I SSUES of teacher recruitment and retention in rural and isolated areas have received considerable attention in Australia and North America. Research findings have influenced policy and many training incentive programs and packages are in place. Little attention, however, has been given to long-staying rural teachers and why they are satisfied to stay in locations which others in the profession find disagreeable. This report analyses available studies and, among other things, reveals much variation in the definition of 'long-staying'. A survey was administered to 427 long-staying rural teachers, teachers who had been in their current school for at least six years and were not planning to move within twelve months. It sought information on professional pre-and inservice education, satisfaction, commitment and community. There emerged a profile of a professionally satisfied, community integrated, family oriented teacher who enjoyed the rural lifestyle and environment. The results carry strong messages for teacher education and teacher selection processes.

This paper aims to relate the Australian data on rural-urban migration and economic change to education. It illustrates that there has been scant polity attention to the fundamental role ofeducation in the changing nature ofAustralia's rural areas. Australla's rural policy has been firmly driven by the massive political power ofthe rural industries and mining lobbies; the voice ofrural communities being lost to the winds. Governments should be alert to the needs ofrural Australia. Issues of social justice and equity are being raised and heard as never before and ordinary Australians are increasingly aware of, and cherish, our rural communities, our rural image. and our sense-ofourselves as sharing a rural heritage. Recent data show that regional Australia, in favoured areas, is prospering. A number ofpolicy considerations are canvassed with the conclusion that leading-edge information and communications technologies are an essential prerequisite if regional Australia is to prosper and metropolitan areas and the south-east are to avoid undesirable crowding. Isolated rural areas are more problematic and a policy approach to a sustainable future for them is not immediately apparent to the author.

This paper reviews selected literature relating to the medical condition and learning consequences of Otitis Media in Aboriginal children in remote communities and reports on a research project which aimed to develop a whole community approach to the problem. The model brings together health, education, medical professionals, paraprojessionals and the community in a structured and cohesive program based on the school as the lead and central agency. The special significance of community and paraprofessionals, for example teacher aides is considered.

Vocational choice has been a critical issue for rural Queensland families for many years although it remains a little documented aspect of the lives of secondary school students and their parents who live in the outback. While rural education has received official recognition as an area of disadvantage in the Australian education system for almost two decades (Schools Commission, 1975; Commission of Inquiry into Poverty in Australia, 1976) vocational choice in outback schools, which is central to the relationships between both school and work and school and tertiary education, has not been prominent in the research literature in spite of several recent reports (Boomer, 1988; Australian Education Council Review Committee, 1991; National Board of Employment, Education and Training, 1991). This research project has been designed to investigate the processes of post secondary school education and vocational choices for families in a representative community and to consider the implications of this issue for schools and policy makers. The research project was initiated by Dr David McSwan of James Cook University's Rural Education Research and Development Centre and Dr Ken Stevens of the Faculty of Education at Victoria University in Wellington in New Zealand. Specifically, the research will investigate how families with year ten, eleven and twelve students in a selected North Queensland community make choices about post secondary school education and careers.

A recent (1993) study in rural Scotland showed that poverty and disadvantage are widespread, Rural residents view of themselves, their standard of living, was not consistent with standard objective definitions. This mismatch has significant policy implications. The following article, extracted from the below-listed references, reports on the findings of the study and should prove useful to a wide range of professionals, policy makers, and administrators for whom an understanding of rural areas is important and necessary.