Education
Australia’s international obligations
Australia’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international covenants carries certain obligations, including:
· The provision of education to all children in Australia, wherever they may be and whatever their circumstances, which necessarily includes children in immigration detention.
· The provision of special education programs to children of foreign origin residing in Australia.
· The provision of a consistent, relevant and culturally appropriate education for children in immigration detention centres that should occur outside detention.
Teachers and families report that education programs in Australian immigration detention are erratic, fail to reach all children, and are designed neither to be culturally or linguistically sensitive, nor sensitive to individual needs.
Teachers’ reports reinforce the findings of HREOC’s 1998 report on immigration detention, which found that education in the centres was under-resourced, understaffed, poorly regulated, culturally limited, and offered no instruction in languages other than English.
Guidelines established by HREOC in March 2000 covering such matters as education standards and quality, and cultural, religious and linguistic needs, appear not to have been implemented.
Linguistic and cultural rights
Children’s continued use of their first language is central to the critical early development of a child’s identity and self-esteem, and is of significance as a medium for continued learning. For a child, experiencing a loss of their first language, culture and family values can have serious, long-term consequences, including: loss of feelings of self worth; loss of motivation for learning and breakdown of family relationships.
Principles underlying education in Australia – virtually impossible to meet in detention
The psychological and physical effects of detention make it virtually impossible to provide an education that accords with the principles underlying the provision of education in Australia.
Specially designed education programs
Children in immigration detention have often experienced trauma and loss. Educational programs for these children need to be specially designed to address often overwhelming mental health issues which impact on their ability and willingness to participate in a formal education process. The design of appropriate programs requires highly qualified and skilled teachers willing to develop individual programs, rather than use a "one size fits all" approach to the curriculum.
Role of parents
It is crucial to make provision for parents to participate in their children’s educational experiences. Without this key element in a successful education, any program introduced would be seriously compromised. This is likely to be the result in detention, given the effects of detention on parental health and family life.
Early childhood education (0-6 years)
Early childhood educational programs should be offered in a safe, flexible, culturally affirming, interactive, family-friendly environment, by highly skilled educators with the necessary resources.
Primary education for detainees
Highly qualified, flexible and specialised primary teachers are required to meet the diverse needs of primary school children, as are appropriate resources to ensure that curriculum goals can be met.
Education for older children and young adults in immigration detention
Young detainees whose schooling has been disrupted need to re-establish trust in a safe learning environment, have uninterrupted study opportunities, have access to ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers, continue to develop their first language and develop connections with the wider, English-speaking community.
Intrinsic barriers to the education of children in immigration
detention
There are a number of barriers to education which are intrinsic to immigration detention in Australia, including: isolation; a harsh, intimidating physical environment; problems of accountability and transparency in the provision of education; and the political environment inside and outside the detention centres.
These barriers doom to failure any attempt to develop sound, flexible, well-resourced education programs in immigration detention centres.
Interim models of education for children and young
adults in immigration detention
As an interim measure, the following should inform models for education programs to be implemented within detention centres, until children are released from immigration detention:
Recommended features of interim early childhood education are: flexibility; recognition of a child as part of an empowered family unit; activities based on sound educational principles; respect for linguistic rights; and specially qualified staff.
An interim model for primary education may be based on the Collingwood English Language School (CELS) outpost program, which features: a local school environment outside the immigration detention facility; intensive ESL classes for small groups; and a thematic, outcomes based approach.
An interim model for secondary education may be based on the education program at the now-defunct Maribyrnong Settlement Centre, which featured: side-by-side institutions, one for children and one for adults; bilingual teachers qualified in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), with special skills in the teaching of preliterate children; an extensive bilingual program; capped class sizes; and strong links with local schools, making transition easier.
Investing in the future
Long-term economic and social benefits flow from investment in education, especially for disadvantaged children. But good educational outcomes flow only from education that is undertaken and enjoyed in liberty.
Education
Whether
children build a world of peace or a world of hatred is as much a result of the
choices we adults make, as the choices they make. Children will build a world using the tools and materials we
provide them with, so let us choose to teach them the ways of peace.
Dr Wangari
Maathai
Australia’s
ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
recognises the universal right of all children to an education, obliges us to
provide education to all of the children in this country, wherever they may be
and whatever their circumstances. Children in immigration detention are no
exception.
