scholarly journals Educational provision for refugee youth in Australia: left to chance?

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravinder Sidhu ◽  
Sandra Taylor

This article investigates how education bureaucracies in Australia use languages of categorization and promote community partnerships to construct and govern the refugee subject. We use a framework of governmentality to analyse education policies and statements emerging from two levels of government — Commonwealth and state. Drawing on web-based materials, policy statements and accounts of parliamentary debates, the article documents the ways in which refugee education continues to be subsumed within broader education policies and programmes concerned with social justice, multiculturalism and English language provision. Such categorizations are premised on an undifferentiated ethnoscape that ignores the significantly different learning needs and sociocultural adjustments faced by refugee students compared with migrants and international students. At the same time, educational programmes of inclusion that are concerned with utilizing community organizations to deliver services and enhance participation, point to the emergence of `government through community partnerships' — a mode of governance increasingly associated with advanced liberal societies.

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Koyama ◽  
Ethan Chang

Despite the central role schools have played in the resettlement of refugees, we know little about how principals, teachers, parents, and staff at community-based organizations interpret and negotiate national immigration policy and state education policies. Combing critical discourse analysis (CDA) and actor-network theory (ANT), we capture how these actors work together and against each other to enact supports with regard to these newcomer students. Data includes a 36-month ethnography of refugee networks in Arizona. We argue that policies around English language acquisition and academic support further isolate refugee students and diminish their formal learning experiences in the United States.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-147
Author(s):  
Jody McBrien ◽  
Maria Hayward

Both the United States (US) and New Zealand (NZ) have been resettling refugees since the Second World War. As such, and because of several international treaties signed by both countries, they must concern themselves with the education of resettled refugee students in their nations. In this study, the researchers examine the international agreements and national resettlement policies that shape these nations’ refugee education policies. Second, educational practices for refugee students in the US and NZ using phenomenological qualitative research based on observations, interviews, and focus groups with teachers and refugee students are examined. The researchers conclude that the more systematic methods of resettlement and educational tools available to teachers in NZ through consistent national policies provide better opportunities for success than policies and practices that vary widely from state to state and even within states in the US.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity Baker ◽  
Carolyn Jones

Vulnerability to crisis in newly arrived refugee youth is common as they try to come to terms with past traumatic experiences and acculturate to the new country in which they have settled. This study examined the effects of a short-term music therapy program on the changes to the Behaviour Symptom Index (BSI, Reynolds and Kamphus, 1998) of 31 new refugee youths attending an English language reception centre in Brisbane. A cross-over design with two five-week intervention periods was employed with group music therapy sessions conducted one-two times per week. Results indicate that changes to BSI scores approached significance indicating trends that music therapy affected a positive change on generalised behaviour. Findings are discussed with reference to stabilizing and preventing crises with this population.


2017 ◽  
pp. 109-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Miles ◽  
Mary Catherine Bailey-McKenna

As the complexity and cultural diversity in contemporary Canadian schools increases, educators are challenged to respond to the unique cultural, socioemotional, and learning needs of students whose families are fleeing hardship, global conflict, or persecution to seek safe haven in Canada. Like those in most major urban centres in Canada, schools in Calgary have received many newcomer students as families settle into their new lives. Teachers are tasked with providing high-quality education to learners from multiple language bases with limited formal education, little or no English, and histories of loss, grief, and/or trauma. The complexity of this task often requires a multidisciplinary team approach to support the teacher and address unique student needs. This article, written by an ESL teacher and a psychologist, provides an overview of one program that helps set the stage for success in Canadian classrooms. The LEAD program uses a three- pronged approach to foster successful inclusion, an approach comprising English language development, trauma-informed practice, and cultural responsiveness. L’augmentation de la complexité et de la diversité culturelle dans les écoles canadiennes met au dé les enseignants qui doivent réagir aux besoins uniques culturels, socio-émotionnels et pédagogiques de leurs élèves dont les familles fuient des difficultés, des con its mondiaux ou la persécution et cherchent refuge au Canada. Les écoles à Calgary, comme celles dans la plupart des grands centres urbains au Canada, ont accueilli plusieurs nouveaux élèves dont les familles s’installent dans leur nouvelle vie. Les enseignants sont chargés d’offrir une éducation de haute qualité aux apprenants ayant des bagages linguistiques divers et une scolarité formelle limitée, connaissant peu ou pas l’anglais et ayant subi des pertes, des chagrins et des traumatismes. La complexité de cette tâche exige souvent une approche collaborative et pluridisciplinaire pour appuyer l’enseignant et répondre aux besoins uniques des élèves. Cet article par une enseignante d’ALS et une psychologue présente un aperçu d’un programme qui prépare le terrain pour la réussite dans les salles de classe au Canada. Le programme LEAD repose sur une approche à trois volets qui favorise l’insertion en visant le développement de la langue anglaise et qui emploient des pratiques qui tiennent compte des traumatismes et qui sont adaptées à la culture. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1602-1615
Author(s):  
Rida Anis ◽  
Clara Calia ◽  
Ozgur Osman Demir ◽  
Feyza Doyran ◽  
Ozge Hacifazlioglu

This study investigates major challenges encountered by Syrian refugee youth in public high schools in Turkey, focusing on three sources of assessment: the refugee students themselves and their parents and educators. Based on qualitative interpretive research methodology, twenty-three individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. The study simultaneously hears the voices of the Syrian refugee students as well as those of their parents, teachers, and principals. Making friends among Turkish peers, social integration in school and the host society, discrimination, feeling lonely or even depressed, and other displacement problems are the crucial issues identified by this study. While most of the teachers and principals interviewed focused more on academic problems as the main reason for the deterioration of the majority of Syrian youth’s education, refugee students and their parents claimed that the psycho-social challenges are more difficult and thus problematic.   Keywords: Acculturation, Psycho-social needs, Refugee education, Syrian students.


