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Correa-Velez, Ignacio, Gifford, Sandra, McMichael, Celia, & Sampson,Robyn(2017)Predictors of secondary school completion among refugee youth 8 to 9years after resettlement in Melbourne, Australia.Journal of International Migration and Integration, 18(3), pp. 791-805.

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-016-0503-z

1

Title: Predictors of secondary school completion among refugee youth eight to nine years after

resettlement in Melbourne, Australia

Accepted for publication, Journal of International Migration and Integration (August 2016)

Authors: Ignacio Correa-Velez1

Sandra M. Gifford2

Celia McMichael3, 4

Robyn Sampson2

Affiliations: 1School of Public Health and Social Work, and Institute of Health and

Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), Queensland University of Technology, Australia

2The Swinburne Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of

Technology, Australia 3School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Australia

4School of Geography, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Being able to attend school and achieve an education is one of the most desired opportunities

among resettled refugee young people. However, turning educational aspirations into reality is

not straightforward. There is a large body of research documenting the barriers associated with

educational achievement among refugees who resettle as teenagers, both in Australia and

internationally. No studies, however, have identified the factors that predict completion of

secondary school among resettled refugee youth over time. This paper reports the predictors of

completion of secondary school among a cohort of 47 refugee youth resettled in Melbourne,

Australia. Eight to nine years after resettlement, 29 (62%) had completed secondary school and

18 (38%) had left school prior to completing Year 12. Age on arrival and experiences of

discrimination in Australia were significant predictors of secondary school completion. Older

refugee youth (on arrival) and those who reported experiences of discrimination over the first

eight to nine years in Australia were significantly less likely to complete secondary school.

2

This longitudinal study confirms that, as a group, refugee youth are particularly at risk of not

completing secondary school education, which can have an impact on their wellbeing and long-

term socio-economic standing in their settlement country. Our study provides further evidence

of the negative impact of discrimination on the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young

people.

Keywords: refugees; youth; education; secondary school; settlement; discrimination;

longitudinal

3

Introduction

In Australia, the most important thing is education. - Akok1 (15 year-old male from

Sudan, Year 1)

Being able to attend school and achieve educational success is one of the most highly valued

opportunities for resettled refugee young people. It is also an important settlement goal that

parents have for their children (Harris and Marlowe 2011). Education is a key facilitator of

settlement among young people with refugee backgrounds and an important indicator of

successful integration outcomes (Strang and Ager 2010). Further, schools are one of the first

and most important institutions in which young people participate during settlement (Kia-

Keating and Ellis 2007; Trickett and Birman 2005). Schools are central to promoting social

and emotional development and supporting youth to successfully grapple with the challenges

of settlement in the early years (Hek 2005). They are key sites for facilitating a sense of

belonging and the transition to citizenship in the new country (Cassity and Gow 2005; Taylor

and Sidhu 2012). Adjusting to school and developing a sense of belonging to their school

community is considered central to the overall settlement experience of refugee young people

(Kia-Keating and Ellis 2007). However, engagement with the school system can be

challenging, particularly for those who have experienced disrupted education prior to arrival

and who are negotiating inter-cultural challenges in school settings (Kia-Keating and Ellis

2007).

Despite the value and significance of education for young people’s futures, a significant

body of research has identified the substantial barriers to educational success among resettled

refugee youth both in Australia (Victorian Settlement Planning Committee 2008; Beadle

1 Pseudonyms have been used.

4

2014; CMY 2013; Ferfolja and Vickers 2010; Matthews 2008; Block et al. 2014; McCarthy

and Vickers 2012) and internationally (He et al. 2015; Hek 2005; McBrien 2005; Wilkinson

2002; Dryden-Peterson 2015). The identified barriers include arriving with little or no

previous schooling, not speaking the language of the resettlement country, low levels of

literacy in spoken language(s), lack of familiarity with education systems, racism and

discrimination, family responsibilities and the social and economic challenges of making a

home in a new country (Cassity and Gow 2005; Ferfolja and Vickers 2010; Harris and

Marlowe 2011; Hek 2005; Kanu 2008; Matthews 2008; Olliff and Couch 2005). Further,

traumatic experiences prior to resettlement – including violence, forced displacement,

disrupted social relationships and separation from family – can have an adverse impact on

learning capacity (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development 2004; Hek

2005; Dryden-Peterson 2015; Due et al. 2015).

