"I want to grow my country": refugee-background Karen students in transitions: experiences in the move from language school to mainstream schooling
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2017
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Melbourne Authors
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Melbourne Graduate School of Education
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PhD thesis
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Open Access
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© 2017 Dr. Amanda Hiorth
Abstract
This research is an ethnographic case study which investigates the experiences of seven refugee-background Karen learners transitioning from an intensive English Language School into mainstream high school in Victoria, Australia. The primary aim of this project was to develop new understandings of students' lived experiences of transition, with particular focus on the institutional, academic and social aspects of transition. Extending upon this, a further aim was to explore and better understand the various factors which facilitate and inhibit students' transition.
The study's theoretical framework employs notions of collaborative and coercive power relations (Cummins, 2000) to explore the embedded power relations in schools which support and hinder transition. A funds of knowledge approach (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005) is also used to capture the resources, strengths and skills that learners bring to the school experience, which, when legitimised, have potential to improve outcomes in all aspects of transition.
Alongside traditional ethnographic methods (including observations, interviews and documentary data collection) one vital source of data in this study are pictures drawn by students throughout their transition. These illustrations use visual modality to impress upon the viewer the emotionality of students' experiences. Producing these images further serves to empower students by employing their funds of knowledge and positioning their voices centrally in the research to speak directly with the reader.
Findings uncovered that the movement into mainstream school is both a challenging and rewarding experience for learners, and that transition is a highly complex, individual and long-term process requiring ongoing, consistent and personalised support. Key stakeholders routinely prioritised academic aspects of transition, in turn overlooking other aspects such as social and institutional experiences of transition, which were equally, if not more important, for students. Students often encountered deficit attitudes and structures driven by an undercurrent of coercive power relations in schools and the education system. This resulted in students' funds of knowledge being devalued and ignored, with disconnect amongst schools involved in transition and an increase in challenges making the move from language school to mainstream education. Eight recommendations arising from this research are proposed, to prioritise learners and better support them during such a critical period of their educational journey.
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English as an Additional Language, EAL, English as a Second Language, ESL, TESOL, refugee student, refugee learner, refugee-background learner, transition, educational transition, English language school, mainstream school, funds of knowledge, collaborative power relations, cooercive power relations, institutional, academic and social experiences of schooling