School of the Air
An information text on how radio brought lessons to outback children, with eight questions on evidence, word meanings and central ideas.
Read the passage
Learning across the outback
Much of inland Australia is so vast and so thinly settled that some children live hundreds of kilometres from the nearest school. For many years, these children learnt by post, waiting weeks for lessons to arrive and for their work to be marked. Teachers posted printed lessons out, and students posted their finished work back.
An idea from the airwaves
In 1944, an educator named Adelaide Miethke travelled to Alice Springs and noticed how shy and isolated outback children were. She realised that the two-way radio network of the Royal Flying Doctor Service could also carry lessons. Doctors already used it to talk to people on remote properties. The Flying Doctor Service, started by the Reverend John Flynn in 1928, used radios and aeroplanes to bring medical help to remote places. On 8 June 1951, the first School of the Air lessons were broadcast from the Flying Doctor base in Alice Springs.
Radio becomes the classroom
Students listened through special radio sets, many of them powered by pedals, and spoke to their teacher through a microphone. For the first time, a child on a remote cattle station could answer a question out loud and hear other students doing the same. The nearest neighbour might be a long day’s drive away. Each student also worked with a supervisor at home, often a parent or a home tutor, who helped them every day.
From radio to the internet
Radio lessons continued until 2009. Since then, most Schools of the Air have switched to the internet, which allows teachers and students to see and hear each other live. These schools operate in places such as Alice Springs, the Kimberley and Broken Hill. Many students also meet their teachers and classmates face to face at special camps and gatherings during the year. The idea behind the school has not changed: no child should miss out on education because of how far they live from a classroom.
Answer the questions
- On what date were the first School of the Air lessons broadcast, and from where? (2 marks)
- The text describes outback children as “isolated.” What does “isolated” mean? Cite the part of the text that helped you work it out. (2 marks)
- Why do you think Adelaide Miethke saw that the Flying Doctor radio network could be used for lessons? Use evidence from the text. (2 marks)
- Quote the sentence that explains how School of the Air students answered questions in the radio days. Use quotation marks. (2 marks)
- What does the text suggest was the most important benefit of the radio lessons for children on remote properties? Cite evidence. (2 marks)
- What has changed about School of the Air since 2009, and what has stayed the same? Use evidence from the text. (2 marks)
- Number these events 1 to 4 in the order they happen. (2 marks)• Lessons move to the internet.• Children learn by post.• Adelaide Miethke visits Alice Springs.• The first radio lessons are broadcast.
- Choose the statement that best sums up the central idea of the text. Write its letter. (1 mark)A. Radio was invented in Alice Springs in 1951 by one of the Flying Doctors who worked there.B. Children in the outback do not need schools, because they can learn everything from their parents.C. School of the Air used radio, and later the internet, to teach children far from any school.D. The Flying Doctor Service now only teaches students and no longer helps any patients at all.
Answer key for parents and teachers
1. On 8 June 1951, from the Flying Doctor base in Alice Springs. (2 marks)
Finding information. Collecting two facts from one sentence.
2. Alone or cut off from other people. Evidence: some children live “hundreds of kilometres from the nearest school” and the nearest neighbour might be “a long day’s drive away”. (2 marks)
Word meaning. The meaning is clear from the details around the word, so the child points to the evidence.
3. The radio already let people on remote properties talk to someone far away, so it could also carry a teacher’s voice. She had noticed how isolated the children were. (2 marks)
Inference. Joining two ideas from different parts of the text to explain why something worked.
4. “Students listened through special radio sets, many of them powered by pedals, and spoke to their teacher through a microphone.” (2 marks)
Quoting from the text. Copying the exact sentence that answers the question.
5. They could take part in lessons and talk with a teacher and other students, which made them feel less alone. Evidence: they could “answer a question out loud and hear other students doing the same”. (2 marks)
Inference. Deciding what matters most in a text and backing it up.
6. Changed: most schools use the internet and live video instead of radio. Stayed the same: the aim that no child should miss out on education because of how far they live from a classroom. (2 marks)
Explaining from the text. Comparing then and now, with evidence from the last section.
7. 1. Children learn by post. 2. Adelaide Miethke visits Alice Springs. 3. The first radio lessons are broadcast. 4. Lessons move to the internet. (2 marks)
Sequencing events. Putting events from a whole text into order.
8. C (1 mark)
Summarising. The central idea covers the whole text. The wrong answers are too narrow or untrue.
What this practises
Finding information, Word meaning, Inference, Quoting from the text, Explaining from the text, Sequencing events, Summarising. This sheet links to Comprehension Strategies (AC9E6LY05). Schools and states deliver the Australian Curriculum (version 9) in different ways, so check what your child's school uses. Marks and answers are a guide: accept any sensible answer that is backed up by the text.
Now try the writing task
Imagine you live on a remote cattle station in the 1950s. Write a diary entry about a day of radio lessons.
Aim for eight to twelve sentences. Read it back aloud together and fix anything that does not sound right.
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Free to print and copy for your own family or classroom. Please do not sell or republish. The passage and questions were written for LiteracyLab AI.