responding to cald learners

Responding to CALD Learners:Cultural Diversity in Action

Responding to CALD Learners:Cultural Diversity in Action

A report prepared by AMES for the ACFE Board

Dr Lynda Achren, Jude Newcombe and Drew Roberts

Published by:

Adult, Community and Further Education Board

2 Treasury Place

Melbourne Victoria 3000

June 2012

© Copyright State of Victoria 2012

This publication is copyright.

No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance

with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.

Authorised by the Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE)

Board.

ISBN: 978-0-7594-0698-8

This publication was prepared for the ACFE Board by AMES. It

draws on the knowledge and insights of people who took part in the

Responding to CALD Learners initiative funded by the ACFE Board.

The contributions of these Learn Local practitioners and other

professionals involved in the provision of settlement, education

and training services to CALD learners is acknowledged.

The views expressed herein are the views of the authors and do not

necessarily represent the views of the ACFE Board.

AMES project team:

Lynda Achren, Jude Newcombe and Drew Roberts

Project advisory group:

Verna Kearney, Hugh Kiernan, Julienne Rutherford: ACFE

Maggie Clarke: Preston Reservoir Adult Community Education

Simon Dawe: Diversitat

Pam Gates: Dingley Village Neighbourhood Centre

Helen Uliando: Community College Gippsland

Mierta Saponja: AMES Settlement and Community

Printing: Maroondah Printing

For information relating to Learn Local organisations

please contact the ACFE Board.

Contents

Foreword 1Introduction 2

Framework of good practice 6A whole of organisation approach to CALD learners 7Principle 1: Engagement 8Principle 2: Supportive Learning Environments 12Principle 3: Supported Pathways 16

Learn Local collaborative action research 18Key messages from the action research 22

Engagement 23Supportive Learning Environments 24Supported Pathways 26 Further capacity building opportunities 28

Guide to resources 30Cultural and linguistic diversity in Victoria 32

Refuge and economics 33Victoria's recent arrivals 34CALD settlement in Victoria 38Keys to successful settlement 42

Glossary 43References 44

Foreword

As culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)communities increasingly settle in both rural andmetropolitan regions in Victoria, the Adult,Community and Further Education Board is aware of the challenges facing Learn Localorganisations as they respond to these learners’needs.

The Responding to CALD Learners project wasconducted over four years to build the capacity of Learn Local organisations in Victoria to delivereducation services to CALD learners. Led byAdult Multicultural Education Services (AMES), it provided research, professional developmentand action research for Learn Local practitioners.

This resource is a culmination of the research and learning undertaken by AMES and the participating Learn Local organisations. It is workthat has practical application for organisationsproviding programs for CALD communities. Itemphasises the role of culture in successfulprovision for communities, provides suggestionsfor professional development to ensure practitioners can better support the cultural andlinguistic needs of their CALD learners, and offersmany insights into the meaning of good practice.

This interesting and useful resource will assistfurther understanding of the implications ofcultural differences for teaching practice andimprove the quality of learning experiences forCALD learners.

The ACFE Board is proud to have funded thisproject and acknowledges gratefully the fundingassistance from the Victorian Government whichmade this project possible.

Rowena AllenChairpersonAdult, Community and Further Education Board

1

Introduction

The resourceThis resource has been developed to supportthe delivery by Learn Local organisations ofquality education and training to people fromculturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)backgrounds.

The resource was developed as part of theResponding to CALD Learners initiative fundedby the Adult, Community and Further Education(ACFE) Board and managed by AMES.

The resource contains:

• a framework of good practice withstrategies for achieving and maintaining awhole of organisation approach to CALDlearners

• an exploration of the good practiceprinciples of Engagement, SupportiveLearning Environments and SupportedPathways

• case studies of Learn Local practiceillustrating the good practice principles

• a guide to implementing collaborative actionresearch to improve decision-making andachieve whole of organisation change

• extracts from the collaborative actionresearch undertaken by Learn Localorganisations to investigate aspects of thegood practice principles

• key messages and insights from the actionresearch projects together with suggestionsfor professional development and furthercapacity building

• a guide to resources to support professionaldevelopment, planning and the delivery ofservices to CALD learners

• an exploration of the increasing cultural andlinguistic diversity in Victoria, whichprovides context for the framework and theaction research.

The resource is complemented by the full reportsof the Learn Local action research projectsfunded by the Responding to CALD Learnersinitiative.

To read these reports, visit www.acfe.vic.gov.au

Because refugees and migrantsare different groups of people,with different pre-arrivalexperiences, it is important thatthe distinction be made in theservices provided. Refugees haveneeds distinct from and additionalto migrants.Refugee Council of Australia (2012)

2 Responding to CALD Learners: Cultural Diversity in Action

As a result, Learn Local organisations willincreasingly face the challenge of responding tothe changing demographics of their localcommunities in order to appropriately addressthe needs of new CALD residents.

The CALD learnersThis resource focuses on addressing the needsof CALD adults of working age who, for a rangeof reasons, need specific support to successfullyaccess education, training and appropriateemployment opportunities.

These CALD adults may be unemployed or in theworkforce but in low-paid occupations that under-utilise their skills.

The past experiences of refugee entrants oftenleave them with very high support needs. Theymay have little or no education and work skillsbecause of war and civil unrest, or years living inrefugee camps. They may have experiencedtrauma resulting from human rights abuses andloss or separation from family members.

Small and emerging communities may be evenmore vulnerable than more established refugeecommunities because they lack establishedsupport systems and community resourcesrelative to more established communities (FECCA2010:12).

The less formal and more personalised servicedelivery of Learn Local organisations is ideal forresponding to these needs.

As the action research projects show, engagingwith CALD learners and providing appropriatelyfor their needs can be particularly challenging in:

• areas of settlement by new and emergingCALD communities

• areas of rapid growth in cultural andlinguistic diversity

• areas of new CALD settlement.

Victoria’s population continues to diversifythrough our skilled migration program with eachnew wave of refugees and as CALD communitiesincreasingly settle in regional and rural Australia.

Introduction cont’d

The education and training context The Responding to CALD Learners initiative hasaimed to build the capacity of the Learn Localsector to deliver effective services to CALDlearners within the refocussed VictorianVocational Education and Training (VET) system.

Learn Local organisations have a vital role in thedelivery of this training to CALD learnersbecause of the sector’s expertise in providing formarginalised communities and individuals.

Customised courses and the pre-accreditedcourses delivered by Learn Local organisationsprovide valuable support for engaging withCALD communities and in supporting CALDlearners along education and training pathways(DPCD 2009:11).

This resource provides guidelines and insightsinto establishing and maintaining a whole oforganisation approach to assisting CALDlearners to access and move along thesepathways into employment and productivecommunity engagement.

In particular, the resource emphasises the role ofculture in successful communication and inshaping expectations of education, training, theworkplace and ways of gaining employment.

The resource provides insights into what thismeans in practice and suggestions for profes-sional development so practitioners can bettersupport both the cultural and linguistic needs oftheir CALD learners.

For migrant and refugee jobseekers finding paid work is vitalto their successful settlement andintegration into the Australiancommunity. Meaningfulemployment also ensures thatthey can be part of the social andeconomic life of the communitiesin which they settle. AHRC (2010:15)


Case study

A supported pathway to employment ‘Joanna’ completed Year 10 in a camp on the Thai–Burma border and then worked as a primary teacherin the camp. She arrived in Australia in May 2006.Two years later, after completing her federally fundedentitlements, she moved into ACFE-funded ESLclasses at Wyndham Community and Education Centre(WCEC) — a Learn Local organisation. In 2009, shedid a bridging course into Certificate III in Children’sServices, an online ESL class and also volunteered atour centre whenever an interpreter was needed.

