Schiffke, Angela K. (2021) Local Secondary School or Boarding School: The Experiences of Outback Queensland Parents. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Secondary education opportunities in Outback Australia are limited, which may lead parents to send their child to a boarding school. In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted with seven parents from the Outback town of Longreach, Queensland regarding their experiences of deciding to send a child to boarding school rather than the local secondary school. Thematic Analysis was used to identify themes across these experiences, which consisted of chronological stages of the decision-making and transition process. The first stage encompassed the contextual background of the parents, stage two included the factors that parents considered when making the decision, such as cost and opportunities. Stage three identified the emotions experienced during the process, and the final stage detailed the emotional impact after the decision was made and the child left for boarding school. It was found that the decision and subsequent transition were very difficult for parents, but the opportunities available at boarding school outweighed the benefits of having their children at home. This study addresses the lack of research into the experiences of parents who decide to send their child to boarding school rather than the local secondary school, and it extends on other research into the boarding school experience by focusing on the under-examined yet important experiences of Outback Australian parents. The findings of this study may have implications for how local schools advocate for themselves and may provide insight into the general trend of depopulation of Outback regions.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Jan du Preez |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Aug 2025 23:41 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Aug 2025 23:41 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | boarding-school ; rural ; remote ; education ; parents |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52733 |
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