Despite this large body of research, studies have been cross-sectional, a large majority have

used qualitative methods and many have reported information and insights of youth and

professionals working in the field as derived from consultative approaches. Only two

previous studies have identified the predictors of educational outcomes among this

population group using quantitative methods (Trickett and Birman 2005; Wilkinson 2002).

No studies to date have employed a quantitative approach using longitudinal data collection,

or applied this approach within the Australian context. As Kaplan et al. (2015: 2) argue,

“there is a major need for longitudinal research on refugee children’s learning and academic

performance”. In this paper, we address these gaps. Based on longitudinal data, we report on

the predictors of secondary school completion among a cohort of 47 refugee youth eight to

nine years after their resettlement in Melbourne, Australia.

Young people with refugee backgrounds in Australia

5

In Australia, close to one quarter of the annual intake of humanitarian migrants is made up of

young people aged 10 to 19 years (Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2014). Australia

funds a program of Humanitarian Settlement Services that provides intensive support on arrival

and throughout the early settlement period (Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2015),

with specific policies and programs that target youth particularly in the education and training

sectors (CMY 2011). Part of this intensive support includes the opportunity to attend an English

Language School (ELS) for 12 months. Over 70% of secondary-school age refugee background

youth enter education through this intensive English language program (Department of

Education and Early Childhood Development 2011; Hatoss et al. 2012). As a result, ELSs are

often the first point of orientation for newly arrived refugee youth and, as such, play a key role

in providing support and linking them to the social life and resources of the broader host

society. Following ELS, students transit into a mainstream educational institution. On entering

mainstream school, most are placed in age-appropriate year levels despite substantial gaps in

educational history resulting in significant difficulties in attaining satisfactory levels of

achievement.

Methods

Research design

The findings in this paper are drawn from the Good Starts Study for Refugee Youth, a

longitudinal study of settlement and wellbeing over the first eight to nine years in Melbourne,

Australia (Gifford et al. 2009). The study was conducted between 2004 and 2013 and aimed to

identify the psychosocial factors that assist resettled refugee background youth in making a

good start in their new country, and to describe in depth the contexts, settings and social

processes that support, enhance and facilitate settlement and wellbeing.

6

The overall study used a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods with data collected

through a series of sessions carried out in school, family and community settings (Gifford et

al. 2007; Gifford et al. 2009). Participants were recruited within their first six months in

Australia and data were collected through a settlement journal in which they recorded their

experiences through drawings, photos and answering questions. A structured questionnaire

gathered data on socio-demographic characteristics and indicators of settlement and wellbeing,

including education (Gifford et al. 2007; Gifford et al. 2009). Open-ended, semi-structured

interviews and group discussions were also conducted each year with subsamples (Gifford et

al. 2009; McMichael et al. 2015; Gifford 2013). Data collection was facilitated by research

assistants and interpreters/bicultural workers. Researchers kept extensive field notes.

Recruitment and Sampling

About one third of all humanitarian arrivals are resettled in the state of Victoria each year. Of

these, about 1,000 are young people aged between 10 to 19 years (Department of Immigration

and Citizenship 2014). The study aimed to recruit about 10 per cent of these youth within the

first six months of their arrival in Australia. As most newly arrived refugee youth spend their

first year in an ELS, recruitment through these specialist schools was deemed the most viable

sampling strategy. In Victoria, ELSs include all migrant students who do not speak English,

some of whom are refugee-background students. The study identified those ELSs in the

Melbourne metropolitan area with high numbers of students with refugee backgrounds and

engaged three of these schools in the study. Each school selected classes to participate in the

study that comprised of refugee-background students aged 12 to 18 years.

The ELSs sent information about the study to parents, invited parents to attend a briefing

session at the school (run by the study team), and solicited the written consent of

7

parents/guardians for their children to participate. Ethical clearance was provided by La Trobe

University Human Ethics Committee, the Institutional Ethics Committee of the Victorian

Foundation for Survivors of Torture (a partner of the study) and the Victorian Department of

Education.

A total of 120 refugee background students were initially recruited into the study. Participants

were followed up annually for four years and then eight to nine years after their first interview.

Fifty one young people completed the wave 5 (year 8/9) follow-up. Of these, four (two females

and two males) had a child during the study period and dropped out of school. As it was clear

from the qualitative data that this was their main reason for not completing their secondary

education, these four participants have been excluded from the current analysis. Thus, data

from 47 students have been used to assess the predictors of secondary school completion.