Joanna also joined WCEC’s Community KitchenProgram in 2009. This Community LearningPartnership Project targeted newly arrived refugeesmainly from the Karen and Sudanese communities andprovided informal training in the workings of acommercial kitchen. In June 2009, Joanna became apaid employee as the group branched out into catering.She received her Level I Certificate in Food Safety thatyear.

Saffron Kitchen and Cafe now operates five days aweek providing delicious vegetarian lunches, coffeeand cake to the wider community. Joanna works on apermanent part-time basis with WCEC and nowmentors other recently arrived refugees.

Judy Bowman: Manager of Training Services, WyndhamCommunity and Education Centre

Action research

Partnering for engagement (extract)Dynamic changes in the demographics of the easternsuburbs of Melbourne are demanding that practitionersin Learn Local organisations think about how weengage and support CALD learners along pathways toemployment. With established communities of skilledmigrants, the eastern metropolitan region ofMelbourne is rapidly diversifying both culturally andlinguistically through the recent movement into theregion of former refugees. As a result, it is becomingimperative to change or adapt our practice to meet thediverse needs of our new learner groups. The questionof how to do that and what constitutes good practicefocused our attention in the action research project. …

Leanne Fitzgerald & Debbie Whitehead: Coonara CommunityHouse

Framework of good practice


Organisational

commitment to cultural

inclusiveness

SupportedPathways

Supportive Learning

Environments

Engagement

EngagementThis principle relates to the initial

connections made with local CALD

communities. Emerging CALD

communities and CALD communities

in areas with changing settlement

patterns can be particularly hard to

reach.

Supportive Learning EnvironmentsThis principle addresses both the

language and cultural needs of CALD

learners in education and training

courses. Achieving this component

of good practice may involve

re-evaluating teaching and assessment

practices.

Supported PathwaysThis principle is concerned with

maximising CALD learners' awareness

of, and opportunities to participate in,

further education, training and

meaningful employment. It involves

recognising that employment and ways

of gaining it are intrinsically cultural.

W

hole o

f organisation approach

to CALD learners

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Three key principles of good practice inresponding to CALD learners have beenidentified:

• Engagement• Supportive Learning Environments • Supported Pathways.

The framework presents strategies to beconsidered when translating the principlesinto practice and describes aspects of thosestrategies. Aspects of some strategies appearin more than one location. This reflects theoverlapping nature of the key principles.

Case studies of good Learn Local practiceillustrate the strategies and the key principles ofthe whole of organisation approach to CALDlearners.

When using the framework it would be useful torefer to the ACFE publication A-frame: Aframework for quality pre-accredited teachingand learning (ACFE 2009), as pre-accreditedcourses have an essential role in supportingCALD learners’ pathways into formal learningand employment.

It would also be useful to refer to the ACFEpublication Hard to reach learners: What worksin reaching and keeping them? (Nechvoglod &Beddie 2010), because, as the action researchprojects vividly demonstrate, connecting withsome CALD communities can prove difficult.

Refer also to the ‘Guide to resources’ in thispublication.

A whole of organisation approach to CALDlearnersThis framework of good practice has evolvedfrom activities conducted during the ACFEResponding to CALD Learners initiative, from theinsights of people who participated in thoseactivities and from the academic literature.

The framework provides a guide to developingand maintaining a whole of organisationapproach to CALD learners—an approach thatdemonstrates commitment to culturalinclusiveness in management practice andservice delivery.

Our adult refugees often liveunderachieving lives of quietdespair. They are unemployed,driving taxis or cleaningbuildings, struggling tounderstand English, battlingmoney pressures, depression andtraumatic memories. We need tohelp these people to find realisticmessages of hope, optimism,encouragement and renewal in alltheir activities from Englishclasses to employment support. Ahmed (2008:26)

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Framework of good practice cont’d

Principle 1: Engagement What is it?Engagement refers to the initial connectionsmade with local CALD communities. EmergingCALD communities and CALD communities inareas with changing settlement patterns can beparticularly hard to reach.

Related action research projects:• Diamond Valley Learning Centre• Coonara Community House and Mulgrave

Neighbourhood House• Robinvale Network House

Strategies to achieve Engagement are:

Strategy 1: Identify the changing demographics ofyour local communities • Local organisations and institutions,

e.g. schools, your council, employment agencies and faith-based groups, can provide information about who is moving into your neighbourhood.

• State Government agencies, e.g. theDepartment of Planning and CommunityDevelopment, and the Office of Housing,have information on local demographics.

• Census data from the Australian Bureau ofStatistics (ABS) website and many localcouncil websites have statistics on localethnic diversity and languages spoken.

Strategy 2: Understand the cultures and backgroundsof new CALD communities• Traumatic pre-arrival experiences may

continue to reverberate through the lives ofindividuals, families and communities.

• Experiences prior to arrival in Australia mayhave resulted in little or no schooling and/orfractured work histories for many refugees.Others may be highly educated but needEnglish language skills and culturalorientation to employment suited to theirqualifications.

• Cultural backgrounds affect people’sexpectations of the learning context, e.g.time-keeping requirements and the level offormality between teachers and students.CALD learners may need time andassistance to understand and adjust toAustralian expectations.

• ‘Oral culture’ does not necessarily mean anabsence of literacy. It is a culturalpreference for the way information isconveyed and received. Culturallyappropriate transmission of informationwill increase the effectiveness of thecommunication.

Strategy 3: Develop innovative ways to reach newCALD communities• Provision for adult learning may be unknown

in some cultures or in war-ravaged orimpoverished countries. A proactiveapproach is required to reach such groups.

• Openness towards a new cultural group, areadiness to learn more and a willingness tolisten will go a long way towardsengendering the trust required for buildingrelationships with new CALD communities.

• Building relationships with key stakeholderswithin CALD communities or with organi-sations in existing relationships with thecommunity can lead to productiveengagement with new communities.

• Language, literacy, educationalbackgrounds and cultural preferencesimpact on the effectiveness of using writtenpromotional materials. Explore a range ofinterpersonal modes of sharing informationwhen attempting to reach communities fromhighly oral cultural backgrounds. Evenamongst literate members, this is often thepreferred mode of communication.Consequently, flyers etc. (the impersonaland non-interactive products of a highlyliterate society) may not achieve their goal.


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Case study

Connecting with new CALD residentsCloverdale Community Centre is a Learn Local organisation in central Corio, a suburb of the regional Victorian city of Geelong.In partnership with Diversitat, another Learn Local organisation, we looked at ways of working with people from South Sudanwho were newly settling in our area. There was concern that the women, in particular, were experiencing social isolation and adegree of racism. At Cloverdale, we had never previously specifically engaged with CALD communities.

We organised an African Open Day. Flyers (in English with a map of Africa) were printed and distributed both to the Sudanesecommunity by Diversitat and locally through Cloverdale’s networks. No-one came. We then had meetings with some of theSouth Sudanese women who lived nearby and had been introduced to the centre. It emerged that what the women wanted wasto learn to 'cook like Australians'. The issue of food had become fraught for them: the women travelling weekly to Melbourneto shop for ingredients that were not available in Geelong; a feeling of disempowerment when they entered an Australiansupermarket; and their children refusing to take food cooked at home to school.

We developed a series of cooking classes, informally called 'Cooking Australian'. Times and dates were set in consultationwith the women to ensure there were no clashes with school drop-offs and English classes. The women were recruited inpartnership with Diversitat, transport was provided, a crèche worker was provided, and a qualified chef employed. Weincorporated weekly reminder calls. The course was developed collaboratively and included quick family meals, schoollunches, healthy foods and a balanced diet, food hygiene and how to integrate Sudanese food and techniques into Australiancooking. We made a recipe book of meals with photographs.

