Abstract
Civil unrest and forced displacement have seen historical numbers of people seeking refuge in countries, such as Australia, with many being children of school age. As schools continue to respond to students from refugee backgrounds, the role of teacher agency in such responses is an important, yet understudied area of research. In taking an ecological view of teacher agency, the ability for teachers to achieve agency in refugee education is largely the result of an interplay of conditions such as school leadership and state funding models. As such the aim of this paper is to explore the experiences of school leaders in supporting refugee education, with a view to enhance how teacher agency can be used to support refugee students and the staff who work with them. In using Biesta et al. (Teach Teach, 21(6):624–640, 2015) practical-evaluative dimension of teacher agency as a theoretical framework, this exploratory study revealed the significant role of teacher agency in providing education and support for refugee students.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allard, A. C., & Santoro, N. (2008). Experienced teachers’ perspectives on cultural and social class diversity: Which differences matter? Equity & Excellence in Education,41(2), 200–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665680801957253.
Bagnall, N., & Cassity, E. A. (2012). Education and belonging. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Baldwin, C. F. (2015). First-year physical education teachers’ experiences with teaching african refugee students. SAGE Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015569737.
Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. M. (2010). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Biesta, G., Priestley, M., & Robinson, S. (2015). The role of beliefs in teacher agency. Teachers and Teaching,21(6), 624–640. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044325.
Biesta, G., Priestley, M., & Robinson, S. (2017). Talking about education: Exploring the significance of teachers’ talk for teacher agency. Journal of Curriculum Studies,49(1), 38–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2016.1205143.
Biesta, G., & Tedder, M. (2007). Agency and learning in the lifecourse: Towards an ecological perspective. Studies in the Education of Adults,39(2), 132–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2007.11661545.
Brown, J., Miller, J., & Mitchell, J. (2006). Interrupted schooling and the acquisition of literacy: Experiences of Sudanese refugees in Victorian Secondary Schools. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy,29(2), 150–162.
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Burridge, N., Buchanan, J., & Chodkiewicz, A. (2009). Dealing with difference: Building culturally responsive classrooms. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies,1(3), 16. https://doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v1i3.1245.
Cassity, E. (2007). Voices shaping education: Young African refugees in Western Sydney high schools. International Education Journal,8(3), 91–104.
Cassity, E., & Gow, G. (2005). Making up for lost time: The experiences of Southern Sudanese young refugees in high schools youth studies Australia,24(3), 51–55.
Cassity, E., & Gow, G. (2006). Making up for lost time: Young African refugees in Western Sydney high schools. Penrith South, NSW: University of Western Sydney, Centre for Cultural Research.
Centre for Western Sydney. (2015). Data and visualisations. Western Sydney University. http://www.uws.edu.au/cws/gws_research.
Christie, P., & Sidhu, R. (2006). Governmentality and ‘fearless speech’: Framing the education of asylum seeker and refugee children in Australia. Oxford Review of Education,32, 449–465.
Connell, R. (2015). Markets all around: Defending education in a neoliberal time. In H. Proctor, P. Brownlee, & P. Freebody (Eds.), Controversies in education: Orthodoxy and heresy in policy and practice (pp. 181–197). Cham: Springer.
de Heer, N., Due, C., Riggs, D. W., & Augoustinos, M. (2015). “It will be hard because I will have to learn lots of English”: Experiences of education for children newly arrived in Australia. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education,1–23, 297–319. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2015.1023232.
Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Australian Border Force. (2017). Immigration detention and community statistics summary. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/immigration-detention-statistics-30-june-2017.pdf.
Due, C., Riggs, D. W., & Augoustinos, M. (2016). Diversity in intensive English language centres in South Australia: Sociocultural approaches to education for students with migrant or refugee backgrounds. International Journal of Inclusive Education,1–11, 1286–1296. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2016.1168874.
Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency? American Journal of Sociology,103, 962–1023. https://doi.org/10.1086/231294.
Ferfolja, T. (2009). The refugee action support program: Developing understandings of diversity. Teaching Education,20(4), 395–407. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210902741239.
Ferfolja, T., & Vickers, M. (2010). Supporting refugee students in school education in Greater Western Sydney. Critical Studies in Education,51(2), 149–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508481003731034.
Forrest, J., Lean, G., & Dunn, K. (2016). Challenging racism through schools: Teacher attitudes to cultural diversity and multicultural education in Sydney, Australia. Race Ethnicity and Education,19(3), 618–638. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2015.1095170.
Gavin, M., & McGrath-Champ, S. (2017). Devolving authority: The impact of giving public schools power to hire staff Asia Pacific. Journal of Human Resources,55, 255–274. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7941.12110.
Hammond, J. (2014). The transition of refugee students from Intensive English Centres to Mainstream High Schools: Current practices and future possibilities. Sydney, NSW: NSW Department of Education and Communities.
Hattam, R., & Every, D. (2010). Teaching in fractured classrooms: Refugee education, public culture, community and ethics. Race Ethnicity and Education,13, 409–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2010.488918.
