Navigating the secondary-tertiary education border: refugee-background students in Southern Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Access to tertiary education is a challenge for many people from refugee-backgrounds. In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), resettled refugees are entitled to access education alongside other New Zealanders, and NZ’s resettlement policy material recognises education as a key pillar of resettlement. However, refugee-background students are not recognised as ‘priority learners’ in education policy, so educational institutions are not required to report on refugee-background students’ educational access or outcomes. At all levels of the education system, teaching and support practices for refugee-background students vary widely. Many barriers hamper refugee-background students’ access to and success in tertiary education. However, refugee-background students are also necessarily-skilful border navigators. In this paper, we share data from an in-progress participatory action research project based in southern NZ that involves collaborating with refugee-background students at the secondary-tertiary education border. After describing the project, its rationale, and our theoretical framework, we draw on insights from seven of the students to illustrate how students represented educational navigation in NZ: as a resistance project, a subterranean project, and a relational project. We conclude by suggesting some implications from our study for research, policy and practice in education.

KEYWORDS:

• Refugee-background students
• education
• navigation
• navigational capital
• New Zealand

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to our student participants for their engagement, enthusiasm, and generosity. We are also grateful for the support of our project partners.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Quota refugees who come to NZ are initially welcomed to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland, where they participate in a five-week orientation and assessment programme. Following this, they are resettled in designated settlement centres, where ongoing support is provided for 12 months by contracted support providers – in most centres, the NZ Red Cross (see https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/what-we-do/our-strategies-and-projects/supporting-refugees-and-asylum-seekers/refugee-and-protection-unit/new-zealand-refugee-quota-programme).

2. Years 12 and 13 are the final two years of school in NZ, and students in these year levels typically study for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) levels two and three respectively. NCEA is NZ’s national school qualification. Students can be awarded excellence or merit endorsements in NCEA, depending on their grades, or they can achieve the qualification (pass, with no endorsement).

3. Polytechnics are tertiary education institutions in NZ that specialise in vocational education programmes.

Additional information

Funding

The project is funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education through a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative Grant, administered by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research.