Over time it became apparent that what the women had really wanted, but had been unable to articulate while relationshipswere still new, was to learn how to use the appliances found in an ordinary Australian kitchen and learn about readilyavailable ingredients. They also wanted to meet people from the wider community in a social space that was welcoming,non-threatening and celebrated their cultural identities.

Cooking Australian was the beginning of our engagement with South Sudanese women that still continues. Since the cookingprogram, a larger group of women have participated in a sewing and textile project, formed a fundraising group to providewater wells in South Sudan, and have started to video and record their activities. And this year Cloverdale hosted a SouthSudan Day and many came!

Sue Hartigan: Manager, Cloverdale Community Centre


Strategy 4: Consult with communities about theirneeds• Community members themselves are a

prime source of information about theireducational and social needs. Consultwomen about their needs and men abouttheirs. Gender appropriate investigators willusually give more effective results, e.g.women talking to women.

• Gaining the trust of community leaders isessential for consultation when communitymembers are unaccustomed to the notion ofadult education, have limited Englishlanguage skills or have a general distrust ofauthority because of their previousexperiences of oppressive regimes.

• Community leaders can be a bridge intothe community, but not the voice of thecommunity. Communities do not speak withone voice.

Strategy 5: Promote social inclusion• Reflect the cultural diversity of your local

community throughout your organisation—inclassrooms, in staffrooms, and on boardsand committees. This will help to build trustamong CALD communities and theconfidence to contact your organisation.Feelings of belonging will be enhanced bythe use of graphics that reflect the culturaldiversity of the local community.

• Evaluate your organisational practices andprocedures, such as enrolment, to ensurethey are non-discriminatory.

• Contact between the mainstream and CALDcommunities in all social, educational andtraining services will help to fosterunderstanding between communities. It willprovide CALD communities with a chanceto interact in English, make socialconnections and explore work possibilities.


Case study

Engaging Sudanese women intrainingAs a Learn Local Organisation, Wyndham Communityand Education Centre has provided an English as aSecond Language (ESL) class for Sudanese women atan outreach centre over many years. The class wastimetabled to allow learners to have access to childcare for their children. This option was not taken up byall the women—they either brought their children toclass or were continually leaving class to check onthem.

In response to this we developed a course called'Starting Out in Child Care' aimed at developing thewomen's understanding of the rules and regulationsthat child care centres are bound by—they wouldbecome familiar with what happens in child care and,hopefully, become more confident in leaving theirchildren there so that they could concentrate on theirEnglish class.

The ten-week course was conducted in the child careroom by a qualified child care worker. Mothers andchildren attended the classes together. Topics includedchild care procedures, e.g. signing in and out, phoningif not coming, activities related to medicine labels,snacks to send with children (and what not to send),allowing children to develop independence, partyinvitations and how to respond to them, reading tochildren and games to play.

The course greatly allayed the women's fears of leavingtheir children with strangers and also, for some, turnedout to be the beginnings of a pathway towardsemployment in the Children's Services industry.

Judy Bowman: Manager of Training Services, WyndhamCommunity and Education Centre

• Social inclusion activities can be a first stepon a pathway to more formal education andtraining. Social inclusion activities can sitalongside pre-accredited and accreditedcourses so that learners can shift betweencourses and activities and remain engagedwith your organisation.

Inclusion is imperative tosuccessful settlement andachievement. Refugeecommunities are marginalisedand disempowered by distancefrom the mainstream. All refugeesettlement and educationservices must be structured tomaximise contact with themainstream and to minimisepartitioning. Shared social spacehas to be established from theoutset. The more refugeesinteract and connect with themainstream, the greater thetendency to natural friendshipformation, acceptance,integration and access to thecrucial word-of-mouth job market. Ahmed (2008:26)


Principle 2: Supportive LearningEnvironments What is it?Supportive Learning Environments address boththe language and cultural needs of CALDlearners in education and training courses.Achieving this component of good practice mayinvolve re-evaluating training and assessmentpractices.

Related action research projects: • Preston Reservoir Adult Community

Education (PRACE)• Diversitat • Portland WorkSkills

Strategies to achieve Supportive LearningEnvironments are:

Strategy 6: Develop the intercultural skills of staff • Evaluation of staff needs for dealing with

cultural and linguistic diversity should beon-going and include input from CALDcommunities.

• Quality in-service training in cultural andlinguistic diversity for all staff includes suchthings as cultural competence training forboard members and strategies forcommunicating with people with limitedEnglish language skills for administrativeand training staff.

• At least one staff member skilled inassessing English language levels isinvaluable for course placement and forascertaining the support needs of CALDlearners in VET and other mainstreamclasses.

Strategy 7: Acknowledge the cultural nature ofeducation and training • Classroom expectations and ways of

learning differ from culture to culture. Forexample, in many cultures people areaccustomed to learning by watching anddoing. People from oral cultures are likelyto appreciate an interactive learningenvironment in which they engage withothers.

• Employability skills are fundamentallyculture-specific. Activities that enableCALD learners to become familiar with andinternalise these new cultural expectationsand behaviours can be built into all courselevels. Courses need to be of sufficientduration for intercultural communicationskills and new cultural understandings to beacquired and internalised.

• Training approaches that draw on theexperiences of CALD learners makevaluable contributions to the development ofintercultural understanding so essential intoday’s multicultural society and workforce.

… successful communication inmulticultural workplaces is notjust a question of people fromother cultural backgrounds fittingin. It is a two-way process inwhich members of majoritycultures need to developintercultural competence, todisplay empathy and support forcolleagues who are not fullyconversant with local communi-cation norms. Riddiford & Newton (2010:8)


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Case study

Work-related ESLCommunity West is a small but dynamic Learn Local organisation in the Brimbank local government area. We have a largecohort of learners from CALD communities and about 90% of our delivery is ESL. Within that, more than 55% of our learnersare Vietnamese speakers who have experienced long-term unemployment or only informal employment.

When we asked the staff at a local Job Services Agency what their clients (our learners) needed, the answer was: the ability tospeak in the workplace. They told us that clients are often sent for work trials and/or work experience but are too shy to speakEnglish, don’t know how to ask for clarification, or don’t have work vocabulary (e.g. rosters) or small talk for interacting withworkmates in the tea room.

We now include a range of authentic work-related language activities in our ESL classes. For example, we have a class rosterfor the week with people taking on different roles and responsibilities such as collecting homework and giving out dictionaries.A Find Your Partner activity could use sentences such as: ‘It’s been a long day!’ / ‘Sure has, time to go home’ and ‘Sorry, can Ijust check I’ve got that right?’ / ‘Yeah, sure, let’s go over it again’.

For more small talk practice we convert the classroom into the ‘tearoom’ and have prompt ‘starters’ on slips of paper,e.g. ‘How was your weekend?’, ‘How are things?’, ‘Wasn’t the traffic hopeless this morning?’ and ‘My kids have gone tocamp—the house is so quiet without them’. Others have to think of ways of continuing the conversation.

We also set homework at places like Bunnings where they can wander around for hours without being looked at askance.Learners listen to staff talking to customers and staff talking to staff. They report back to class and the authentic oral textsthey collect are analysed and role played.

Feedback from our learners is that they see these workplace language activities as relevant to their lives and job-relatedaspirations. They give meaning to their learning.

Lindee Conway: Manager, Adult Education Program, Community West


Strategy 8: Establish support programs for CALDlearners in VET• Support programs for CALD learners need

to focus on the development of bothlanguage skills and cultural understandings.Support models include ‘bridging courses’conducted before VET training, teamteaching by a VET trainer and ESL teacherin the same room, or pre-accredited andaccredited courses running concurrently.

