Equitable access to quality education should not be restricted to the confines of classrooms. In rural and regional areas in particular, children lack the opportunity to engage in extracurricular education that interests them or that could harness their skills and competence. Research indicates that participation in extracurricular activities significantly levels out the educational achievements between students in regional and metropolitan communities (O’Donnell et al., 2022). In this study, we have designed an intervention to improve the literacy and educational outcomes in regional areas of Tasmania through participatory research housed at several extracurricular education providers such as museums. This aim is achieved through three interdependent strategies: (a) improving the quality of extracurricular learning experiences; (b) increasing the ‘dose’ (or number of hours) children engage in extracurricular learning; and (c) collaborating with community organisations to enhance their skills in co-designing ongoing inclusive and family-friendly experiences. Preliminary findings suggest that in addition to benefits that accrue to children, the volunteers and staff at social history museums, regional galleries, and gardens also experience changes in wellbeing. The influence of intergenerational learning is multi-dimensional and under-explored.

Authors:
Aishah Bakhtiar, University of Tasmania, Australia
Becky Shelley, University of Tasmania, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Aishah Bakhtiar is currently a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Research Fellow at Shizuoka University. She is also an Adjunct Researcher at the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment at University of Tasmania.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Friday Schedule

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