Needs Analysis in the context of language-learning-teaching is an important process to design a certain course and syllabus. It helps course designers to set objectives, choose content, method of instruction, appropriate teaching aids, and classroom activities for different courses. This paper reports the perceptions of the researchers on the English language learning needs of the English undergraduate students of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal, Pakistan. The data is based on the researchers’ personal experience and first-hand observation of the population as the researchers have been teaching in the target context for about a decade. Furthermore, the researchers have always been in discussion with their students and colleagues about the target students’ English learning needs, preferred learning styles, motivation in learning English, interest, strengths/weaknesses, and attitude toward English learning in the target setting. Learners’ assignments, exam answer sheets, and presentations have also been used is a source of data collection. A needs analysis model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) has been applied in order to analyze the data. The results show that the students lack well grammatical sentences, have poor spellings, capitalization problems, limited vocabulary, unaware of collocations, poor/slow reading comprehension, and lack of effective presentation skills. Furthermore, most of the students have a lack of involvement in classroom activities and feel shy about speaking the English language. It was reported that the provision of authentic material, interesting activities, suitable audio-visual aids, relevant texts, language labs, and other logistic arrangements can better help them in learning the English language. The findings demonstrate that the students wished to have a learner-centered-course that helps them excel in their academic life and learning the English language.


2012 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary-Anne Jasinski

The Coalition for Equal Access to Education (CEAE) is a Calgary-based nonprofit organization committed to working with community, education, and government stakeholders to promote access to quality, equitable education and services for K-12 English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners. CEAE is active in developing innovative projects, research publications, and informing policy and decision-makers on issues that affect education and services for children and youth. In addition, the organization engages in community development initiatives through literacy development support for ethnocultural children and youth, leadership training on active parental involvement, and promotion of systemic change and cultural competence. In its work to address the complex needs of ESL children, families, and the professionals who support them, the CEAE has developed Helping Children Learn at Home, a parents’ program that supports ethnocultural parents in creating healthy learning environments in the home, in understanding better and addressing their young children’s learning needs, learning about the Canadian education system, and contributing to decision-making processes in schools and in the community that affects their children’s educational success. This article describes the program and the pilot session completed in February 2011. The evaluation phase included feedback from the participants, the CEAE staff, and the curriculum developers in order to produce and publish a completed version of the document, which will be available for use by other agencies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-193
Author(s):  
Huma Hyder

Progressive Globalization established the necessity of workforce to possess excellent communication skills in multiple languages. Areas such as tourism, trade, media, technology, science, and others use common languages. However, countries like China, South Korea, and so forth discussed the need to teach one foreign language at primary as well as secondary school level and hence developed education policies that focused on teaching English as a foreign language or second language. Some countries like Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and India already have English language as a second official language. Hence, English Language Education was considered as second foreign language which was accepted and now it is considered as a symbol of aspiring quality education in a national as well as international perspective. In 21st century, English is considered as an international link language which is been widely accepted by people across the world. Although, English language has a historical heritage of British Empire, it is best used to develop an individual’s cultural, technological, scientific and material needs that competes with the society. It is believed that language learning is not just acquiring the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Language learning is also about the language competence and the ways communicative competence has been applied in an integrated manner. English language learning is not just an educational issue, it also addresses the issues of the society, national development, and personal advancement. In the present scenario, English Language acquired an inclusive place in most of the societies, especially in India. As a result, English Medium Schools have gained immense popularity which responds to aspiration of the people. This paper tries to present the significance of English as a Second language. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the significant pedagogies or methodologies used in schools to teach English as English language plays a crucial role in the education sector.


Author(s):  
Wenyang Sun ◽  
Xue Lan Rong

Language education is becoming an increasingly important topic in education in Asian countries, especially as schools in Asian countries have become more multilingual and multicultural as a result of rapid urbanization and globalization. A comparative analysis of the issues in language education reform in Asian countries—using China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore as examples—shows that, historically and currently, English language education policies are shaped by various underpinning ideologies such as linguicism, nationalism, and neoliberalism. English can serve as a vehicle for upward socioeconomic mobility, or an instrument of linguistic imperialism, or both, in Asia contexts. These ideologies, through language education policies and reforms, impact the status as well as the pedagogy and promotion of the English language. There is a trend and a need with regard to addressing critical consciousness in English education in order to counter the forces of linguicism and neoliberalism in an increasingly multilingual, multicultural, and globalized world.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Anna Asimaki ◽  
Archontoula Lagiou ◽  
Gerasimos S Koustourakis ◽  
Dimitris Sakkoulis

This research paper, which uses Basil Bernstein’s theoretical framework, aims to search the training adequacy of the teachers who work in Reception Facilities for Refugee Education (RFRE) and to examine the pedagogic practices that they use at the micro-level of the school classroom. Teachers who worked in a RFRE in Greece participated in this research, which was conducted with the use of the semi-structured interview research tool. The findings showed the following: a) the insufficient training that the RFRE teachers had received from the official national bodies; the teachers’ effort to acquire the appropriate knowledge on their own initiative, in order to be able to teach refugee students; the teachers’ expressed need for training in matters of intercultural education, b) the pedagogic practices teachers used at the RFRE is linked to the implementation of an invisible form of pedagogy with a clear student-centered focus.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document