Cultural inclusiveness and competency (“Talking about practice,” 2012, para.1) regarding immigrant students in Australian school environments, is a process often requiring wider community support and actions (QPASTT, 2014, p. 33). More than the extra efforts of staff, and budgeting are required of the school itself, particularly if the immigrants are refugees. A great deal of personal time and effort from school staff, working with the family of the student often in conjunction with community services is necessary to make a culturally competent transition. The primary focus of this essay is to delve into issues impacting immigrants, and refugee’s entering the Australian school systems. This learning journey will pursue definitive answers,
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All children enter the school system with their own “virtual school bag” (Hedges. 2011), a metaphor for a wealth of prior knowledge they have garnered, through their before school educational experiences. When a multi-generational Australian child is preparing to move up from Kindergarten to Primary School, they will have several months of gentle transitioning, preparing them for this new stage in their life’s journey. They will have spent time, learning how to behave in a socially acceptable manner, be well versed in manners, hygiene and the Australian way of life, their own cultural practices Bowes, Grace, and Hodge, (2012), p. 8, para. 1. On entering their Primary School they will have built a sense of self, sense of home, sense of confidence for themselves and in their learning environments http://www.mansfieldkindergarten.com.au/. These very basic sounding achievements, of Australian cultural practices (Bowes et al. 2012, p. 8, para. 1) often take for granted, may be completely new and foreign concepts to a new resident. If a student new to Australia and the English language had not experienced trauma relating to their cultural displacement, they will still face difficulties, over mundane practices a lot of Australian teachers may not consider. There …show more content…
al., 2012). Immigrants, Refugee’s, low income families are all susceptible to potential racism, bigotry and bullying from the hidden curriculum of their school environment, and wider community. Anti racism advocate Jane Elliot was recently interviewed, during her retort she brought up some relevant points relating to bigotry based in ignorance, she spoke of herself as an educator, however it should be the task of every educator, “to lead people out of ignorance” (Elliot,2016) . It is following this line of thought that leads on to the importance of a teacher needing to understand their students back ground information. This knowledge is the very ground work required to begin a balanced integration of a culturally diverse background, they will need to learn Australian social and cultural practices, and the teacher and other members of staff will learn about the child’s cultural practices and general socio economic circumstances. This will prepare and forge an easier merge for the child, when the child is
All children enter the school system with their own “virtual school bag” (Hedges. 2011), a metaphor for a wealth of prior knowledge they have garnered, through their before school educational experiences. When a multi-generational Australian child is preparing to move up from Kindergarten to Primary School, they will have several months of gentle transitioning, preparing them for this new stage in their life’s journey. They will have spent time, learning how to behave in a socially acceptable manner, be well versed in manners, hygiene and the Australian way of life, their own cultural practices Bowes, Grace, and Hodge, (2012), p. 8, para. 1. On entering their Primary School they will have built a sense of self, sense of home, sense of confidence for themselves and in their learning environments http://www.mansfieldkindergarten.com.au/. These very basic sounding achievements, of Australian cultural practices (Bowes et al. 2012, p. 8, para. 1) often take for granted, may be completely new and foreign concepts to a new resident. If a student new to Australia and the English language had not experienced trauma relating to their cultural displacement, they will still face difficulties, over mundane practices a lot of Australian teachers may not consider. There …show more content…
al., 2012). Immigrants, Refugee’s, low income families are all susceptible to potential racism, bigotry and bullying from the hidden curriculum of their school environment, and wider community. Anti racism advocate Jane Elliot was recently interviewed, during her retort she brought up some relevant points relating to bigotry based in ignorance, she spoke of herself as an educator, however it should be the task of every educator, “to lead people out of ignorance” (Elliot,2016) . It is following this line of thought that leads on to the importance of a teacher needing to understand their students back ground information. This knowledge is the very ground work required to begin a balanced integration of a culturally diverse background, they will need to learn Australian social and cultural practices, and the teacher and other members of staff will learn about the child’s cultural practices and general socio economic circumstances. This will prepare and forge an easier merge for the child, when the child is