The United Nations has determined that all states should provide special education programs to children of foreign origin residing in their sovereign territory, and furthermore, that children in immigration detention centres have a right to an education that should occur outside detention in order to facilitate continuing education on their release.1
Numerous reports and inquiries have recommended that children held in immigration detention should be provided with a comprehensive education that is consistent, relevant and culturally appropriate.2 But despite such recommendations, education in Australian immigration detention centres remains erratic. It fails to consistently reach all children and it is not designed to be culturally or linguistically sensitive, nor is it sensitive to individual needs.
Teachers working in immigration detention centres well described this erratic approach to education in a recent edition of the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent:
There is no curriculum, syllabus and no accountability. It’s solely dependent on the teacher.... participation is voluntary… there is no continuity … there are no resources… teachers are not being replaced.3
In at least one immigration detention centre, deprivation of education appears to be management practice. A detained family reports:
In the two years we have been
here, apart from some English lessons, [our
children] have had no schooling… [our
daughter] was taken to a school near the detention centre for about three
months this year, between May and August, but after her hunger strike the staff
stopped taking her. She used to be taken to school with two girls and one boy
accompanied by two officers, and she continues to ask that she be allowed to go
back to school, as it is the only thing to keep her occupied and sustain her in
this place, which she hates… However, officers from Australasian Correctional
Management and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs still
refuse to take her as they consider her too dangerous since the hunger strike
which she… took part in last August.4
· Insufficient resources are directed towards the provision of education services.
· There is no formal policy, instruction or standard for the provision of education services.
· No languages other than English are taught in the elementary education of children and children are not provided with formal lessons about their culture.
· School-aged children do not attend local schools.
· English classes are insufficiently resourced, with one teacher likely to be responsible for the instruction of over thirty detainees with diverse backgrounds, languages and varying degrees of English comprehension.
· Existing libraries at Port Hedland, Villawood and Maribyrnong are insufficient to be of genuine recreational or instructional interest.
Guidelines relating to the education of children
in immigration detention
In March 2000, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission established immigration detention guidelines that include the following:
· The right of children in immigration detention to education shall be recognised.
· Education provision should be assured within a reasonable period of admission, taking into account the need to assess the child and make necessary staffing and related arrangements.
· The education provided to children of compulsory school age shall be of a standard and quality equivalent to that in Australian schools. Children above the Australian compulsory school age should have an opportunity to continue their education.
· Special attention should be given by educators to the particular cultural, religious and linguistic needs of children in immigration detention. Children who are illiterate or have cognitive or learning disabilities may require special education assistance.
· Education of children in immigration detention shall promote, among other things, respect for their cultural identity, language and values.
· Wherever possible, the education of children in immigration detention should take place outside the detention centre in the general school system to facilitate the continuation of their education upon release and their social and cultural development.
· Opportunities for English language instruction and further education, including technical and vocational education should be provided where possible.
But two years on there is no
indication that these guidelines have significantly affected practices in
immigration detention centres. In February 2002, current Human Rights
Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski informed the Legal and Constitutional Committee
that children in immigration detention centres under 12 received two hours of
education per day overall, certainly less than a child would have if that child
were in the community at large.
Linguistic rights
According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, failure to provide cultural and linguistic support for children in immigration detention contravenes basic human rights.
Skutnabb-Kangas (1999) cites the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as the most far-reaching article in human rights law granting linguistic rights:
…in those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.7
In Australia, with a population in which many are categorised as belonging to minorities, we have key obligations with respect to linguistic rights. We are obliged to support children in the continued use of their first language, which is central to the critical early development of a child’s identity and self-esteem, and is of significance as a medium for continued learning.
Children unable to express themselves fluently in their first language may be cut off from the security of their family background and the support of family members. They may suffer stress, pain and trauma and succumb to powerful forces for assimilation as they realise that their language and culture are not valued, that their parents are not valued, or worse, that they are vilified by mainstream cultures in Australia.
For a child, experiencing a loss of their first language, culture and family values can have serious consequences, both for the present and the future. These may include:
· loss of feeling of self worth
· loss of motivation for learning
· breakdown of family relationships leading to a loss of
intimacy with family members
· rejection by family members through trauma and poor
feelings of self worth
· loss of socialisation within their family culture leading to
a loss of values, traditions, beliefs and family wisdom
Principles underlying education in Australia
The key principles that underpin provision of education in Australia are:9
· Education is a right for all children enshrined in international, national and state and territory conventions and legislation.
· Education is a life-long process that begins at birth and continues into old age.