• Support programs need to embed thelanguage, literacy and cultural skillsdevelopment in the training context, andrecycle industry-specific language andconcepts in a variety of contexts relevant tothe training. Support models that linkdirectly and immediately to the training arethe most effective.

• Close working relationships between ESLteachers/tutors and VET trainers increasethe skills and understandings of bothspecialists. Team teaching can enhance thedevelopment of language and literacy skillsof all learners as well as the development ofcultural understandings of Australianworkplaces.

• When CALD learner numbers are small,trained ESL volunteer tutors can supportlearning needs in mainstream classes. Insome rural areas the spouses of skilledmigrants find it difficult to gainemployment—some may appreciate theopportunity to take on the role of ESLvolunteer tutors.


Case study

Volunteer support for VETBased in Melbourne’s east, where CALD settlement hasgrown in recent years, the Learn Local organisationWaverley Adult Literacy Program has shaped its longstanding volunteer tutor program to provide forchanging needs. Each year, up to twenty volunteertutors are trained, starting with an initial twenty-hourtraining program followed by opportunities to observetrained teachers in classrooms. To equip volunteertutors to work with CALD learners, the initial trainingincludes sessions on working with CALD learners andfollow-up sessions on topics such as pronunciation,conversation, and supporting CALD learners in VET.

After training, volunteer tutors are placed in a range ofsituations: matched for one-on-one work or timetabledto provide classroom support; and volunteer tutorswork with adult literacy learners, people with mildintellectual disabilities, basic computer trainees whohave language or literacy needs, as well as with CALDlearners.

Our flourishing volunteer tutor program enabled us torespond quickly and effectively when a largeRegistered Training Organisation approached us forhelp with five CALD learners who were unlikely tocomplete Certificate III in Aged Care without additionallanguage support. We set up a support program whereeach CALD learner was matched with a volunteer tutor,and all five pairs met to work under the guidance of anexperienced teacher. All five gained the certificate, fourgot work shortly afterwards and one stayed on to enrolin a language and literacy class with us.

Gloria Parker: Coordinator, Waverley Adult Literacy Program

Strategy 9: Re-evaluate teaching and assessmentpractices• The relevance of ESL classes will be

maximised when authentic work-relatedlanguage and employment awareness-raising activities are integrated into thecourse.

• ESL classes with learners with similar levelsof English enable teachers and tutors tomore successfully address the languagelearning needs of CALD learners.

• Particular difficulties face those with little orno formal education. Strategies may need tobe developed to raise learner awareness ofthe importance of time-keeping and regularattendance in training courses. Abstractgraphics such as maps and charts may beunfamiliar to some learners—some learningsupport materials may, in fact, confuselearners.

• Delivery and assessment practices thatreflect preferred learning modes lead tomore productive outcomes, e.g. hands-onlearning opportunities can develop anddemonstrate job-related skills, while non-written assessment tasks can concretelydemonstrate competency.

• Ensure VET training delivery andassessment tasks are culturally andlinguistically inclusive, i.e. they do notassume a cultural knowledge or vocabularybeyond industry requirements, and writtentasks do not use complex grammaticalstructures.


Principle 3: Supported PathwaysWhat is it?Supported Pathways maximise CALD learners’awareness of, and opportunities to participate in,further education, training and meaningfulemployment. It involves recognising thatemployment and ways of gaining it areintrinsically cultural in nature.

Related action research projects:• North Melbourne Language and Learning• On-Track Training and Employment

Strategies to achieve Supported Pathways are:

Strategy 10: Embed pathways support into programdelivery • Assisting students to understand their

options and to plan to achieve their goals isessential for their navigating of the fundingsystem and making the ‘right’ trainingchoices. Adopt a holistic approach topathways support that encompasses thereality of individual learner’s lives andcommitments.

• It is never too early to begin raising learners’awareness of pathways options andpossibilities. Incorporating pathwayssupport into all levels of delivery will buildreluctant learners’ motivation to move alonga pathway. Awareness of pathways intosuitable employment will ensure that skilledrefugees do not remain trapped in entry-level employment.

• Role models and mentors help to buildCALD learners’ confidence to pursue goals.Rewarding achievement, e.g. through asmall ceremony on course completion, willmaintain learner enthusiasm for movementalong a pathway towards individual goals.

• Focus on existing strengths and ‘resilience’rather than barriers to gaining employment.

• Expectations of ways of gainingemployment differ from culture to culture.Implement strategies to improve CALDlearners’ knowledge of the labour market,local employment opportunities, and how togain employment.

• Develop partnerships with other organi-sations to provide effective pathways.

Strategy 11: Explore the culture-specific nature ofworkplaces• Even where the same industry exists in the

CALD learner’s country of origin, there maybe differing cultural understandings of howthat industry operates, e.g. customerservice expectations differ greatly fromculture to culture. CALD learners needorienting to these cultural differences andneed to participate in activities to raiseawareness of Australian culturalexpectations.

• Unpack workplace expectations andexplore cultural differences in theseexpectations during training and beforework placement. This includes such thingsas culturally appropriate ways of relating tosupervisors and colleagues. Unlearningprevious socialisation does not come easily,and needs to be explicitly examined andpractised in training.

• ‘Incidental chat’ and humour play animportant role in the workplace, e.g. inteamwork. Build into courses theopportunity to experience and practisethese culture-specific ways of interacting.


Strategy 12: Maximise opportunities to experiencethe Australian work context• The inclusion of work placement in courses

increases CALD learners’ potential to gainemployment. It provides the relevant localexperience frequently required byemployers and provides CALD learners withopportunities to come to terms withworkplace expectations and experienceemployability skills in action.

• Orientation to the workplace before workexperience helps learners to adjust theirexpectations. Debrief with CALD learnersafter work placement to continue unpackingcultural differences in workplaceexpectations.

• Training that mirrors the workplace provideshands-on practice of specific work tasksand a safe environment for coming to termswith culturally different work practices andexpectations, e.g. working in teams,working to a schedule and OHS.

• Volunteering in local organisations alsoprovides opportunities to gain valuableexperience of Australian workplaces.Develop relationships with local employersto increase the volunteering opportunitiesfor your CALD learners.

• Contact between employers and CALDlearners helps to nurture interculturalunderstanding, social inclusion andproductive community engagement.

Cultural knowledge is notsomething that learners can justpick up. In fact, culturaldifferences may often gounnoticed by learners until theyactually create a problem. Iflearners are going to developtheir cultural knowledge about thetarget language group, they needto be helped to notice when theirown culture differs from that ofothers and they need to noticethis before it creates problems. Liddicoat (2000:10)

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Learn Local collaborative action research


Paddocks topathways:Connecting withnew CALDcommunities

Good PracticePrinciple

Learn Local organisation

Title Action Research focus

Diamond ValleyLearning Centre(DVLC)

Situated in a growth corridor, DVLC’s research documents a search toidentify and reach CALD communities in order to provide appropriatecourses for the CALD settlers moving into their rapidly growing catchment area.

RobinvaleNetwork House

Church, choirand kava:ConsultingPacific Islandercommunities

In the hope of improving retention rates and opening up pathways to further study, Robinvale Network House identified and trialled strategies for enhancing their provision for local Pacific Islandercommunities.

CoonaraCommunityHouse andMulgraveNeighbourhoodHouse

Partnering forengagement

Located in an area of changing CALD demographics, the two organisations investigated how they could best identify and meet the training needs of their new CALD communities.

Engagement

PrestonReservoir AdultCommunityEducation(PRACE)

Team teachingfor language andculture

The PRACE research documents an ESL teacher's growing awareness, as she team taught with a VET trainer, of the linguistic and cultural needs of the CALD trainee cleaners in an Asset Maintenance course.

