Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

‘It’s Hard to Blend in’: Everyday Experiences of Schooling Achievement, Migration and Neoliberal Education Policy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Childhood, Youth and Migration

Part of the book series: Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research ((CHIR,volume 12))

  • 811 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter explores how the neoliberal logic of global education policy is experienced in the lives of disadvantaged migrant students in Australia. Policies based in competitive market logics not only concentrate social and economic disadvantages in certain schools but also place pressure on the pedagogical practices level to speak upward to comparison regimes instead of to the learning needs of students. These logics underpin an array of policy mechanisms which ‘identify’ migrant students and their learning needs and resource them accordingly. Currently the educational attainment of advantaged migrant students is aggregated with that of disadvantaged migrant students thus hiding the resource needs of the most disadvantaged, a move which evacuates an understanding of any of the intersectionalities which shape their access to resources. This chapter sketches this broad policy context and then complicates it with two distinctly-different resourcing experiences of being disadvantaged in this context. These cases allow insight into the way historical legacies and local contingencies interact with top-down policy. We need to better understand such instances of imbricated policy implementation as they challenge the logics of pedagogy driven by testing and performance regimes and point to different policy possibilities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • ACARA. (2009). National assessment program: Literacy and numeracy achievement in reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy. Sydney: Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. http://www.nap.edu.au/verve/_resources/NAPLAN_2009_National_Report.pdf. Accessed 21 Mar 2015.

  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization (Vol. 1). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? Frenches Forest: Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, L., & Vavrus, F. (2014). Studying globalisation: The vertical case study approach. In N. Stromquist & K. Monkman (Eds.), Globalisation and education: Integration and contestation across cultures (pp. 119–112). Plymouth: R&L Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bash, L., & Zezlina-Phillips, E. (2006). Identity, boundary and schooling: Perspectives on the experiences and perceptions of refugee children. Intercultural Education, 17(1), 113–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carney, S. (2009). Negotiating policy in an age of globalization: Exploring educational “Policyscapes” in Denmark, Nepal, and China. Comparative Education Review, 53(1), 63–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • COAG. (2012). National education agreement. Council of Australian Governments. http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/national_agreements.aspx. Accessed 28 Mar 2015.

  • Cobb-Clark, D. A., Sinning, M., & Stillman, S. (2012). Migrant youths’ educational achievement: The role of institutions. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 643, 18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creagh, S. (2014). A foucauldian and quantitative analysis of NAPLaN, the category ‘Language Background Other Than English’, and English as a second language level. Unpublished PhD, University of Queensland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crozier, G., & Davies, J. (2008). ‘The trouble is they don’t mix’: Self segregation or enforced exclusion? Race, Ethnicity and Education, 11(3), 285–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CSOR. (2013). Primary principals: Perspectives on NAPLAN testing and assessment. Report commissioned by the Australian Primary Principals Association. Canvass Strategic Opinion Research. http://www.appa.asn.au/reports.php. Accessed 21 Mar 2015.

  • DEECD. (2008). Strengthening outcomes – Refugee students in government schools. Melbourne The ESL Unit. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/teachlearn/student/StrengtheningOutcomes-rpt-v1.pdf. Accessed 19 Mar 2015.

  • Devine, D. (2009). Mobilising capitals? Migrant children’s negotiation of their everyday lives in school. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(5), 521–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devine, D. (2013). ‘Value’ing children differently? Migrant children in education. Children & Society, 27, 282–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fine, M., Burns, A., Payne, Y., & Torre, M. (2004). Civics lessons: The color and class of betrayal. Teachers College Record, 106(11), 2193–2224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hage, G. (2003). Against paranoid nationalism: Searching for hope in a shrinking society. Australia: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, M. (2013). Righting wrongs and writing rights into language policy in Australia. Tamara Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry, 8(2), 245–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawthorne, L. (2005). “Picking winners”: The recent transformation of Australia’s skilled migration policy. International Migration Review, 39(3), 663–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, D., Mills, M., Christie, P., & Lingard, B. (2006). Teachers and schooling making a difference: Productive pedagogies, assessment and performance. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herd, A. (2006). Amplifying outrage over children overboard. Social Alternatives, 25(2), 59–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huijsmans, R. (2013). Children, childhood and migration: Some critical thoughts. http://repub.eur.nl/pub/50541. Accessed 15 Mar 2015.