Measures

In order to construct a model of the most likely predictors of secondary school completion over

time, we reviewed the literature published between 1976 and 2015 to identify the barriers and

facilitators of educational attainment among resettled refugee youth. All published papers were

either cross-sectional or were comprised of consultations with refugee youth and service

providers in the settlement and education sectors. Most of the studies were qualitative and none

were longitudinal. In reviewing this literature, we categorised predictors into three broad

classes: socio-demographic factors, individual factors, and community/structural factors (Hek

2005; Cassity and Gow 2005; Hatoss et al. 2012; Kanu 2008; McBrien 2005; Rana et al. 2011;

Trickett and Birman 2005; Wilkinson 2002). Educational outcome was completion (or not) of

8

secondary school (the Victorian Certificate of Education)2 or equivalent (the Victorian

Certificate of Applied Learning)3. The model of predictors of secondary school completion is

presented in Figure 1. Table 1 shows the dependent and independent variables used in this

analysis.

Fig. 1 Conceptual model of predictors of secondary school completion among refugee background youth

2 VCE: Victorian Certificate of Education; a certificate awarded to students who successfully complete their secondary education, and that provides pathways to employment and further study. 3 VCAL: Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning; a certificate that provides practical work-related experience, as well as literacy, numeracy and personal skills. An option for students in Years 11 and 12.

9

Table 1 Measures used to predict refugee youth’s secondary school completion over their first 8-9 years of settlement in Australia

Item/Scale Cronbach’s alpha

Educational outcome Secondary school completion

Did you successfully pass Year 12? (No; Yes, I completed VCAL1; Yes, I completed VCE2) (variable was dichotomised into No and Yes)

N/A

Predictor variables Socio Demographics Sex Female; Male N/A Region of origin What country were you born in?

(variable was dichotomised into ‘Africa’ and ‘Other’3)

N/A

Age at wave 1 How old are you now (in years)? N/A Previous schooling (years)

How many years of schooling did you have before you came to Australia?

N/A

Time in Australia (months)

When did you arrive in Australia? (day/month/year)

N/A

Individual factors Perceived English language proficiency at wave 3

How well do you speak English now? (not at all; not well; well; very well) (ABS 2006); variable dichotomised into ‘not well’ and ‘well’

N/A

School satisfaction 26 items from Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey – School section (Bond et al. 2000); Median score over first 3 waves4 (from 26=lowest to 104=highest satisfaction)

0.88

Self-esteem 10-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg 1989); Median score over first 4 waves (from 10=lowest to 40=highest self-esteem)

0.75

Subjective health status

Item from the WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire (World Health Organization 1996); ‘How satisfied are you with your health?’ (1=very dissatisfied to 5=very satisfied)

N/A

Community/Structural factors Supportive environment

4-item Supportive Environment subscale – Baruth Protective Factors Inventory (Baruth and Caroll 2002); Median score over first 4 waves (from 4=lowest to 16=highest supportive environment)

0.80

Social status in ethnic community

Perceived social status of family in ethnic community – Adapted from MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status (Goodman et al. 2001); 0=lowest status to 10=highest status; Median score over first 4 waves

N/A

Ethnic identity 5-item Affirmation and Belonging subscale – Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney 1992); Median score over first 4 waves (from 5=weakest to 20=strongest ethnic identity)

0.81

10

Item/Scale Cronbach’s alpha

Social status in broader Australian community

Perceived social status of family in broader Australian Community – Adapted from MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status (Goodman et al. 2001); 0=lowest status to 10=highest status; Median score over first 4 waves

N/A

Experienced discrimination over first 4 waves

Item from the Experiences of Discrimination scale (Krieger et al. 2005): Ever experienced discrimination because of your ethnicity, religion or colour? (No; Yes)

N/A

Moved house at least once between waves 1 and 4

‘How many times have you moved home in the last year’? (none; one or more)

N/A

1 VCAL: Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning 2 VCE: Victorian Certificate of Education 3 Other includes: Middle East and Eastern Europe 4 These questions were only asked over the first 3 waves Statistical analysis

Data were analysed using Stata 13.1 (StataCorp, 2013). Chi-square tests (or Fisher’s exact test

when low cell counts) for categorical variables and non-parametric Mann-Whitney test for

continuous variables were used to estimate differences in socio-demographic (at wave one),

individual and community/structural factors between males and females (n=47). Firth logistic

regression (Firth 1993) was used to assess the association of the educational outcome variable

with the range of factors identified in the model. The advantage of the Firth method is that “it

provides bias-reduction for small sample size as well as yields finite and consistent estimates

even in case of separation” (Wang 2014)(p.1). Separation occurs “if the responses and non-

responses can be perfectly separated by a single factor or by a non-trivial linear combination

of risk factors” (Heinze and Schemper 2002)(p.2409). Those factors with a p-value >0.2 were

sequentially deleted using a backwards elimination procedure (Agresti and Finlay 2014). The

R2 statistic (using Tjur’s procedure) was used to estimate overall model fit (Tjur 2009).