Diversitat Cultural hurdlesin aged carework

This study identified cultural and linguistic issues impacting on the work placements and subsequent employment of CALD learners inCertificate III in Aged Care. This led to the trialling of a range of support initiatives.

PortlandWorkSkills

Working withcultural andlinguisticdiversity inPortland

With growing numbers of CALD learners, Portland WorkSkills focused on enhancing the way the organisation as a whole engages with and provides for cultural and linguistic diversity. Su

pportive Learning Environments

North MelbourneLanguage &Learning

Positivepathways

This action research focused on how to best provide systematic andconsultative further study and vocational pathways advice, especially to women from the Horn of Africa who often present particular challenges.

On TrackTraining andEmployment

Bridging theemployment gapin Bendigo

On Track researched the needs, expectations and attitudes of localemployers in order to develop training strategies to improve the workreadiness of CALD learners from the newly emerging Karen community in Bendigo.Su

pported Pa

thways

Action research cycle

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A critical component of the Responding to CALDLearners initiative was the identification andimplementation of collaborative action researchprojects by Learn Local organisations. The action research projects shed light onaspects of the good practice principles ofEngagement, Supportive Learning Environmentsand Supported Pathways.

The research was conducted by Learn Localmanagers, coordinators, VET trainers and ESLteachers. It was conducted in diverse locationsranging from inner-city Melbourne with its highdensity CALD populations, to outer Melbournegrowth corridors, and to the South West, NorthEast and Central regions of Victoria.

While no two organisations, locations or issuesare identical, the findings and processes ofthese action research projects will providevaluable directions for other service providers.

Reflection on actionAction research is a process of reflectiveengagement with one’s own professionalpractice. Staff identify an issue affecting theorganisation’s provision for CALD learners, thenbegin an ongoing cycle of reflection on action.This involves planning how to investigate theissue, taking action by implementing thoseplans, collecting information through bothobservation and formal data gatheringtechniques, and then analysing the informationin order to plan for the next cycle of research.

Critical reflectionA critically reflexive approach involvesquestioning one’s own assumptions andacknowledging that there may be other (cultural)perspectives. Critical reflection essentiallyinvolves asking the question: ‘Are we part of theproblem?’

19

Ongoingreflection

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Plan

Collectdata

Takeaction

Identify

Analyse

Learn Local collaborative action research cont’d

Whole of organisation changeCollaborative action research involves a groupof researchers working together or an individualresearcher working with a collaborative team.The teams are actively involved in decision-making, planning and analysis. This providessupport for the researchers and deeperunderstanding through discussion. Thecollaboration improves decision-making aroundidentified issues and provides a powerful tool forwhole of organisation change. Organisationalcapacity is strengthened by sharing the researchand seeking feedback from colleaguesthroughout the process.

Information not assumptionAction researchers use multiple ways ofcollecting information including interviews,focus groups and journal keeping to recordobservations and reflections. They gatherinformation from a range of sources, includingCALD learners and CALD communities. Thisprovides a range of perspectives and, bycomparing and contrasting these perspectives,gives a sound basis on which to make decisions.

Ethical considerationsIt is important that participants give theirinformed consent before taking part in interviewsor other information gathering activities. Caremust be taken that all participants understandthe purpose of the research and that theirinvolvement is voluntary. Researchers must takeinto consideration CALD participants’ languagelevels and be sensitive to their backgrounds andany other concerns that may impact on theirwillingness to participate in an informationgathering process.


Action research

Working with cultural and linguisticdiversity in Portland (extract)Located on the south-west coast of Victoria, not farfrom the border with South Australia, Portland is a cityof over 10,000 people. … A few months before thisproject began, we at Learn Local organisation PortlandWorkSkills were experiencing growth in ourenrolments of CALD learners. … Engaging andcatering for these learners in training at WorkSkills isunderpinned by the WorkSkills Managing DiversityPolicy. As a collaborative team we were proud of howwe had put this policy into practice. However, webelieved we could do better. We decided that a majorfocus in our strategic planning for 2012 would be onour delivery to CALD learners. However, we didn’t wantto base this planning on assumptions about whatworked and what was needed—we wanted to build areliable picture of our current situation.

Anne Mountford: Portland WorkSkills

21

Action research

Paddocks to pathways (extract)Over the past three years, Learn Local organisation DVLC had put considerable effort into raising its profile in the northerngrowth corridor. Flyers were inserted into newspapers and letterboxes, and pressed into the hands of residents at communityfestivals. A variety of courses were also advertised, but failed to spark sufficient interest among CALD clients. It was this lackof success which led us to apply to do a research project related to the good practice principle of Engagement. …

[End cycle 1] We had been focusing on the adults, but now realised it was children who were the key to making connections inthese growth areas. With this new direction we identified the schools closest to DVLC in the target area and considered ourtactics before picking up the phone. Sympathetic to the work load of school principals and the impatience of most peopletowards phone canvassing, we prepared a brief and to the point script outlining the background to the project and ourinvolvement; our long experience at DVLC offering ESL classes; and our interest in offering adult classes in their area. Andthen came the critical question: Is there a need for English classes in your school?

[Cycle 2] We were heartened by the response of the seven schools we rang. All listened to our briefing and three expressedinterest. But our spirits really lifted when one principal responded to our critical question with, ‘I’d love that!’ Her responseinspired us—a way forward at last. Wasting not a minute, a meeting was organised at the school with the principal andspecialist coordinators.

As we write, the organisational wheels are turning: a memorandum of understanding (MOU) is being drawn up by the school,a morning tea at the school is being arranged for CALD parents to meet DVLC teachers and we are planning an A-Framecurriculum with a focus on primary school issues. In the new year, classes will be publicised via the school’s website andnewsletters, and at an information evening and welcome barbeque. The prospects look extremely good for making realconnections with CALD learners in the growth corridor in 2012.

Sue Paull & Julie Johnston: Diamond Valley Learning Centre

Key messages from the action research


Areas of demographic change

Gaining community trust

Key messages Particular challenges Good practice

Initial connections requirepersistence and patience

A holistic approach

Connect with communities thoughactivities valued by the community

Organisations need to fosterclose cooperation betweenspecialists

Facilitating working relationshipsbetween ESL teachers and VETtrainers

Accessibility to CALD learners oftraining materials and assessmentstasks

Whole of organisation commitment and support

Audit training materials andassessment tasks for their cultural andlinguistic inclusiveness

The interaction of cultureand language is complexand subtle

The ‘Australian way’ of communicating

Employability skills are fundamentallyculture-specific

Staff aware of intercultural communication issues

Explicit awareness-raising activitiesincorporated into training and ESLclassrooms

Summary of le

arning

Pathways support for CALDlearners is essential

Many CALD learners need pathwaysadvice to be provided by someoneknown and trusted

CALD learners with limited educationalbackgrounds

On-going upgrading of staff knowledgeof the training system, training optionsand employment possibilities

Partnerships with organisations thatcan offer adequate support

CALD learners needcultural orientation toAustralian work practices

Explicitly unpacking culturaldifferences in work practices andexpectations

CALD learners with little, if anyexposure to employer and employeerelationship

In-class activities combined withpractical and concrete experience

Practical and concrete experience

Organisations can fosteremployment possibilities

Raising employer awareness ofbenefits of employing CALD workers

Countering misconceptions held byemployers

Proactive advocacy

Promote contact between localemployers and potential CALDemployees

EngagementThe action research projects investigating waysof connecting with CALD communities vividlyshow how challenging initial engagement can befor organisations.

Key message 1: Initial connections requirepersistence and patience • In areas of changing demographics it can

be difficult to even know who the potentiallearner groups are or where to find them.

• Networking with other organisations thatalready have connections with new CALDgroups is essential.

