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Chose one contemporary social justice issue currently being focused upon in the

media such as: sexuality, gender, language, refugees or ethnicity and discuss how

Australian schools are meeting the challenge of equity and access for (impacted)

minority groups.

Although the Australian government has implemented national policies for equity in

education; cultural assumption and policy implementation is still disadvantaging

refugees. In Australia, the amount of people given refugee status is continuing to

increase, and shows no sign of slowing down. This means now more than ever, refugee

students will need better attention through individualised education that will create

equity. In order to answer whether Australian schools are creating an equitable learning

environment for refugees, I will first examine the educational policies put in place on a

national scale and then the state policy of NSW to examine whether the states are on

board with the goals of equity for all students, and especially refugees. Secondly I will

look at whether these policies are creating equity or inequity for refugee students on

the school level. Third, the cultural assumptions affecting teachers and schools, and how

sociological theories are helping to address them.

According to the 1951 UN refugee convention, Article 1A(2), a refugee is a person who

is unable to stay in their country or return to their country “owing to well-founded fear

of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular

social group or political opinion” (UN General Assembly, 1954, p.g 152). This definition

of a refugee is still the standard by which people are given refugee status in Australia

today, and helps us understand a little bit of the background of refugee students in our

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classrooms. The danger would be to assume that every refugee student is the same,

when in fact, many come from different countries, have different levels of education,

and are individuals with different traits and stories, hence this definition is only a

foundation upon which we can begin to understand these students, and whether or not

government policies are promoting equity. Paulo Freire (1998) agrees, saying we

should be “taking into consideration the conditions in which they are living and the

importance of the knowledge derived from life experience, which they bring with them

to school” ( p. 62). Where equality would say that all students should be treated the

same, equity treats people in response to their individual needs and achievements, or in

the case of education, it is “often connected to the idea that students needs and abilities

should be taken into account in devising educational programming (Collins, O’Brien,

2011, p167).” The first goal in the ​Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young

Australians is that “Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence” (2008). This

policy is the standard by which all Australian schools are meant to be run, and as it

pertains to refugees, should reduce the effect of refugee status through the promotion of

“personalised learning that aims to fulfill the diverse capabilities of each young

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Australian” (2008). As is the case with NSW’s ​Multicultural Education Policy, so

states devise their own policies which generally have the same goals with slightly

different wording. This policy also speaks about refugees; one of its objectives being

that “Schools deliver differentiated curriculum and targeted teaching and learning

programs to address the specific learning and wellbeing needs of students from

culturally diverse backgrounds, including newly arrived and refugee students” (2016).

Although these policies outline great goals and objectives, inequity still exists for many

refugee students within Australian schools, where some may find their footing and excel

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in school, many are still struggling to finish school with the same life chances as other

non-refugee students.

Somewhere along the line, the policies which the Australian government has put in

place are not always producing equity within schools. Amanda Keddie (2011) agrees

with this notion, arguing that even though policy encourages “environments that reflect

and explicitly teach about the values of democracy, equity and justice, schools continue

to reify the global flows that perpetuate inequitable social relations” (p28). Saad

Al-Kassab and Nadine Ettash are both Syrian refugees who were interviewed by the

ABC in the last several months in regards to the challenges they faced in school. Saad

attended school in Victoria; graduating in 2016, he excelled with a 96.65 ATAR, which at

first sight seems as though the government’s policies on equity worked, but the article

highlights how he Initially struggled to enrol into any school at all due to the language

barrier, and he believes this was actually the hardest part about schooling (Wright,

2016). Where Saad was able to join Scouts as a means of improving his English, Nadine

did not have that same opportunity. Much like Saad, Nadine had to work harder than

most non-refugee students in order to receive a similar outcome. To learn the English

language alone, she had to study two to three hours every day at home, while cooking,

cleaning, translating for her parents and tutoring her siblings who also struggled with

English (Huntsdale, 2017). Monique Bolus argues that it is very difficult as refugees

have to work harder “to get to the level their peers take for granted (2017).” Even after

all the hard work, due to her English skills, Nadine is already prepared to have to do

extra studies when she finishes her HSC in order to get into University, she says, “I'm

sure I won't have a good ATAR because my language is still not good, so I'll do a year in

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the university college and then go to university” (Huntsdale 2017). Saad is the outlier

who was able to create more life chances despite the inequity, but many more refugee

students are like Nadine who despite working harder in school, the inequity reduces

their life chances. They of course can overcome this by continuing to work harder, but

the government's policy outlining their goal on equity says schools should “ensure that

socioeconomic disadvantage ceases to be a significant determinant of educational

outcomes (Melbourne Declaration, 2008).” Another article by the ABC outlines how in

2016, 3000 refugees were resettled into the Fairfield city council, which is triple the

yearly average, but no extra funding has come in from the federal government or state

to help support schools and other community groups in the area to give refugees the

best possible life chances (Timms, 2017). By the time funding is given or if it is given at

all, several refugee students will suffer the consequences, and perhaps be worse off than

Nadine. Though, assuming funding and policy for Saad and Nadine were adequate, we

still have an issue of inequity, as Karen Dooley says, “There is an overrepresentation of

young people of refugee background among the lowest scoring groups on national

literacy testing (Dooley, 2015, p192).” So we must look at ourselves as education givers,

and what perhaps schools and teachers could do differently.