11

Results

Participant characteristics

A comparison of socio-demographic (at wave one), individual and community/structural

factors between 24 males (51%) and 23 females (49%) is shown in Table 2. Participants were

born in five different countries with 62% born in Africa (Sudan and Ethiopia), 34% in the

Middle East (Iraq and Afghanistan), and 4% in Eastern Europe (Croatia). Females reported

significantly lower levels of previous schooling (p=0.044) and were also less likely to perceive

that they spoke English well at wave 3 (p=0.050; borderline) than males. No other significant

differences were found between males and females. Eight years after arriving in Australia,

participants’ mean age was 22.7 years (SD=1.8; range=18 to 26).

12

Table 2 Descriptive statistics of socio-demographic, individual and community/structural

factors by sex

Variable Total n=47

(100%)

Males n=24

(51%)

Females n=23

(49%)

P-value

Demographic factors (wave 1) Region of birth [n (%)]

Africa Other

Age (yrs) [mean ± SD (range)] Previous schooling (yrs) [mean ± SD (range)] Time in Australia (months) [mean ± SD (range)]

29 (62%) 18 (38%) 15.0 ± 1.6 (12–17) 5.7 ± 2.9 (0–12)

4.9 ± 4.1 (0–16)

15 (63%) 9 (37%)

15.1 ± 1.8 (12–17) 6.5 ± 2.8 (0–12)

4.6 ± 3.4 (0–11)

14 (61%) 9 (39%)

15.0 ± 1.6 (12–17) 4.9 ± 2.8 (0–10)

5.3 ± 4.8 (0–16)

0.908

0.680

0.044

0.831

Individual factors Perceived English-language proficiency at wave 3 [n (%)]

Not well Well

School satisfaction over first 3 waves [median (range)] Self-esteem over first 4 waves [median (range)] Subjective health status over first 4 waves [median (range)]

4 (9%) 43 (91%)

81 (65–88)

31.5 (21.5–38) 4 (2.5–5)

0

24 (100%) 81 (65–88)

31.5

(24–38) 4 (2.5–5)

4 (17%) 19 (83%)

81 (65–88)

32 (21.5–36.5)

4 (3–5)

0.050

0.798

0.468

0.592

Community/structural factors Supportive environment over first 4 waves [median (range)] Social status of family in ethnic community over first 4 waves [median (range)] Ethnic identity over first 4 waves [median (range)] Social status of family in broader Australian community [median (range)] Experienced discrimination over first 4 waves [n (%)] Moved house at least once since between waves 1 and 4 [n (%)]

11 (7–12)

7.5 (1–10)

14 (8–15)

7 (3.5–10)

29 (62%)

36 (77%)

10.8 (8–

12)

7 (1 – 9.5)

14 (8–15)

6.5 (4–9)

17 (71%)

18 (75%)

11.5 (7–12)

7.5 (5–10)

14 (10–15)

7 (3.5–10)

12 (52%)

18 (78%)

0.466

0.684

0.877

0.093

0.188

0.792

13

Predictors of secondary school completion

Of the 47 participants, 29 (62%) reported they had graduated from secondary school (or

equivalent) since arriving in Australia and 18 (38%) reported that they had not completed

secondary school. Females were more likely to have completed secondary education than

males (74% versus 50%) but this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.092). The

final regression model for predictors of secondary school completion (after backwards

elimination of those factors in the model with p>0.2) is presented in Table 3.