• Potential CALD learners may be unaware ofthe services available to them, unaware ofthe role of a Learn Local organisation, orfeel that they are not in a position to benefitfrom education and training, as was thecase with the Pacific Islander groups inRobinvale.

• Trusted community leaders, either fromwithin the community itself or from anotherorganisation already working with them,may be the gateway to the community.

• Positive outcomes can result fromconnecting with people through activities,places and services important to their lives.As the Diamond Valley Learning Centreresearchers found, connecting with CALDwomen through organisations and activitiesassociated with their children can beparticularly effective.

• Consultation enables the organisation to putinto place a holistic approach that takes intoaccount broader factors of peoples’ lives.

• Small things, such as phoning to remindlearners that their class is on, can beimportant in maintaining the engagement ofCALD learners with limited educationalexperience or expectations.

23

Action research

Church, choir and kava (extract)Our conventional methods of promoting our coursesweren't reaching the Islander communities so weneeded to try a more innovative approach. For theTongan community, this meant a meeting at the UnitingChurch following their evening worship. The Fijiansinvited us to join them in their evening choir practicewhich was held in a local home decorated in atraditional Fijian style. Our discussions took place oversoup and kava following the singing. …

We need to continue to listen to and consult with ourCALD communities to develop other courses thatspecifically address their needs. Our Committee ofManagement has already endorsed a more consultativeapproach and we want to continue to build on our newand enhanced relationships. We value their opinionsand have established an increased level of trust fromboth CALD communities, but particularly with theFijians.

Through this project we have learnt a great deal bothon a personal and an organisational level. We haveseen how important it is to begin to engage our hard toreach Islander communities by reaching out to them,by going to where they are, and by talking to themabout what is important to them. In this way—inshowing that we are interested in them and theirlives—we can begin to build relationships and trust.We have learnt the value of flexibility at the individualand the organisational level and we have learnt thatsmall things—like texting learners to remind them thatclass is on—can make a big difference. Lastly, but veryimportantly, we have a greater cultural awareness ofthe communities that we are trying to engage but at thesame time we are aware of how much more there is tolearn … and we realise our journey is only justbeginning!

Andrea Manna: Learn Local organisation Robinvale NetworkHouse

Key messages from the action research cont’d

Supportive Learning EnvironmentsThe action research projects highlight theimportance of addressing the ‘cultural’component of cultural and linguistic diversity.They provide valuable insights into what thismeans in practice.

Key message 2: The interaction of culture andlanguage is complex and subtle• CALD learners in the Coonara and Mulgrave

research pointed out that the ‘Australianway’ of communicating is challenging. Asreasonably competent speakers of English,they were not referring to the grammar orthe vocabulary but to a culturally definedunderstanding of appropriate andsuccessful communication.

• Language is more than words and grammar.If, for example, CALD learners use formallanguage or omit the expected language‘softeners’ they may be perceived asarrogant, unfriendly, demanding or as‘overstepping boundaries’. Alternatively, itcould give the impression that the CALDlearner’s language skills are not adequate,even though the communication isgrammatically correct.

• Communication as an employability skillencompasses ‘being assertive’ and‘persuading effectively’. How these areachieved differs from culture to culture.Even ‘speaking clearly and directly’ isculture-specific. As the Diversitat researchclearly showed, training that makes the‘secret rules’ of such communication explicitcan be highly beneficial.

• To optimise CALD learners success in theirchosen industry, role-plays and otheractivities for assisting CALD learners tointernalise the ‘secret rules’ of successfulcommunication will be most effective whenbased on authentic workplace situations.


Action research

Cultural hurdles in aged care (extract)Another cultural hurdle encountered by our CALDlearners was the 'hidden hierarchy' of the aged careworkplace—a hierarchy obscured by workplacecommunication that has an aura of equality about it.Workers, and even the manager or director of nursing,call each other by a first name or nickname in a friendlyfashion. This caused confusion in determining the lineof command for some CALD learners. For example, aCALD learner reported that when instructed by aworkplace ‘buddy’ to clean up the dining room tables,she thought, 'Why should I do that? I am the just sameas her.' Yet when she questioned her about the fairnessof the instruction, the buddy turned into a (not verypleased) superior!

Our research responses in the first cycle demonstratedthat our CALD learners were unaware of what Yates(2008) refers to as the ‘secret rules’ of communication.By unpacking these culture-specific 'rules', we hopedto help our learners build the intercultural skills theywould need for the aged care sector with its patterns ofcommunication vacillating between formaI andinformal, direct and indirect. Without knowing the rightway to express themselves, CALD learners can comeacross as hesitant and as not showing initiative.Alternatively, without the appropriate language'softeners', they can be perceived as brusque orcrossing a boundary in the sense of ‘rising above one’sstation'. Adding 'please' to what is otherwise a demand('Sign my time sheet') is simply not enough. CALDlearners need to know how to use phrases that 'soften',i.e. how to apply a 'secret rule', such as, 'When youhave time, could you sign my timesheet, please?’ or‘I was wondering if I could observe the resident of theday?’

To put such communicative tasks into practice, Iworked with a wide variety of unscripted role-playscontextualised in aged care. One learner reported thatthe role-play practice and the ‘secret rules’ ofcommunication were the most beneficial support of all.In fact, she kept begging for more of these.

Lizzy Bilogrevic: Learn Local organisation Diversitat

cultural skills in a way that is fully integratedinto the vocational training. Each member ofthe teaching team needs to be clear of theirroles.

• When team teaching, the ESL specialists’skills are not confined to assisting onlyCALD learners. Their specialist expertise inlanguage, literacy, numeracy andintercultural communication can be relevantto all learners in the course.

• Organisations need to provide support inthe form of preparation time, particularly fornew teams and new courses.

Key message 3: Organisations need to foster closecooperation between specialists• The Portland WorkSkills, PRACE and

Diversitat research findings contributevaluable insights into the challenges thatCALD learners can face in VET classes. Aswell as specific workplace vocabulary,learners can encounter difficulties with, forexample, reading lengthy class handouts,written assignments and assessments, thespeed of spoken delivery and withcolloquial language. The PRACE researchalso demonstrates how assessment taskscan assume cultural knowledge thatdiscriminates against CALD learners.

• ESL teachers can critically appraise theaccessibility of VET training materials andassessment tasks for their language,literacy and cultural inclusiveness. They cananalyse written materials to ensure they donot demand a language and literacy levelabove the requirements of the job.

• Moreover, the culturally defined nature ofeffective communication necessitates closeworking relationships between communi-cation specialists (ESL teachers) andindustry specialists (VET trainers). This willenable organisations to establish the mostappropriate support for their CALD learners.

• Team teaching by a VET trainer and ESLteacher can be a powerful support tool. Asthe PRACE and Diversitat research pointout, the CAVSS model (see VETinfonet 2011;McHugh 2011) allows for support to beprovided as it is needed within the contextof the training. How this can be put intopractice is well illustrated in the PRACEresearch.

• In a team teaching situation, the VET trainerremains responsible for the vocationaltraining. The ESL specialist explicitlyteaches language, literacy, numeracy and

25

Action research

Team teaching for language andculture (extract)The new group of trainees is made up of mostly CALDlearners. This has created a very rich learningenvironment for both John and me, allowing us toconsolidate and extend our understanding of how tocater for the cultural needs of our CALD learners and,in so doing, build the intercultural communicationskills of all our learners. I continue to assist all traineeswith literacy and numeracy where needed. Johncontinues to deliver the course information in a real,practical and relevant form, repeating and refreshingthe information regularly. In this way we are perfectinga 'tag-teaching' approach in which we take turns as themain instructor each contributing our specialistknowledge, while nevertheless, 'the industry lecturer isclearly in charge and is the subject specialist' (McHugh2011:12).

