School of the Air

School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is now replaced by telephone and internet technology. In these areas, the school-age population is too small for a conventional school to be viable.

Circa 1929, Alfred Traeger invented the pedal radio which allowed people in remote areas to communicate over long distances, reducing their social isolation. One important use of the technology was to receive medical advice or summon a doctor by contacting the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Educator Adelaide Miethke realised the same technology could be used for by teachers to deliver lessons to students in remote locations, leading to the establishment of School of the Air.

The first School of the Air lessons were officially delivered from the Royal Flying Doctor Service base in Alice Springs on 8 June 1951.

The service celebrated its 50th jubilee on 9 May 2001, ahead of the real jubilee on 8 June.

School classes were conducted via shortwave radio from 1951 until 2009, after which most schools switched to wireless internet technologies to deliver lessons that include live one-way video feeds and clear two-way audio.

The service celebrated its 70th year on 8 June 2021.

There are School of the Air programmes in all states except Tasmania.

Each student has direct contact with a teacher in an inland town such as Broken Hill, Alice Springs or Meekatharra. Each student typically spends one hour per day receiving group or individual lessons from the teacher, and the rest of the day working through the assigned materials with a parent, older sibling or a hired home-stay tutor.