Table 3 Final regression model of predictors of secondary school completion among refugee

background youth during their first 8-9 years of resettlement in Melbourne, Australia

Independent variables β Standard error

Odds Ratio 95% CI OR P-value

Sex (males) Age (yrs) Experienced discrimination Constant Wald χ2 = 9.58 p <0.05 R2 = 0.3161

− 0.960 − 0.704 − 1.584

13.723

0.702 0.271 0.803 4.650

0.383 0.494 0.205

0.097, 1.515 0.291, 0.841 0.043, 0.991

0.171 0.009 0.049

1 Using Tjur’s procedure (Tjur 2009)

Age on arrival and experiences of discrimination in Australia were significant predictors of

school completion after controlling for participants’ sex. For each year increase in age on

arrival in Australia, the odds of completing secondary school decreased by 0.494 (95% CI

[0.291, 0.841]; p = 0.009). In other words, for each year decrease in age on arrival, youth

were approximately two times more likely to complete secondary school. Those who

experienced discrimination in Australia were 0.205 times less likely to complete secondary

education (95% CI [0.043, 0.991]; p = 0.049). That is, young people who did not experience

discrimination while living in Australia were on average 4.9 times more likely to complete

secondary school that those who did experience discrimination. The model presented in Table

14

3 predicted 31.6 per cent of the variance of secondary school completion. All other variables

in the conceptual model shown in Figure 1 (e.g. region of birth, previous schooling, time in

Australia, English language proficiency, school satisfaction, self-esteem, supportive

environment, subjective social status, ethnic identity, moving house) were not significant and

therefore were gradually eliminated from the final analytical model.

Discussion

Overall, this study found that, eight to nine years after arriving in Australia, 62 per cent of the

47 refugee background young people had completed secondary school (or equivalent). This

rate of completion is lower than the national average; in Australia, 74 per cent of young

people complete secondary education or equivalent by age 19 (Lamb et al. 2015) (the mean

age of our participants at year eight was 22.7 years). In Canada, a cross-sectional study of 91

refugee background youth aged 15–21 years (Wilkinson 2002) reported that 53 per cent were

‘on track’ with their education (i.e. had already completed secondary school and entered

further education, or were currently enrolled in high school at an appropriate year level for

their age), 27 per cent were likely to complete high school but were unlikely to engage in

post-secondary education, and the remaining 20 per cent were ‘behind/dropped out’ (i.e. in

school at an inappropriate grade for their age or had exited the education system). In the

United States, Rana et al. (2011) interviewed 19 unaccompanied Sudanese refugee

background youth aged 18–26 years living with foster carers and found that 100 per cent had

completed secondary school within their first seven years in the country. Rana and colleagues

further reported that 86 per cent of 49 unaccompanied minors living with 15 foster families

had completed their high school education. Although these results were from a small,

selective sample, it shows the possibility for educational success amongst resettled youth

with appropriate supports, expectations and opportunities (Rana et al. 2011).

15

After assessing a number of potential determinants of secondary school completion (shown in

Figure 1), this study found that age on arrival and experiences of discrimination were

significant predictors of completion among this group of refugee background youth living in

Australia. The older the young person on arrival in Australia, the less likely they were to

complete secondary school. This is contrary to Wilkinson’s study among refugee background

youth resettled in Canada (Wilkinson 2002) which found that age had non-significant effect

on their educational status. In the United States, Trickett and Birman (2005) studied the

school adaptation of 110 refugee adolescents from the former Soviet Union and found no

significant effects of age on grade point average (GPA), disciplinary infractions or school

belonging. Upon arrival in Australia, most school-aged children attend an English Language

School for up to 12 months and then transition into a mainstream school where they are

placed in classes to match their chronological age rather than their actual level of prior

educational achievement (Refugee Council of Australia 2011). Our findings suggest that this

education policy may present challenges to older school-aged refugee background youth who

might find it difficult to transition between the refugee journey (including life in protracted

refugee situations) and a formal school environment in Australia. Older school-aged youth

are entering secondary school at higher year levels with significant educational expectations

and workload. It could also be argued that older refugee youth face greater “pressure to enter

employment and earn money to support themselves (…) or to assist their family rather than

finish school” (Refugee Council of Australia 2011: 1). While our study did not find prior

education to be a predictor of education outcome, appropriate grade placement was a key

determinant of academic success amongst refugee youth resettled in Canada (Wilkinson

2002). Qualitative data also reinforce the significance of placement in an appropriate level of

education relative to educational history in our cohort (Nunn et al. 2014).