Tina Vlahos: Learn Local organisation Preston ReservoirAdult Community Education (PRACE)


Supported PathwaysThe projects illuminate the kinds of supportneeded by many CALD learners to articulate andachieve their goals. They also provide insightsinto how best to foster two-way understandingbetween employers and CALD communities.

Key message 4: Pathways support for CALD learnersis essential• Many CALD learners need support to

identify their potential career options and tounderstand the education and trainingopportunities that will help them achievetheir goals.

• Organisations need to assist CALD learnersto understand the funding system and toselect providers who can offer the supportneeded for them to reach their employmentgoals. Organisations need to raiseawareness, particularly among learners withlimited educational experience, that a shortcourse is not necessarily going to meet theirneeds.

• Partnerships with other service providerscan provide supportive and trustworthypathways so long as they are regularlyreviewed for success and sharedexpectations.

• Pathways planning is best provided bysomeone known and trusted by learners. Asthe research by North Melbourne Languageand Learning (NMLL) found, many CALDlearners prefer to engage in pathwaysplanning with people they have built uprelationships with, such as their teacher.They may be uncomfortable discussingaspects of their lives with people they don’tknow, particularly if they are unsure of theirown skills and knowledge.

• The most useful pathways strategies areconcrete and practical.

• Assisting learners to plan their pathwaysnecessitates keeping an open mind aboutlearners’ aspirations.


Action research

Positive pathways (extract)When surveyed about the experience of meeting withthe careers professional, the results were not aspositive: our CALD learners rated this strategy‘moderately useful’ to ‘not useful at all’. Although oneof the learners said that you get good ideas fromdifferent people, meeting the unknown careersprofessional was stressful for the other two learners.One said, 'First meeting with new people is worrying’and the other learner said 'It made me more stressed'.

Learners indicated that they might find it useful to seea professional every six to twelve months. But on thewhole they preferred to talk with their teacher—aperson they know and trust—rather than a profes-sional careers counsellor who does not know them.

Feedback from the student survey showed the mostuseful pathways strategies were those that werepractical in nature and would acquaint them with thereal world of work. A workplace visit and workplacement were both rated ‘extremely useful’ or ‘veryuseful’ by all participants. The next most popularstrategies were: meeting with a teacher; a practical toolthey could use to plan their future with their family; andmeeting with a peer mentor. This finding has shown usthat we need to re-frame the way we have traditionallythought of pathways support as a two-dimensionallearner plan.

Kat Sullivan: Learn Local organisation North MelbourneLanguage and Learning

Key message 6: Organisations can fosteremployment possibilities• The On Track research illustrates the vital

role Learn Local organisations can play inadvocating for the employment of membersof their local CALD communities.

• Direct contact through workplace visits andwork placements play a valuable role indispelling the misconceptions of someemployers, who perhaps perceiveinsurmountable difficulties in employingCALD workers and may hold ill-informedviews of local CALD communities becauseof limited previous contact.

Key message 5: CALD learners need culturalorientation to Australian work practices• Culture influences how decisions are made;

when it is appropriate to voice opinions;what we believe teamwork to be; howdeferential we are to people in authority;and how we show that deference.

• The ‘hidden hierarchy’ is an aspect ofAustralian workplaces that can be highlyconfusing to CALD learners, with potentiallydamaging consequences in terms ofemployment prospects. Diversitat’s study ofCALD learners in aged care courses clearlyillustrated this.

• The On Track research, in particular,demonstrated how confusing a workplacecan be to those who have little knowledge ofnot only the Australian workplace but anyworkplace.

• Practical experience provides the greatestinsights into workplace expectations.Classrooms can be set up to mirror theworkplace. Hands-on learning providesopportunities to develop and demonstrateemployability skills. Trainees experiencefirst-hand such things as maintaining aschedule and what is meant by teamwork inthe Australian work context.

• Work placement provides the mostauthentic experience of Australianworkplace expectations. To optimise thesuccess of work placements, CALD learnersneed to be well prepared beforehand.

• Work placement is a pathway toemployment—it can provide the learner withthe crucial Australian work experiencedemanded by many employers or it canlead directly to an offer of work from the hostemployer.

27

Action research

Bridging the employment gap inBendigo (extract)Alongside the training, we instigated a ‘road show’ totake to employers to help them understand the Karenpeople’s lives, culture, experiences and understandings.

It is important that our training be in line with the cultureof specific workplaces, and it is with this in mind thatwe developed the Bendigo Employment WorkingGroup—so that we can ascertain the needs of eachemployer. The CALD learners need to understand theway the workplace functions, and the processes andprocedures involved, and this functionality is determinedby consultation with the employers. In this way,problems can be solved before they become issues, andunderstanding can take the place of recrimination.

The training and the Bendigo Employment WorkingGroup feed into each other in a cyclical process. Theemployment group has, in fact, become part of theholistic approach to the training. Not only does itenable us to more easily consult employers in order tofocus our training, but the formation of the group hasopened up opportunities for orientation visits so thatwhat we teach our Karen learners can be experienceddirectly, not just in abstract.

Chris Moore: Learn Local organisation On Track Training andEmployment


Further capacity building opportunitiesThe issues raised by the action researchprojects suggest areas for further capacitybuilding for the most effective application of theframework of good practice in responding toCALD learners. Challenges relate particularly to:

Connecting with new CALD communities in areas ofdemographic changeOrganisations facing similar challenges in thesame region will benefit from specialist andcollegiate support.

Addressing cultural as well as linguistic needsThe role of culture in successful communicationand in shaping expectations is emerging as acentral concern in education and training. Inputfrom intercultural communication specialists willbenefit both VET trainers and ESL teachers.Workshops aimed at auditing materials for theircultural and linguistic inclusivity will also beuseful for some organisations.

Team teaching to maximise support for CALDlearnersTeachers and trainers usually work alone soprofessional development will assist them to takeon these valuable team teaching roles.Inevitably, team teaching will broaden the skillsand teaching repertoires of both the ESL teacherand the industry trainer. ESL teachers may needto develop a greater understanding of the VETcontext they are supporting.

Providing pathways supportPathways support and advice delivered byknown and trusted individuals, such as teachers,is the most effective for many CALD learners.Teaching staff will require skills and informationfor providing timely and accurate pathwaysadvice. Professional development will add depthto the learning environment by up-skillingteachers to integrate career assistance intoclassroom work.

Providing cultural orientation to workplacesCultural differences in work practices andexpectations mean that many CALD learnersneed explicit input and concrete experience toacquire new cultural understandings. CALDlearners with no previous experience of a paidworkforce need considerable support. Profes-sional development will assist staff to incorporateexplicit support into their teaching and trainingrepertoires and assist organisations to identifythe most appropriate practical support for theirlearners.

The positive feedback from the action researchprojects suggests that well-supported andcollaborative action research can be a valuableprofessional development and capacity buildingtool at individual, organisational and sectorlevels. Participating organisations reported that:

• their collaborative research contributedpositively to organisational change

• they were able to make informed decisionsrather than ones based on assumption

• working closely with a collaborative team,having research mentors and comingtogether with other action researchersprovided vital support and motivation

• presenting their research to a broaderaudience gave them the opportunity to bothrefine and share their findings.

The framework of good practice will assistindividual organisations to identify their ownparticular professional development needs.

To read the full action research reports, writtenby the action researchers in the participatingLearn Local organisations, visitwww.acfe.vic.gov.au


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Case study

Learning about workplacesBreaking Down Barriers is an Employment Pathways Program funded by the Inner Northern Community Foundation. It grewout of our Job Club that helps people write resumes and job applications. We started the program because we realised thatmany of the newly arrived refugees and migrants in our local community were not yet at the stage of attending interviews andapplying for work, and that they didn’t have any networks to supply references and referrals. What they needed was tounderstand more about the Australian work context through concrete first-hand experience.