Keddie, A. (2011). Pursuing justice for refugee students: Addressing issues of cultural (mis)recognition. International Journal of Inclusive Education,16(12), 1295–1310. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2011.560687.
Kozaki, D. (2013). ESL changes threaten education standards. Sydney. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-28/esl-changes-threaten-education-standards/4718882.
Matthews, J. (2008). Schooling and settlement: Refugee education in Australia. International Studies in Sociology of Education,18(1), 31–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620210802195947.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. M. (2013). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Miller, E., Ziaian, T., & Esterman, A. (2018). Australian school practices and the education experiences of students with a refugee background: A review of the literature. International Journal of Inclusive Education,22(4), 339–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2017.1365955.
Naidoo, L. (2009). Developing social inclusion through after-school homework tutoring: A study of African refugee students in Greater Western Sydney. British Journal of Sociology of Education,30(3), 261–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690902812547.
Naidoo, L. (2015). Educating refugee-background students in Australian schools and universities. Intercultural Education,26(3), 210–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2015.1048079.
Naidoo, L., Wilkinson, J., Adoniou, M., & Langat, K. (2018). School to University transitions for Australian children of refugee background: A complex journey. In M. Pavlova, J. C.-K. Lee, & R. Maclean (Eds.), Transitions to post-school life: Responsiveness to individual, social and economic needs (pp. 81–103). Singapore: Springer.
NSW Department of Education. (2005). Multicultural education policy. Sydney: NSW Department of Education. Retrieved from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/equity/comm_rela/PD20050234.shtml?level=Schools&categories=Schools|access+%26+equity|multicultural.
NSW Department of Education. (2017). Resource allocation model. http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-the-department/our-reforms/local-schools-local-decisions/reform-agenda/resource-allocation-model.
Oliver, R., Haig, Y., & Grote, E. (2009). Addressing the educational consequences faced by African refugee background students: Perceptions of Western Australian stakeholders. TESOL in Context,19(1), 23–38.
Pantić, N. (2015). A model for study of teacher agency for social justice. Teachers and Teaching,21(6), 759–778. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044332.
Priestley, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S. (2015). Understanding teacher agency. In Teacher agency: An ecological approach (pp. 19–35). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Priestley, M., Edwards, R., Priestley, A., & Miller, K. (2012). Teacher agency in curriculum making: Agents of change and spaces for Manoeuvre. Curriculum Inquiry,42(2), 191–214. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2012.00588.x.
Pugh, K., Every, D., & Hattam, R. (2012). Inclusive education for students with refugee experience: Whole school reform in a South Australian primary school. The Australian Educational Researcher,39(2), 125–141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-011-0048-2.
Robinson, S. (2012). Constructing teacher agency in response to the constraints of education policy: Adoption and adaptation. The Curriculum Journal,23, 231–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2012.678702.
Sidhu, R., & Taylor, S. (2007). Educational provision for refugee youth in Australia: Left to chance? Journal of Sociology,43(3), 283–300. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783307080107.
Slee, R. (2010). Political economy, inclusive education, and teacher education. In C. Forlin (Ed.), Teacher education for inclusion: Changing paradigms and innovative approaches (pp. 13–22). New York: Routledge.
Smyth, J. (1993). A socially critical view of the self-managing school. London: Falmer Press.
Taylor, S., & Sidhu, R. K. (2011). Supporting refugee students in schools: What constitutes inclusive education? International Journal of Inclusive Education,16(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603110903560085.
Taylor, S., & Sidhu, R. K. (2012). Supporting refugee students in schools: What constitutes inclusive education? International Journal of Inclusive Education,16, 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603110903560085.
Toom, A., Pyhältö, K., & Rust, F. O. C. (2015). Teachers’ professional agency in contradictory times. Teachers and Teaching,21(6), 615–623. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044334.
United Nations Human Rights Commissioner for Refugees. (2015). UNHCR global trends: Forced displacement in 2014. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/556725e69.html.
Uptin, J., Wright, J., & Harwood, V. (2013). ‘It felt like I was a black dot on white paper’: Examining young former refugees’ experience of entering Australian high schools. The Australian Educational Researcher,40(1), 125–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-012-0082-8.
Van der Heijden, H. R. M. A., Geldens, J. J. M., Beijaard, D., & Popeijus, H. L. (2015). Characteristics of teachers as change agents. Teachers and Teaching,21, 681–699. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044328.
Watkins, M., Lean, G., & Noble, G. (2016). Multicultural education: The state of play from an Australian perspective. Race Ethnicity and Education,19(1), 46–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2015.1013929.
Welch, A. (1996). Australian education: Reform or crisis? Studies in education. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Woods, A. (2009). Learning to be literate: Issues of pedagogy for recently arrived refugee youth in Australia. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies,6, 81–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427580802679468.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. This project was supported in part by the NSW Institute for Educational Research Student Research Grant.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rose, A. The role of teacher agency in refugee education. Aust. Educ. Res. 46, 75–91 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0280-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0280-0