Refugee Background Students Transitioning Into Higher Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiv

   PDF

2. Setting the Context

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 1-15

3. Contextualising the Complex Spaces of Refugee Youth Transition into Higher Education

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 17-33

4. Forced Migration and Displacement: Understanding the Refugee Journey

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 35-44

5. The Prior Life Experiences of Refugee Youth

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 45-65

6. The Role of Schools

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 67-87

7. Navigating the Terrain of Higher Education

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 89-110

8. Access and Participation in the Transition from School to Higher Education: The Role of Language

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 111-130

9. The Role of Communities in Supporting Refugee Youth Transition into Higher Education

   • Loshini Naidoo, Jane Wilkinson, Misty Adoniou, Kiprono Langat

   Pages 131-155

10. Back Matter

    Pages 157-170

    PDF

This book is one of the first of its kind to examine the aspirations of refugee background students and accompanies them as they journey through the on-shore stage of settlement, enrolment and participation in the Australian education system. It begins with students’ experiences of on-shore settlement, followed by the move into schooling and finally, the subsequent transition into Australian higher education.

Transitioning into higher education is a challenge for many students, particularly for those from under-represented equity groups. For refugee background students, navigating in, through and out of higher education can be particularly complex and challenging. Drawing on rich case studies from longitudinal research into refugee youth and the academic and professional staff in schools and universities who support them, the book provides powerful and compelling narratives and insights into this journey. It untangles the complex nature of transition for students of refugee background in higher education, locating it within broader social trends of increasing social and cultural diversity, as well as government practices and policies concerning the educational resettlement of refugees.

• Refugees in higher education
• Refugees and universities
• transition to university
• higher education pathways
• refugee youth
• African Australians
• 'Settlement outcomes
• refugee journey
• refugee resettlement
• enabling learning culture

“Refugee Background Students Transitioning into Higher Education: Navigating Complex Spaces may be considered timely. For educators working with students from a refugee background, this well-researched book provides a challenging and comprehensive resource that sheds light on the complex issues surrounding the refugee journey into and through the Australian education system.” (Skye Playsted, TESOL in Context, Vol. 27 (2), 2018)

• Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia

  Loshini Naidoo

• Monash University, Clayton, Australia

  Jane Wilkinson

• University of Canberra, Bruce, Australia

  Misty Adoniou

• Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia

  Kiprono Langat

Loshini Naidoo is an Associate Professor of Sociology of Education at Western Sydney University, Australia. She has an established reputation in the area of refugee education through her engagement with the refugee communities in Greater Western Sydney. Her publications and keynote addresses on the significant questions in refugee learning and her completion of a course on forced migration at Oxford University, UK allow her to continue her work researching communities affected by forced migration.


Jane Wilkinson is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Monash University, Australia and publishes widely in practice theory and praxis, Bourdieu and leadership; gender and leadership; and refugee education. Her latest book is Educational leadership as a culturally constructed practice: New directions and possibilities (Routledge, 2018). She is currently conducting a comparative study of refugee students’ educational achievements in Finland and Australiawith Dr Mervi Kaukko. Jane is joint Editor of Journal of Educational Administration and History.


Misty Adoniou is an Associate Professor of Language Literacy and TESL. She is past-president of the Australian Council of TESOL Associations and TESOL Greece and a director of TESOL International. She has conducted reviews of Australia’s off-shore and on-shore Cultural Orientation programs for refugees. In 2017 she was selected as one of 12 global leaders in TESOL to speak to international policy and research leaders at the Summit of the TESOL Profession in Athens, Greece.


Dr Kiprono Langat works in the Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University. His teaching and research focus on education contexts (pedagogy and practice) and diversities in education. He is an advocate for school-community-university partnerships. By applying cross-cultural contexts to the pedagogical challenges facing rural and regional Australian schools with a range of diverse learners, Kip research explores provision of education to refugees. He supports educators to work with the wider community.

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