|
Implementation of Social Inclusion to Support Refugee Students’ Well-Being in Victoria, Australia: A Study of School Reports and Policies
by Huu Loc Nguyen and Ahmed Bawa Kuyini
Refugees leave their home countries to seek safety and escape from wars, political and religious oppressions. Embarking on an odyssey of finding a better place full of challenges and uncertainties, they bring with them families and their children. To the young people’ eyes, it is a journey of changes, disruption, adaptation, fitting in, and finding a sense of belonging in their new “home.” In this journey, the question of “where do I belong” comes naturally to many refugee children. To hundreds of thousands of refugee families who have made it to a new country, schools play a pivotal role in helping their children establish their new lives. School policies that welcome and celebrate diversity, while tackling racism and discrimination, will help refugee students build social connection, support their well-being and prepare them for future successes.
In reality, support for children from refugee backgrounds in schools has remained a challenging area for many education systems around the world. Social inclusion not only supports refugee students fully participate in school, but also benefits their long-term health and well-being and ultimately contributes to their academic achievement. Yet, the educational needs of refugee background students have been overlooked by policy makers and researchers, while responsive policies for refugee students’ social inclusion remain challenging for any education system.
In the State of Victoria in Australia, despite the government’s commitment to the education of students from refugee backgrounds to ensure they are supported to achieve their best in school, some students are still left behind. Despite different measures led by the Victorian government, schools differ in how support for refugee students is provided. To understand and improve on social inclusion outcomes, there is a need to investigate how different schools provide social inclusion to support refugee students.
With an interest in inclusive education and experience in working with refugee students in Australia, we decided to pursue this study as a part of a Masters’ Minor Thesis project. We turned a major part of this study into the article, “Implementation of Social Inclusion to Support Refugee Students’ Well-Being in Victoria, Australia: A Study of School Reports and Policies,” published in the current issue of The Educational Forum, with an aim to share the findings to a wider reader community. We aimed to explore social inclusion approaches implemented in secondary schools in Victoria and their potential to support refugee students’ well-being as articulated in school reports, policies, and other related documents. We focus on the findings related to the question: How are social inclusion approaches implemented to support refugee students’ well-being as articulated in schools’ policies, reports, and other publications. Through this article, we report and share the best practices and unique examples of social inclusion programs from all schools involved in the study.
|
|
|
|
Huu Loc Nguyen completed his Masters of Social Work degree at RMIT University in 2020. His research interests include inclusive education for refugee and migrant students, social support for culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and child protection services. He currently works as a Social Worker at the Department for Child Protection, South Australia, Australia. He has also published in the areas of academic librarianship, staff development and transformative leadership in academic libraries.
|
|
|
|
Ahmed Bawa Kuyini is Associate Professor at School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia. Associate Professor Admeh Bawa Kuyini has broad social work practice experience in mental health, disability and with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities. He has published in a wide range of research areas including inclusive education, human rights, child protection, social inclusion for refugee students, teacher training, and domestic violence.
|
|