Insights From a Critical Policy Analysis of the Field of Refugee Education in Australia

• In Event: 61.068 - MTCC Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: 61.068-12 - Politics of Movement: Across and Within Education Spaces

Abstract

This paper reports a critical policy analysis to provide a greater understanding of the policy landscape related to refugee education in Australia. Inclusive education is used a framework that moves beyond deficit thinking that reinforces exclusion for minority populations. A broad policy search was undertaken to identify policy directives and associated rationales that influenced refugee education in South Australia and Queensland. We arrived at four tiers of policy directives. The analysis revealed that the education policy for students from refugee backgrounds is mostly framed in broad policies that espouse rights, inclusion and access to education. However, specific refugee education policies are dominated by psychological thinking that justifies therapeutic ‘interventions’ to ‘fix’ the problems of students from refugee backgrounds.

Authors

• Anna M. Sullivan, University of South Australia

• Bruce Raymond Johnson, University of South Australia

• Melanie Baak, University of South Australia

• Roger Clement Slee, University of South Australia