  • Jasanoff, S. (2004). The idiom of co-production. States of knowledge: The co-production of science and the social order. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., Noble, G., & Poynting, S. (1990). Cultures of schooling: Pedagogies for cultural difference and social access. London: Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, I., & Redmond, G. (2010). Review of the circumstances among children in immigrant families in Australia. Child Indicator Research, 3(4), 439–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenway, J. (2013). Challenging inequality in Australian schools: Gonski and beyond. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 286–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Konstantoni, K., Kustatscher, M., Emejulu, A., & Sime, D. (2014). Intersectional childhoods and inequalities. Seminar series briefing. http://www.scottishinsight.ac.uk/Portals/50/ias%20documents/Reports/Childrens%20Rights%20Seminar%20Briefing.pdf. Accessed 13 Mar 2015.

  • Lingard, B. (1998). The disadvantaged schools programme: Caught between literacy and local management of schools. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2(1), 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lingard, B. (2011). Policy as numbers: Ac/counting for educational research. Australian Educational Researcher, 38, 355–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, R. (2010). Area-based initiatives in English education: What place for place and space? In C. Raffo, A. Dyson, H. Gunter, D. Hall, L. Jones, & A. Kalambouka (Eds.), Education in affluent countries (pp. 111–123). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nous Group. (2011). Schooling challenges and opportunities: A report for the review of funding for schooling panel. Melbourne: Melbourne Graduate School of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinson, H., & Arnot, M. (2007). Sociology of education and the wasteland of refugee education research. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(3), 399–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Punch, S. (2009). Moving for a better life. In D. Kassem, L. Murphy, & E. Taylor (Eds.), Key issues in childhood and youth studies (pp. 202–216). Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Skattebol, J., Hamilton, M., Skrzypiec, G., Burnstock, T., Redmond, G., Jenkins, B., & Dodd, K. (2012a). Understanding children’s perspectives on wellbeing The Australian Child Wellbeing Project: Phase one report. http://australianchildwellbeing.com.au/sites/default/files/uploads/Final%20ACWP%20Phase%20One%20report%2017%20September%202013%20GR_0.pdf. Accessed 10 Mar 2015.

  • Skattebol, J., Saunders, P., Redmond, G., Bedford, M., & Cass, B. (2012b). Making a difference: Building on young people’s experiences of economic adversity, final report. Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J., & McInerney, P. (2013). Whose side are you on? Advocacy ethnography: Some methodological aspects of narrative portraits of disadvantaged young people, in socially critical research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teese, R. & Lamb, S. (2008). Low achievement and social background: Patterns, processes and interventions Discussion Paper. Retrieved from http://lowsesschools.nsw.edu.au/Portals/0/upload/resfile/Low_achievement_and_social_backgound_2008.pdf

  • Thomson, S., De Bortoli, L., Nicholas, M., Hillman, K., & Buckley, S. (2011). Challenges for Australian education: Results from PISA 2009. Camberwell: ACER Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zipin, L., Sellar, S., & Hattam, R. (2012). Countering and exceeding capital: A ‘funds of knowledge’ approach to re-imagining community. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 33(2), 179–192.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Jennifer Skattebol

Authors
  1. Jennifer Skattebol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer Skattebol .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ISBS, Vechta, Germany

    Christine Hunner-Kreisel

  2. Coordinator of EU-Project “Gender Equality in Research and the Academia” (EGERA), Vechta, Germany

    Sabine Bohne

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Skattebol, J. (2016). ‘It’s Hard to Blend in’: Everyday Experiences of Schooling Achievement, Migration and Neoliberal Education Policy. In: Hunner-Kreisel, C., Bohne, S. (eds) Childhood, Youth and Migration. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31111-1_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31111-1_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31109-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31111-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation