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The Disadvantaged Country Areas Program in Australia involves a limited number of areas in each State selected according to their relative poverty, special need for improved educational provisions, and lack of opportunities for employment and training for young people. All schools in the declared areas are expected to share the services and facilities provided under the Program and to cooperate in devising plans for improvement. The most common problems of area projects are those related to isolation. Consequently, arrangements for travel feature largely in country programs. Technical means of communication are also used to reduce the effects of isolation. Country communities in the areas are trying to raise educational standards by developing local acceptance of the idea of education as the business of the whole community. The Program provides tangible resources, personnel, and career information for senior students. The career information involves students visiting career reference centres and taking part in work experience programs in the cities. To ensure effective decision-making at the local level, all States have now established a structure which allows for consultation among all interested groups. A description of projects funded in 1978 and statistical information about the Program follow the narrative section. (CM)

Australian school communities participating in the Disadvantaged Schools Program plan their own approaches to improving schooling for students, assisted and supported by consultants; the Disadvantaged Country Areas Program, funded in 1977, differs from the Disadvantaged Schools Program in that whole areas rather than individual schools have been identified. All schools in the declared areas are expected to share the services and facilities provided through the Program and to share in developing ideas and plans for improvement. Areas are encouraged to identify and use what they already have in their own communities and to use the special funding to supplement those resources. Schools within the areas and their respective communities work together to improve students' learning by sharing ideas, responsibility, personnel, and resources. Areas share common problems such as geographic and cultural isolation; relatively low community standards of education; lack of facilities, resources, and specialist services; poverty; and lack of vocational opportunities. Therefore, many projects are similar. Communities are encouraged to make as many decisions about schooling as possible. A description of the majority of the projects funded in 1977 follows the narrative section. The project summaries indicate (in varying degrees of detail) the needs, aims, and funding levels applicable to individual projects. (CM)