The Priority Country Area Program (PCAP) is a community-based rural education program, jointly administered by Education Queensland and the Catholic Education Commission. Funds are targeted to students in government and non-government schools to improve learning outcomes by providing educational, social, and cultural opportunities which are normally difficulty to access in rural and remote areas.
To help schools and school communities improve the educational outcomes and opportunities of students who are educationally disadvantaged because of their geographical isolation so that their learning outcomes match those of other students.
PCAP supports projects in geographically isolated areas of Queensland which are culturally and demographically diverse. Schools are designated into four prescribed areas; Northern; North West; Central; and South West. The four areas are based on Local Government Shire boundaries.
Funds directed to the two educational systems are pooled and managed through a three tiered structure consisting of:
Access to PCAP funding is submission based, though the PCAP Online Submission.
Further funding information can be found on the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) website.
We also have a printable PCAP Brochure for download.
State PCAP Policies are available here.
PCAP is currently undergoing an external review. The funding will remain based on the Quadrennial Administrative Guidelines 2009-2012 provided to the Queensland Catholic Education Commission by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) pending the outcome of the review.
The consultation phase of the review has been completed. The PCAP Review Consultation Report contains a summary of the consultation phase of the Review of PCAP.
Queensland is divided up into four PCAP Areas. Information about which Local Government Shires each Area covers is available on the PCAP Areas page.
To visit the four PCAP Area's websites and learn more each of the regions, click on the buttons below.
To apply for funding from PCAP you will need to follow this link to the Online Submission Website.
Use the PCAP Community Services Map to find out information about rural and remote communities across Queensland.
Connecting practicum teachers and graduate teachers to professional teaching experiences in remote and rural community areas at the Rural & Remote Educators Network website.
PCAP provided support for the Australian Catholic University to conduct a research project entitled Community-based Mentoring: An Exploration of a Model for Supporting and Retaining Teachers in Rural and Remote Communities in Queensland.
The final report is available by following this link: ACU Community Based Mentoring Report
The research projects website is available here: PCAP Mentoring