A number of problems face refugee students including the notion from teachers that we

should treat all students exactly the same, despite their difference, as long they try

harder, then all students can succeed (Ferfolja, Diaz, Ullman. 2015, P16). On the other

hand, teacher’s assumption of cultures can lead to them marginalising or identifying

students by their ethnicity and geographical origins (Modood, 2007, p.89) These

problems very often stem from teacher’s lack of theory, and a belief that theory is not

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useful in the classroom environment (Ferfolja, Diaz, Ullman. 2015 Pg. 16). Conversely

though, theory allows us to examine ourselves and our own teaching practices and not

simply believe the dominant educational discourse that formal schooling automatically

means more opportunity for people even if the education is not personalised to meet

the needs of individuals. According to Shujaa, the dominant discourse implies

“Schooling is a process intended to perpetuate and maintain the society’s existing power

relations and the institutional structures that support those arrangements (Mwalimu

Shujaa, 1994).” Due to Australia’s colonial heritage, deep seated sentiments of power

relations have formed many aspects of society to this day, “Therefore, the meanings and

consequences of colonisation are rooted in social, political, linguistic, economic and

historical domination due to slavery, migration, and oppression of indigenous

communities (Ferfolja, Diaz, Ullman. 2015 Pg. 24).” If we are not careful to examine our

ways of thinking, then we can unconsciously continue these inequities in our

classrooms, thus postcolonial theory calls “for new ideas, pedagogical strategies and

social movements that construct a politics of difference forged in the struggle to achieve

cultural democracies (Ferfolja, Diaz, Ullman. 2015 Pg. 24).” When refugees like Saad are

struggling to even get into school, we can see the need to challenge postcolonial

sentiments by not seeing refugees as less than, or hard work, but create new ideas that

gives them equity in education. Watkins and Noble say “As both intellectual workers

and practitioners, teachers need to be thinking post-critically; that is, to not only adopt a

capacity for critique but to then apply these understandings in productive ways with

their students inside and outside the classroom and with their broader school

communities (2016 pg 44).” Critical Race Theory and Whiteness examines the racial

undertones in education and what it is producing. In the United States, Sleeter found

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that “Although teacher education programs today commonly announce an orientation

toward social justice and preparation for culturally responsive teaching, the great

majority continue to turn out roughly 80% White cohorts of teachers even though

White students are less than half of the K-12 population (Sleeter 2016, n.p.).” Although

statistics in Australia for white teachers may not be as high, it can also be in the

subconscious of teachers who are not white, and we need to examine and make sure

that whiteness is not influencing our decisions for refugee students. Even though people

are not being overtly racist, that colonial history is still affecting us, so we can see that it

runs through society and the education system is no exception. Whiteness makes every

student conform to the same language, which automatically disadvantages refugees,

then makes anybody who is not white as other. This is why teachers have stereotypes

and either treat everyone exactly the same, or marginalise refugees by grouping them as

all the same.

It is clear the Australian government has put in place policies that encourage equity for

refugees, with the first goal of the ​Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young

​ eing equity and excellence for all students. In NSW, the state has
Australians b

implemented this policy as a goal for all schools and outlined guidelines to achieve it.

Though, when looking at Saad and Nadine’s experience as Syrian refugees, there seems

to be a disconnect between what the policies say about equity, and what refugees are

truly experiencing, with a large number falling below national literacy averages.

Teacher’s misconceptions and preconceptions about refugee students seems to be

affecting the implementation of equity across the board, with some feeling it is too hard

or not actually fair to treat students differently. As Postcolonialism theory has showed

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us, these ideas that teachers have stem from Australia’s history as a colony; with race,

linguistic, social, historical and other issues still in a power relations struggle. Critical

Race Theory and whiteness show us that thinking of refugee students as less than,

dumb, or too much work is ingrained into our ways of thinking until we choose to

challenge it. The problem with challenging it, is that the theories must be studied and

understood, but with many teachers thinking it is a waste of time, inequity will continue

to happen in our schools. The Australian government's policies are clear when it comes

to the goals of equity, but some changes are needed on a school level before refugees

receive true equity in education.

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References

Keddie, A. (2012) ​Educating for diversity and social justice​. New York, NY: Taylor &

Francis.

Collins, J. & O’brien, N. (2011) ​The Greenwood Dictionary of Education. (​ 2nd ed.) Santa

Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.

Ferfolja, T., Diaz, J., & Ulman, J. (2015). ​Understanding Sociological Theory for Education

​ ort Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press.


Practices. P

Freire, P. (1998) ​Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage​. Boulder,

CO:

Westview Press

Huntsdale, J. (2017) ​Studying for their lives as refugee students navigate challenges of

Australian education.​ Retrieved from

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-13/studying-for-their-lives-as-refugee-st

udents-navigate-challenges/8339872

Multicultural education policy (​ 2016). Retrieved from

https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/multicultural-education-p

olicy

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National declaration on the educational goals for young Australians. ​(2008)

Retrieved from

http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_

Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf

Sleeter, C. (2016) Critical Race theory and the whiteness of teacher education. ​Urban

Education,​ 52(2), 155-169. DOI: 10.1177/0042085916668957

Timms, P. (2017) ​Fairfield struggles to cope after threefold increase in refugee arrivals.

Retrieved from

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-02/fairfield-struggles-to-cope-after-incr

ease-in-refugee-arrivals/8145250

UN General Assembly. ​Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees,​ 28 July 1951, United

Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, p. 137.

Retrieved from http://www.refworld.org/docid/3be01b964.html

Watkins, M. & Noble, G. (2016) Thinking beyond recognition: Multiculturalism, cultural

intelligence, and the professional capacities of teachers. ​Working Recognitions,​

38(1), 42-57. Doi:

http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1080/10714413.2016.1119642

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Wright, P. (2016) ​Syrian refugee graduates dux of one of Australia’s largest Catholic

Schools.

Retrieved from

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-12/syrian-refugee-tops-year-12-class-wi

th-96.65-atar/8112424

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