Educating refugee-background students in Australian schools and universities

The Australian federal government recently set a challenging national aim: By 2020, 20% of higher education enrolment at the undergraduate level will include students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Although refugee-background students are often members of the targeted sub-population, their educational journeys frequently require special forms of support to ensure academic success. This article reports and discusses the findings of a multisite, qualitative study of refugee-background learners across three regional areas. Based on semistructured interview data, participants from three universities and six high schools identified three primary domains that educators must address to promote student success: prior life experiences, language development and the culture of learning environments.