· Education is grounded in the relationships between the learner, the teacher, family, peers and the community.
· Education involves a complex interaction between teaching and learning.
· Language is fundamental to the learning process.
· Education is concerned with 'what ought to be'.
· Education is generally located within local communities, but it must provide a 'world' of opportunity and awareness for the children and their families.
·
Early and
intensive specialised intervention can help to reduce education disadvantage
and to maximise opportunities for vulnerable children and their families.
Children
and young adults in immigration detention should be provided with educational
opportunities in accordance with these principles. However, the psychological
and physical effects of detention on these children make it virtually
impossible to provide an education that accords with these principles for them,
as long as they remain in detention.
Many
children and young adults in immigration detention have experienced a
significant degree of emotional trauma, stress, grief and loss. Some have
parents who are suffering from depression. Others have left their families
behind. As a consequence, educational programs for children in immigration
detention need to be specially designed to address often overwhelming mental
health issues which impact on their ability and willingness to participate in a
formal education process. The design of appropriate educational programs for
children in immigration detention requires highly qualified and skilled
teachers who are willing to develop individual programs, rather than employ a
“one size fits all” approach to the curriculum.
The role of parents
Parents are generally the primary agents in their children’s education. They provide the primary context for young children’s development and learning. Parents make a significant contribution to all aspects of the child’s learning, particularly of language, their social development, and the emergence of their self-regulation.
Research demonstrates that children whose parents actively participate in their education, are more likely to have more positive attitudes and behaviours, are more motivated to learn, have higher aspirations, earn higher grades and are more likely to graduate from high school and enrol in higher education.6 It is crucial to the successful education of children in immigration detention to make provision for parents to participate in their children’s educational experiences.
Taking
into consideration the contention in the mental health chapter of this
submission that ordinary life is utterly impossible in the detention centre
environment, we must ask whether the essential support of parents could ever be
activated in detention. In other words, without this key element in a successful
education, any program introduced would be seriously compromised.
Early
childhood education (0-6 years) for detainees
Accumulating
research points to the early years as crucial to a child’s later life
experiences and position in society.10 Highly significant for
children in immigration detention centres is research that demonstrates the
strongest positive effects of early childhood educational programs are found
for children from families with the fewest resources, and who suffer the
greatest stress.11
Children
in immigration detention are likely to profit from exposure to early childhood
programs which:
·
provide a
safe, supportive environment with sensitive staff who are familiar with the
trauma and experience that children’s parents and friends are experiencing
·
are
designed to reflect the individual needs of the young children attending
·
provide
positive cultural, religious and linguistic experiences
·
provide
continued exposure to the child’s first language
·
respond to
the child’s interests and their need to learn through play, which fosters
social interactions, language and communication skills, negotiating skills,
self-direction, persistence, problem solving skills, intellectual exploration
and inquiry, reasoning, imagination, and creativity
·
provide and
encourage parent and family participation within the family’s level of comfort
·
are
provided by appropriately qualified and highly skilled early childhood
educators
·
are well
resourced and offered in an environment which meets health and safety needs;
establishes appropriate pupil-staff ratios and learning group sizes, and
provides opportunities for a child to develop relationships with both other
children and adults
Primary
education for detainees
In Australia, children between the ages four-and-a-half and six, depending on individual state regulations, commence primary education. The primary curriculum, in which there is a focus on the acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills, is designed to address key learning areas related to English, Languages other than English, Mathematics, the Arts, Science, Health, Studies of Society and Environment, Physical Education and Technology.
In immigration detention centres it is likely there will be a range of educational experiences among children of the same age. Some children will have had opportunities to attend school in their first country. For others, attending primary school as detainees will be the first experience of formal education. Highly qualified, flexible and specialised primary teachers are required to meet the diverse needs of these children, as are appropriate resources to ensure that curriculum goals can be met.
Older children and young adults, whose education has been disrupted by trauma, prolonged periods in camps, lack of previous schooling and uncertainty about their future, may experience great difficulty in learning. They may fail to reach the level of proficiency in English they need to participate successfully in education, training and future employment.12
For some young people in immigration detention the extreme uncertainty of their prolonged status as asylum seekers may inhibit concentration or ability to settle into study and training. Such young people are at great risk of experiencing isolation, alienation and depression, of inflicting self-harm, attempting suicide, taking drugs and becoming involved in crime.
