Welcome to the Queensland PCAP website.

The Priority Country Area Program (PCAP) is a Commonwealth funded rural education program. 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

The program goal is:

“To contribute to the enhancement of learning outcomes for students in geographically isolated areas so that their learning outcomes match those of other students.”

PCAP is intersystemic, community based and jointly administered by Education Queensland and the Queensland Catholic Education Commission (QCEC). This intersystemic partnership was developed to provide a consolidated approach in rural and remote communities and facilitate the development of collaborative local responses to student needs.

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 from the Commonwealth to the two educational systems are pooled and managed through a three tiered structure consisting of:

• PCAP State Council: which has the capacity to develop and implement state-wide projects; oversees the operation of the program across the state; and disburses funding to each of the four PCAP Areas;
• Area Management Committees: which have the capacity to develop and implement area-wide projects; identify the needs of students and determine funding priorities within the four PCAP regions; and
• Local Area Committees: which develop and fund local initiatives within clusters of schools.

Access to PCAP funding is submission based, though the PCAP Online Submission.

Some of the links are to pdf files. If you do not have a pdf reader, click in the adobe reader icon and download adobe acrobat reader from the adobe site.

PCAP Brochure

State PCAP Policies

To visit the four PCAP areas' websites and learn more each of the regions, click on the buttons below.