of the Air were established across the state in towns that hosted the Royal Flying Doctor Service; Meekatharra (1959), Derby and Port Hedland (1960), Kalgoorlie (1962), Carnarvon (1968). The first radio service for The Schools Air was provided by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The Schools of the Air worked in conjunction with The Correspondence School.
1995 - WA Correspondence School was renamed The Schools of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE)
2004 - The High Frequency radio system was replaced by a satellite-based system. SIDE families were provided with a satellite dish and computer by the Department of Education under the SatWeb project. This satellite system allowed students to participate in lessons using web conferencing software.
2007 – The Schools of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) became primarily an online school. Digital technologies are having a huge impact on distance education, providing an online face-to-face contact for students and teachers, and 24 x 7 access to cloud based course resources.
PART 2-ONE HUNDRED YEARS ON-WHAT SIDE DOES NOW, HOW THEY DO IT AND WHO FOR
SIDE currently enrols approximately 2400 students.
These students are:
- enrolled in metro, regional and remote schools
- Geographically isolated (homebased)
- Referrals: Mental health & long term health issues
- Access: Fulltime - Sports, Dancing, Theatre, Music
- Languages – Japanese, Italian, Indonesian & French
- Travellers -
- Interstate
- Overseas
SIDE uses a blended Learning Model
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The Learning environments and student population are diverse and include:
- Remote schools
- Students travelling around Australia and Overseas – the computer is their classroom and connection with their teacher.
- Students who are unable to attend schools due to severe mental health and health issues
- Single mums accessing education
- Large metro and regional schools that have students numbers too small to run a course
For more information on SIDE Click here
And about the Centenary Click here