Australian school practices and the education experiences of students with a refugee background: a review of the literature

ABSTRACT

Schools have the potential for significant impact on the lives of Australian students with a refugee background. Many of these young people speak at least one language other than English, have previous histories of interrupted schooling or have experienced trauma during times of displacement and forced migration. Combined with the further challenges of settling within an unfamiliar cultural frame, these students experience a range of circumstances which are not present for many of their Australian-born peers. Australian students with a refugee background have diverse skill and abilities, with many showing independence and resilience. Opportunities for academic learning and development of social capital within the school context can be enhanced with relevant pedagogy and policy which draws upon and highlights the positive individual qualities that these students exhibit. Australian school practices are shaped by both state and federal education policies, which are interpreted and applied by individual schools within their own frameworks. This review considers recent literature on the experiences of Australian students with a refugee background as they participate in schooling, with a focus on the ways in which schools provide either opportunities or barriers to engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• School
• refugee
• student
• inclusive education
• Australia

Acknowledgements

This review is part of a three-year ARC Linkage Project entitled ‘Pathways to Active Citizenship: Refugee Youth and their transition from School, to further Education, Training and Employment’. This project is a collaboration between the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide, and an industry partner Multicultural Youth South Australia (MYSA).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Emily Miller is currently working as a teacher of secondary schooling in South Australia, having completed a Master of Teaching. She is also active on several research projects investigating the experiences of students with a refugee background as they engage with Australian education systems. These projects include linkages with multiple institutions and Emily is currently engaged with the projects through her PhD study and employment at UniSA in South Australia.

Assoc Prof. Tahereh Ziaian is an Associate Professor within the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, the University of South Australia as well as a Visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine. Assoc Prof Ziaian is a Health Psychologist in transcultural mental health, working with different groups in the primary health care and mental health areas both in private and public health settings. She provides leadership in the area of cross-cultural health and mental health at a State, National, and International level.

Prof. Adrian Esterman is Professor of Biostatistics with the University of South Australia where he advises on biostatistics and epidemiology to researchers in the Division of Health Sciences, co-leads the Cancer Care Research Group and is Chief Investigator on several research grants. He is also Professor of Biostatistics and Public Health at James Cook University. His career includes seven years as a WHO staff member based in Geneva and Copenhagen.

ORCID

Emily Miller http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1823-983X

Tahereh Ziaian http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3174-2405

Adrian Esterman http://orcid.org//0000-0001-7324-9171

Notes

1. In this document, it was relevant to use ESL as an abbreviation for the many incarnations of English language support. This language tuition and support is most commonly referred to in this way in the literature but is also labelled differently in some cases, for example as English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D).

2. In Australia there is compulsory, annual, national, standardised testing for all students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 which assesses literacy and numeracy in order to ‘determine whether or not young Australians are meeting important educational outcomes’ (Australian Curriculum 2017).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Research Council.