16

Importantly, this study found that refugee background youth who experienced discrimination

while living in Australia were significantly less likely to complete secondary school

compared to those who did not experience discrimination. In the Canadian study, Wilkinson

(2002) did not measure experiences of discrimination but found that ethnicity had the

strongest influence on educational status, with youth from the former Yugoslavia more likely

to be ‘on-track’ than those from other countries (i.e. El Salvador, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan,

Iraq, Vietnam, Somalia, Guatemala and Pakistan). Using mainstream absorption theory

(Feagin and Booher Feagin 1998), Wilkinson suggested that “since the cultural practices and

ethnic background of most former Yugoslavian youth are similar to that of mainstream

(white) Canadians, we would expect to find them doing better in school” than those from

different cultures and races, and that this may “reflect institutional racism, systematic

discrimination, and the less subtle and more personal forms of racism including polite racism

and subliminal racism” (Wilkinson 2002: 186).

Contrary to our findings, the study of refugee adolescents from the former Soviet Union

resettled in the United States (Trickett and Birman 2005) reported that perceived

discrimination was not significantly associated to school outcomes (GPA, disciplinary

infractions and school belonging). While Trickett and Birman’s sample included students

from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, with 88 per cent self-

identifying as Jewish, our study consisted mostly of refugee background youth from visible

minorities from Africa and the Middle East. A review of the literature on the needs and

obstacles to education for refugee youth in the United States (McBrien 2005) reported

common discriminatory practices among teachers and peers towards students from visible

minorities such as Latin Americans, Hmongs and Somalis. These practices increased

students’ isolation and had an adverse impact on their academic goals and career aspirations

17

(Birman et al. 2001). In Australia, greater experiences of racism have been found to be

significantly associated with lower level maths and English among Indigenous Australian

students and Asian/Eastern students (Bodkin-Andrews and Craven 2014). Research with

young people has shown that the majority of racism and discrimination experiences occur at

school and that students from migrant and refugee backgrounds are the main recipients

(Mansouri et al. 2009). Furthermore, “racism has a negative impact upon the settlement and

transition of young migrants and refugees, affecting self-esteem, self-confidence, and

belonging to the broader community” (CMY 2014: 3). A qualitative study of the Australian

high school experiences among 12 refugee background youth aged 16–19 years from

Southeast Asia and Africa, found that many “had to face being identified as embodying

difference, and embodying it in a way that was not acceptable to their peers” which had a

negative impact on their sense of belonging within the school culture (Uptin et al. 2013:

129). Importantly, we have previously reported that experiences of discrimination had a

negative impact on both subjective health status and wellbeing among this cohort of refugee

background youth three (Correa-Velez et al. 2010) and eight years (Correa-Velez et al. 2015)

after resettlement.

Of the other factors tested in our model, it was notable that sex and English language

competency did not have a significant impact on school completion. Sex is often reported as a

key factor influencing education amongst refugee youth, with concerns that gendered cultural

expectations result in girls experiencing greater barriers to education than boys (Akua-

Sakyiwah 2015; Hatoss et al. 2012; Rana et al. 2011; Watkins et al. 2012). In the United

States, Trickett and Birman (2005) found females achieved a higher GPA and were less likely

to incur disciplinary infractions than their male counterparts. However, sex was not found to

18

be a predictive variable of education status amongst refugee youth in Canada (Wilkinson

2002).

Similar to our results, Wilkinson (2002) and Trickett and Birman (2005) found that English

language competence was not a predictor of school outcomes. Those authors suggested that,

as all their participants had previously completed specialist English language schooling, they

likely had an adequate level of English literacy to succeed in their education. Our cohort had

also undertaken 6–12 months of specialist English language schooling on arrival in Australia

and only 9% self-rated their English language proficiency as low at the wave 3 data

collection.

Having a child has previously been identified as a significant factor that shapes education

outcomes among refugee-background young people in Australia (Hatoss et al. 2012; Nunn et

al. 2014; McMichael 2013) and the United States (Rana et al. 2011). For this analysis, we

purposefully excluded the four participants (two females and two males) who had a child

during the study period because these young people clearly indicated this to be the reason for

dropping out of school. Having a baby creates a seemingly insurmountable impediment to

completing secondary school, and not just for young mothers. Many young fathers also find

they have to put their education on hold due to caring duties and/or financial responsibilities

(Rana et al. 2011). While unexpected pregnancies among newly arrived refugee youth are not

necessarily unwelcome (McMichael 2013), the arrival of a baby requires new parents to

prioritise parenting responsibilities over their education. Many young refugees, however,

maintain aspirations to achieve an education and seek out alternative pathways that balance

the financial and caring responsibilities with their educational aspirations (Nunn et al. 2014).

