Classroom Management and Socioemotional Functioning of Burmese Refugee Students in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Access to Malaysian government schools is prohibited for refugee children, and hidden refugee schools only reach a minority of Burmese students in Malaysia. This study used a participatory culture-specific consultation (PCSC) approach to examine the perspectives of Burmese refugee teachers on Burmese refugee student socioemotional issues and classroom management using interviews, observations, a preliminary refugee teacher focus group (N = 10: 4 men, 6 women; M age = 26 years), and a primary focus group with refugee teachers who were Burmese refugees (N = 9: 6 men, 3 women; M age = 30 years). First, themes suggested that societal pressures have an effect on the classroom environment. Second, refugee student behavior and emotions ranged from externalizing to internalizing. Third, refugee teachers relied on traditional Burmese methods for managing serious misbehavior. Fourth, with mild misbehaviors, teachers employed more “modern,” student-centered methods. Results inform culture-specific consultation designed to meet refugee education needs.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, we deeply appreciate how World Vision–Malaysia, UNHCR, HELP University Department of Psychology, and the many informal refugee schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, opened doors for this project. We have great respect for these heroic educators and organizations. Second, we would like to thank our colleagues and friends in Malaysia for all of their collaborative support during this project, especially Dr. Wai Sheng Ng, Mahi Ramakrishnan, Su Chen Tan-Koh, Elaine Clarke, Dr. Chee Leong Goh, Pei Shee Lee, James Coffman, and Liz O’Sullivan, in honor of her recently passing away, her love of Malaysia, and her thoughtful wisdom on this project. Last, but not least, Colleen O’Neal would like to thank her husband, Ken Freeman, and her children, Abraham, Alice, and Griffin O’Neal-Freeman, for taking a huge leap with her across oceans to Malaysia and offering great emotional and intellectual support during the adventure and intellectual awakening that was this project.

Funding

We acknowledge the financial, logistical, and intellectual support of the Fulbright Scholar Award program, the Fulbright New Leaders Group Young Investigator Award, and the Fulbright Alumni Engagement Innovation Award.

Notes

¹ We selected the label Burma, not Myanmar, as our name of choice because that country’s name is commonly used by supporters of ethnic minorities in Burma (Economist–Bangkok, 2013).

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the financial, logistical, and intellectual support of the Fulbright Scholar Award program, the Fulbright New Leaders Group Young Investigator Award, and the Fulbright Alumni Engagement Innovation Award.

Notes on contributors

Colleen O’Neal

Colleen O'Neal, PhD, is an assistant professor of School Psychology in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. O'Neal earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University in 2000 with NIMH predoctoral fellowship support, studying emotions among minority youth facing community violence, and then completed an NIMH postdoctorate in Mental Health Statistics at NYU. Her primary research goals are to identify risk and resilience processes among ethnic minority students with a focus on emotions, stress, achievement, and prevention.

Ranga Atapattu

Ranga Atapattu currently has a Masters of Arts and is working towards completion of a doctoral degree in School Psychology at the University of Maryland. Prior to attending Maryland, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychobiology at Swarthmore College, worked as a lab manager in Boston College, and taught at an urban charter school at Boston College. Her professional interests include working towards achieving equitable mental health and academic outcomes for members of historically marginalized and oppressed groups.

Anasuya Jegathesan

Anasuya Jegathesan, PhD, holds a Doctorate in Counselling from the University of South Australia. A senior lecturer in HELP University, Malaysia, she heads the Masters of Counselling Program, and, with her students, is heavily involved in supporting the development of counselling in welfare organizations.

Jennifer Clement

Jennifer Clement received her BA in Psychology from HELP University, Malaysia and has a law degree from the University of London (External Program). She currently works with nonprofits and refugee communities in Malaysia, looking into better protection and care for unaccompanied minors and alternatives to detention for children in immigration detention centers.

Edward Ong

Edward Ong is a PhD candidate in Forensic Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Prior to his studies at Birmingham, he completed his B(Psych) course from HELP University, Malaysia in 2013. His current PhD is a cross-cultural based research that focused on child protection, child and family welfare, and child rights.

Asha Ganesan

Asha Ganesan is a second-year PhD student at The University of Sydney, with an MA in Psychology from the University of Northern Iowa. Her research focuses on the factors influencing cultural evolution of social decision making. She was previously involved in projects on immigrant and transgender prejudice, perceptions of research ethics, and attitude change.

Note: The authors report that, to the best of their knowledge, neither they nor their affiliated institutions have financial or personal relationships or affiliations that could influence or bias the opinions, decisions, or work presented in this article.