Supporting African refugees in Greater Western Sydney : a critical ethnography of after-school homework tutoring centres

This paper discusses the Refugee Action Support Partnership Project between the University of Western Sydney, The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation and the NSW-Department of Education and Training (DET). The critical ethnographic method is used to evaluate the after-school homework tutoring centres as a vehicle of literacy development and youth transitions. Given the nature of strife and unrest in the African Continent, refugee children may have been unable to attend school before coming to Australia, or obtained only interrupted schooling at best. Since parents are unfamiliar with the education system and because many do not speak English, they cannot help their children as they would wish to, and children may be left to deal with difficulties alone. The School of Education at UWS offers service learning programs like the after-school homework tutoring centres, to deliver effective and sustainable support to schools so that refugee students can feel safe and begin to learn.