Looking beyond labels: examining schooling for students from a refugee background

Abstract

Australian primary schools are complex, multilayered institutions embedded within diverse communities, administered by diverse staff, and attended by an increasingly culturally, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse student cohort. In New South Wales (NSW), school programs are guided by directives, policies and syllabi from the Department of Education and the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA). School staff determine how these policies are enacted and how the content of mandated syllabi is taught. Therefore, system-wide directives and school policies, combined with teachers’ knowledge and expertise, significantly impact students’ educational experiences. This thesis focuses on how these two areas impact the schooling experiences of students from a refugee background in one Australian primary school located in the Western suburbs of Sydney. Specifically, it explores how, - and in what ways – this school supports the learning and engagement of students from a refugee background and their families. This ethnographic case study includes the voices of students from a refugee background, their parents, and the educators working with these students and families. Data collection includes school and classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with eight students from a refugee background and their parents, and six focus group interviews with staff at the school. Additionally, the data includes an analysis of three key policy documents relevant to the educational experiences of students from a refugee background, using Ball’s three-tiered policy analysis framework. The analysis is driven by Bourdieu’s sociology of education, which highlights how the overarching systems prevalent in education impact practices within the school for students and families from a refugee and/or asylum seeker background. Analysis reveals how the system reflects dominant discourses that privilege English hegemonic practices and perpetuate cultural reproduction by promoting benign assimilation and the homogenisation of diverse populations as deficit. These discourses also significantly influence, in Bourdieusian terms, the field of the school and teachers’ habitus, in relation to what forms of capital are recognised and valued in the school setting. This thesis considers how these discourses affect both school and classroom practices and how teachers and staff value and leverage students’ prior experiences, knowledge, and home languages. Consequently, these discourses have a significant impact on the day-to-day school life of students from a refugee background and the establishment of genuine home and school partnerships.

Date of Award	2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Jacqueline D'warte (Supervisor)