Refugee-Teacher-Train-Refugee-Teacher Intervention Research in Malaysia: Promoting Classroom Management and Teacher Self-Care

ABSTRACT

Given the current refugee crisis, the development of sustainable postconflict refugee education systems and supports is essential. The present study reports Resilient Refugee Education (RRE) intervention effects on refugee teacher confidence and knowledge of classroom management, in addition to refugee teacher self-care in Malaysia. We compared effects on (a) peer trainers, who were refugee teachers trained by consultants (n = 38), and (b) peer trainees, who were refugee teachers trained by peer trainers (n = 78). The sample included teachers who were refugees (n = 97; mean age = 30; 78% Burmese) and nonrefugees (n = 19; mean age = 48; 44% Chinese-Malaysian). Significant effects on teacher knowledge, confidence, and self-care were found for both trainers and trainees, including interactions with gender and education. Implications for sustainable promotion of the emotional context in refugee education are discussed.

Acknowledgments

Without financial and intellectual support from a U.S. Department of State Fulbright Scholar Award and Fulbright New Leaders Group Award to the first author, in addition to a Fulbright Alumni Education Innovation Fund Award to the first and second authors, this intervention research would not have been possible. The authors would like to thank the professional consultants who worked their creative magic in adapting, developing, and implementing the Resilient Refugee Education intervention: Frances Lim, Tan Su Chen, Wong Ee Lynn and Yap Chee Khong. We deeply appreciate the refugee teachers and community and center refugee schools who took a leap of faith with us and participated in the training intervention and research. We also want to thank the intervention handbook illustrators: Preethi Nair and Tay Yen Ee, in addition to the handbook translators and printers. The HELP University psychology undergraduate student volunteers who collected and processed the intervention data were essential to this study. Last, but not least, we want to thank Professor Liz O’Sullivan, Tilmann Vogt, and our other fellow Fulbright Alumni Education Innovation Fund Award team members; Jennifer Clement as our qualitative researcher; Lee Pei Shee of World Vision; Dr. Goh Chee Leong, Psychology Dean at HELP University; Director James Coffman and staff of the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE) for their long-term support and financial processing of our grant; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); United States Department of State and the U.S. Embassy-Malaysia for their oversight and celebration of our refugee teacher trainees; and Mic Hoo and the Durian FM Team for their embrace of our intervention and the refugee teachers, opening their studio doors for weeks to our intervention, and getting the word out via video and radio about hidden refugee education in Malaysia. Finally, we dedicate this paper to the memory of Professor Liz O’Sullivan who was our conceptual, political, grants management, and spiritual guide from the beginning and throughout the intervention research process. Liz will be in our hearts forever.

Notes

¹ We define postconflict refugees as nonresettled refugees living temporarily in countries of first asylum.

² Drawing on our theoretical background and collaboration with partners in Malaysia, we defined classroom management as how a teacher manages not only behavior but also emotions and attention in class (O’Neal et al., 2016).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Colleen R. 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 a BA in Psychology from Cornell University in 1990 and completed a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University in 2000 with NIMH predoctoral fellowship support, 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 immigrant and refugee students with a focus on emotions, stress, achievement, and prevention.

Nicole M. Gosnell

Nicole M. Gosnell, BA, is a second-year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to attending Maryland, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communication from University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and worked as a researcher in both the Pediatric Psychology Lab at UMBC, and the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on stressors, mental health, emotions, and achievement among migrant and other marginalized child populations.

Wai Sheng Ng

Wai Sheng Ng, PsyD, is a Fulbright alumna and received her PsyD in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, Chicago in 2005. She was previously a senior lecturer and program chair of the Master of Clinical Psychology program at HELP University, Kuala Lumpur. Wai Sheng is currently the clinical director of Growing Space Psychology Center in Seremban, Malaysia.

Edward Ong

Edward Ong, B(Psych), is currently a PhD candidate in Forensic Psychology at the University of Birmingham, UK. Prior to this, he completed his Bacherlor of Psychology from HELP University, Malaysia in 2013. His dissertation is cross-cultural based research focused on child protection, safeguarding, and child rights.

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.