After four years teaching at an Alice Springs primary school, Kylie Jones took a job as a governess on a Northern Territory cattle station and a new life presented itself.
In her second year, she took the students in her care to visit another cattle station, 800 kilometres away, where the governess was a young woman, straight out of school. While enthusiastic, the young governess had no classroom experience, and Jones was able to assist her in building her capacity as a teacher.
“I saw the need for more support in that role to ensure that students obtain foundational numeracy and
literacy skills,” Jones said.
And so began RAISEducation – a not-for-profit organisation that Jones set up to provide educational support to geographically isolated families across Australia. RAISEducation operates from a cattle property 200km north-east of Alice Springs, providing individualised learning support for children and their parents or governess.
With between 60 and 100 students in the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, Jones has hopes of increasing the number of students she helps to 1000 in the next five years. Families aren’t charged for the service, which Jones first began with her own savings. She now receives funding from grants and groups such as Decodable Readers Australia and the Ningana Trust.
“I’m passionate about building a love of learning in children and believe it has an enormous impact across rural and remote Australia,” she said.
“Education can change the world – from health to businesses to the agricultural sector. It all relies on building foundational learning.”
One of the first students Jones worked with was a grade-two boy. “He absolutely hated school and would cry every day,” she said. She explains that many students have a sense of failure and that she had to build in this boy a love of learning, taking a very individualised approach and taking the teaching back to tasks the boy could succeed at and build confidence in.
Later, at a sports gathering, the boy ran up to Jones and asked if he could read a book with her.
“Comments like that are incredible and make me feel like I’m making a difference,” she said.
Written by Katherine Johnson for Alumni Magazine Issue 54, 2023.
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Top of page: 2022 NTAgriFutures Rural Women’s award winner teacher Kylie Jones is Founding Director of RAISEducation, which she runs from a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory | Photo: Stephanie Coombes