Young detainees whose schooling has been disrupted must catch up on what they have missed, but their ability to do this may be blocked by post-traumatic stress. They are compelled to learn a new language in a new educational culture, but they may have forgotten their ‘learning-how-to-learn’ skills and habits, as well as knowledge and skills they have previously acquired.
In addition to learning basic survival English, to successfully interact with the broader community young detainees need to acquire conversational fluency. They also need enough academic language to be able to participate in secondary and tertiary studies and training courses. It may take seven years or more to acquire such academic language proficiency.
To acquire education, older children and young adults in immigration detention need:
· to have opportunities to re-establish trust which has been disturbed by the circumstances that led them and their families to flee their countries of origin, or of first asylum
· to experience a safe environment and stable relationships in which they may integrate their past, present and future
· to have a sense of connection with members of the wider community who recognise them as individuals and respect their cultural background, in order to foster a sense of belonging and mutual inclusion
· to study without further disruption
· to have access to systematic programs taught by teachers trained in teaching English to speakers of other languages
· to maintain proficiency in their first language, particularly if there is a possibility that they may be deported back to their country of origin
· to have access to social and communicative networks of English-speaking peers to enable them to develop fluency in English
The greatest impediment to the education of children in immigration detention is their detention, and more particularly so if detention is prolonged.
For learning to take place children require qualified teachers, a culturally responsive environment, adequate and relevant resources, parental involvement and a connection with the community. These requirements are not satisfactorily met in immigration detention centres.
Characteristic aspects of immigration detention may inhibit the provision of education to children within the system. These include isolation, the physical environment, management attitudes to accountability and transparency, and the political environment:
The location of our immigration detention centres in some of the most remote areas of Australia is one of the biggest barriers to the provision of education inside them. Providing appropriate resources, both human and economic, as well as access to expert advice and a wider learning community, is extremely difficult in such isolation.
The sharing of teaching knowledge and skills assists effective communication with children who have been traumatised and promotes more sympathetic educational environments, in which, for example, children may use play and drawing as a way of communicating their anxieties.14 Staff attitudes are a key factor in influencing the quality of an early childhood program. Professional meetings promote staff morale, critical assessment of teaching methods, and flexibility,15 but such meetings are made difficult by geographical isolation.
Children gain access to the fabric of their culture from written materials in their first language. But the isolation of immigration detention centres limits access to teaching resources, including those that promote positive images of a first culture and language, which are a critical starting point for the education of children.
Qualified and highly skilled educators with significant experience in working with refugee children are less likely to be available or willing to take up teaching positions in remote and isolated areas. The sole teacher at the Port Hedland immigration detention centre in April 2000, who had just resigned because of poor conditions, told the ABC’s Four Corners it takes many months to find someone who will take up such a teaching position, and that some teachers are simply not replaced.16
This even applies to less isolated detention centres. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Report Those who've come across the seas: detention of unauthorised arrivals (1998) describes a situation in Villawood, where as of March 1997, there had been no classes for approximately six months, owing to the difficulty of replacing a teacher.
The delivery of education to children in remote immigration detention centres by local schools and childcare centres is problematic. Local educational services, with stretched resources and limited teaching staff who are likely to have little experience of refugees, are not well equipped to meet the needs of immigrant children who have undergone severe trauma and emotional distress.
The environment is a powerful
regulator of behaviour. It can influence both child and adult behaviour, either
positively or negatively. It communicates clear messages of intent and feeling.17
Living conditions in remote immigration detention centres are not conducive to the education of children. Children suffering excessive heat in desert climates, overcrowding and a general lack of resources will not find it easy to engage in a learning process.
The immigration detention centre itself can be intimidating and is a significant barrier to the provision of a safe and secure environment in which to educate children. Multiple layers of high fencing topped by razor wire, security check points and room searches are certainly not conducive to learning.
In the prison-like environments of Australian immigration detention centres, parents and children are dehumanised. They are assigned numbers, forced to comply with daily musters and nightly head counts, and to listen to blaring address systems.
Communal living conditions in detention centres inhibit privacy and access to larger cultural communities, thereby diminishing parental authority and undermining the critical role parents play in the education of their children.
Unsuitable and overcrowded living conditions also contribute to a reduction in the general health and well-being of children, and any such reduction is likely to result in a compromised education. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Report Those who've come across the seas: Detention of unauthorised arrivals (1998) describes unacceptable conditions in which very limited space is available to detainees, there are few recreational and educational activities in which they can participate, and inadequate, uncomfortable recreational areas.