Student Perceptions of Teacher-Student Interpersonal Behaviour and Classroom Learning Environment in Metropolitan and Country Schools

The Tomlinson Report (1994, p. 27) in Western Australia noted that a 'systematic difference in" Tertiary Education Entrance performance favouring metropolitan over rural school students' was evident. While this report signalled the authors belief that this difference was not simply a rural versus metropolitan discrimination, it offered few possible explanations for the difference. Rural students' participation in education is lower than that of students from the metropolitan areas. This lower participation rate has been the subject of concern to governments (Dawkins & Kerin, 19'89). In United States schools, metropolitan schools often are better equipped, attract better and more experienced teachers and their students tend to do better than rural school students (Baker, 1998; Ballou & Podgursky, 1995; Dayton, 1998; Reaves & Lanner, 1998).