19

Limitations

There are several limitations to this study that need to be acknowledged. First, the sample is

small. The 47 participants were part of a longitudinal mixed-method study of 120 refugee

background youth who resettled in Australia between 2003 and 2005. Because of the loss to

follow up, a common issue in longitudinal studies, we do not know whether those participants

who could not be contacted for the last interview had better or worse educational outcomes.

The 47 participants were broadly representative of the original cohort in terms of sex, region

of birth and years of schooling prior to resettlement (McMichael et al. 2015). Despite the

small sample size, this is a unique study that has followed this group of young people over

their first eight to nine years in Australia. To reduce small sample size bias and potential

issues of data separation, the Firth logistic regression approach was used (Firth 1993). The

strengths and advantages of this approach have been clearly demonstrated (Heinze and

Schemper 2002). Second, the sample was not randomly selected and therefore may not be

representative of the overall refugee youth population recently resettled in Australia. Except

for a slight over-representation of South Sudanese youth, the original cohort of 120

participants closely resembled the population of refugee youth arriving in Australia between

2003 and 2006 in terms of country of birth and sex (Department of Immigration and

Citizenship 2014). Third, this was an observational study with no comparison group. Future

research should investigate whether the educational experiences of these youth are different

to those of other minority or disadvantaged groups and/or to other recently arrived non-

refugee migrant youth in Australia. Notably, the secondary school completion rate among our

cohort (62 per cent) is similar to the 60 per cent completion rate (by age 19) among young

people from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds in Australia (Lamb et al. 2015). Fourth,

although subjective health status was included in the analysis as a potential predictor of

secondary school completion, pre-migration trauma was not assessed in this study.

20

Despite these limitations, this longitudinal study makes an important contribution to the field

of refugee youth education by testing the individual and structural predictors of secondary

school completion via a reliable quantitative approach. Unlike cross sectional research,

longitudinal studies are able to approach settlement as a dynamic sequence of challenges and

adaptive responses (Beiser 2009) and this is particularly important when it comes to the

project of education among refugee background youth.

Conclusions

It is well established that not completing secondary school and not achieving well in school

are predictors of later socio-economic outcomes (Circelli and Oliver 2012; Lamb et al. 2015).

For resettled refugee background youth, school plays a key role in establishing meaningful

connections, developing a sense of belonging to their new country, and enabling transitions to

citizenship (Uptin et al. 2013; Taylor and Sidhu 2012; Cassity and Gow 2005). However, as

many arrive in the new country after experiencing violence and disrupted schooling, their

experiences in educational contexts are often challenging. Our findings from this longitudinal

research reveal that older age on arrival and experiences of discrimination while in Australia

are significant barriers to secondary school completion. These findings highlight the need for

more comprehensive and flexible approaches to secondary schooling for those refugee

background youth who are placed in grades at school based on their age rather than their level

of capability. Additional intensive support programs for those older school age youth are

required in order to facilitate their transition from an English Language School to mainstream

schools. Support programs may include bridging courses in numeracy and literacy,

homework clubs, study groups and mentoring programs (Multicultural Youth Affairs

Network 2012).

21

Importantly, these findings also highlight the imperative of addressing racism and

discrimination in educational settings and in the broader community. As stated by Taylor and

Sidhu (2012: 52) “if we consider the experiences of refugees accepted for resettlement in

countries like Australia, the protection of positive freedoms – specifically social, economic

and cultural rights – is less evident. Refugees face attitudinal barriers and racism, which

militate against good settlement outcomes”. Refugee youth enter Australia with high hopes

and optimism for their futures, having endured the deprivations and violence of persecution

and forced migration. Attending school and obtaining an education is one of their principal

goals: they have so much to gain after a life of educational disadvantage. Every opportunity

should be afforded to these youth to fulfil their desire to invest in their future through primary

and secondary education. At a time when public political rhetoric is increasingly

dehumanising those who are forcibly displaced (Hattam and Every 2010), the education and

integration of refugee background youth is not only the responsibility of governments and

schools but a project that involves all citizens.

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of the young people who participated in the study, the staff from the English Language Schools, and the research team. Funding for the first four years of the Good Starts study was provided by VicHealth, Foundation House (VFST), Sydney Myer Fund, William Buckland Foundation, La Trobe University and, for the eight/nine year follow up, by the Australian Research Council (DP120101579).

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