The mother of three, who lives 160 kilometres north-east of Bourke, was at Wednesday’s regional education forum in Dubbo, alongside 12-year-old son John, who is studying year six through the Dubbo School of Distance Education.

The pair travelled about 540 kilometres to attend the forum, which heard from various stakeholders about the challenges facing rural, regional and remote students, parents and educators.

“The connectivity is completely the bridge [for] the gap,” Mrs Robinson.

“If we can share those [teacher] resources successfully, yes it does come down to the policies, to NBN, all of those kind of issues.

“And yes, we’ve got to just keep asking the government, keep asking for these resources to come up to speed.”

John Robinson began at a small distance education school that was started as a trial between the Walgett and Bourke schools.

Insufficient management and resources drove them to move to the Dubbo school instead, although it was not an easy process.

“Now we’ve changed and this is what education should be for regional [students],” Mrs Robinson said. “The larger, regional resource getting out to the distance ed schools.”

Extending the distance education model could help solve issues around the shortage of teachers in certain discipline, such as maths, she said.

“There's a wonderfully dedicated maths department, and those maths satellite lessons can go to any school,” Mrs Robinson said.

“That's one way of using those precious teacher skills and passion for maths and getting it out to kids that are way out there and isolated.”