Breaking Down Barriers, which began in 2011, provides participants with this experience by organising visits to localworkplaces to get an insight into aged care, child care, office work, gardening, hospitality and clothing manufacturing. Formore in-depth work experience, participants are placed as volunteers for a six-month period with local organisations to gainskills and understanding of office work, customer service and horticulture. Volunteer mentors play an important role insupporting and encouraging participants. Support has included assistance with using public transport, explaining theAustralian workplace culture, outlining the importance of teamwork within a workplace, answering questions, explainingprocedures, and assistance during the initial few weeks of attending the workplace. Volunteer mentors liaise with theworkplace supervisors and the program clients, and meet regularly with the clients at the Fitzroy Learning Network and onthe job at the workplace. An essential aspect of preparing employment pathways is to continue with English lessons, so theparticipants attend English classes each morning. In the classes they share their experiences of the work placements withtheir classmates.

It has been wonderful to see our CALD learners gain confidence in using their English, working as part of a team and learningabout workplaces. They now have the beginnings of a resume. They have work experience and industry contacts they can useas referees in the future. Several of the graduates have gone on to training courses in 2012, while others have continued theirEnglish classes. Many continue to volunteer their time with a community organisation. This provides them with productivecommunity engagement while they continue to develop their employability skills and increase their chances of futureemployment.

Colleen Duggan: Executive Officer, Learn Local organisation Fitzroy Learning Network

Guide to resources

Community directoriesDirectories providing contact details for a large range ofCALD–related organisations and services can be searched on:

Department of Justice websitewww.justice.vic.gov.au/multidirectory

Institute for Cultural Diversity websitewww.culturaldiversity.net.au

Cultural information Community profiles to assist service providers to betterunderstand the backgrounds and needs of refugees andmigrants are available from:

Centre for Multicultural Youthwww.cmy.net.au/PublicationsandResources

Department of Immigration and Citizenshipwww.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/delivering-assistance/government-programs/settlement-planning/community-profiles.htm

New Hope Foundationwww.newhope.asn.au/publications

South Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centrewww.sermrc.org.au

Professional development trainingProfessional development and training for organisations andindividuals working with CALD learners can be accessedthrough:

AMESThe Community Volunteer Tutor Training Program is a DIAC-funded program to up-skill and support volunteer ESLtutors working with community groupswww.ames.net.au/volunteer-training-for-community-organisations

Centre for Culture Ethnicity & HealthCultural responsiveness training in a range of topics includingcultural competency training www.ceh.org.au

Centre for Multicultural YouthTraining programs for those working with migrant and refugeeyouth www.cmy.net.au/ProfessionalDevelopment

Foundation House – The Victorian Foundation forSurvivors of TortureProfessional development for organisations involved incommunity service delivery to refugees and asylum seekerswho have experienced torture and trauma prior to their arrivalin Australiawww.foundationhouse.org.au/professional_development/index.htm

Spectrum Multicultural Resource CentreCultural competency training and cross-cultural trainingthrough community profiles www.spectrumvic.org.au/Cross-Cultural-Training

Professional development resourcesProfessional development resources for organisations andindividuals working with CALD learners can be downloadedfrom:

AMEP Research CentreFact Sheets about teaching CALD learners with minimaleducation, learners from oral backgrounds, CALD youth,employability skills and other topicswww.ameprc.mq.edu.au/resources/amep_fact_sheets

Professional development resources about English languageassessment and teaching pronunciationwww.ameprc.mq.edu.au/resources/professional_development_resources

Centre for Culture Ethnicity & HealthCultural competency tip sheets www.ceh.org.au/culturalcompetence.aspx

Centre for Multicultural Youth

Information sheets and good practice guides for working withCALD Youthwww.cmy.net.au/Publications

National Centre for Vocational Education ResearchGood practice guide on teaching learners from oral culturesand other resources can be found by searching the NCVERcatalogue by theme www.ncver.edu.au/publications/search.html

Victorian Interpreting and Translating ServicesThe publication ‘We speak your language: Guide to crosscultural communication’ provides a useful starting point forthose engaging in cross-cultural communicationwww.vits.com.au/downloads/guide.pdf


Teaching and learning internet resourcesClassroom resources can be downloaded from:

AMEP Research CentreBeginning readers to raise awareness of basic safety aroundthe home, plus topic-based classroom resources for youthwww.ameprc.mq.edu.au/resources/classroom_resources

Department of Immigration and Citizenship The citizenship test resource, Australian citizenship: Ourcommon bond is available in English and 37 communitylanguageswww.citizenship.gov.au/learn/cit_test/test_resource or phone 131 880

Foundation House – The Victorian Foundation forSurvivors of TortureTeaching resources, including resources to enhanceunderstanding about raising children in Australia, and foodand nutrition in Australiawww.foundationhouse.org.au/resources/publications_and_resources.htm

Teaching and learning publicationsEnglish language and literacy resources, VET resources andsettlement resources for CALD learners can be ordered from:

AMESwww.ames.net.au/bookshop

AMES NSWhttp://ames.edu.au/content/publications.aspx

Bookery Educationwww.bookeryeducation.com.au

Protea Textwarewww.proteatextware.com.au

Sound Englishwww.soundenglish.com.au

TAFE SAhttps://shop.tafesa.edu.au

Public speakers Public speakers can be booked through:

Foundation House – The Victorian Foundation forSurvivors of Torture Speakers raise awareness of the needs of refugees andsurvivors of torturewww.foundationhouse.org.au/professional_development/public _speaking_requests.htm

Statistical informationStatistics related to immigration, CALD settlement patternsand CALD census data that can assist with planning areavailable from:

Adult, Community and Further EducationThe publication CALD settlement and ACE possibilitiesprovides an overview of CALD settlement and employmentopportunities in each of the ACFE Regions in Victoriawww.skills.vic.gov.au/learnlocal-acfe/acfe-publications-and-research/acfe-publications-and-research

Australian Bureau of StatisticsNational and regional statistics based on census datawww.abs.gov.au

Australian Bureau of StatisticsThe National Information and Referral Service responds toemail and phone enquiries for specific Australian statisticalinformation [email protected] phone: 1300 135 070

Department of Immigration and CitizenshipThe Settlement Reporting Facility provides the public withstatistical data on permanent arrivals to Australiawww.immi.gov.au/settlement

Department of Planning and Community DevelopmentVictorian demographics www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/home/publications-and-research/urban-and-regional-research/Demographics-and-Population

31

Cultural and linguistic diversity in Victoria

A century of increasing diversity in Australia

Sources: DIAC (2008); DIAC (2010a);Karlsen et al., (2010); Museum Victoria(2009); Neumann (2010); Phillips et al.(2011)


2006 UK (23.5% of total OS-born pop), NZ,China, Italy, Vietnam

2001 UK (25%), NZ, Italy,Vietnam, China

1991 UK (30%), NZ, Italy,Yugoslavia, Greece,Vietnam

1981 UK (36.5%), Italy, NZ,Yugoslavia, Greece

1971 UK (41%), Italy,Greece, Yugoslavia,Germany

1961 UK (40%), Italy,Germany, Netherlands,Greece

1954 UK (48%), Italy, Poland, Netherlands,Germany

1947 UK (67%), Ireland, NZ,Italy, Germany

UK (70%), Ireland, NZ,Italy, Germany

UK (68%), Ireland, NZ,Germany, China

UK (60%), Ireland,Germany, NZ, China

1933

1921

1911

Census Population: Top 5 COB

Late '80s: Skilled,Family & Humanitariancategories introduced

2004: Directsettlement ofrefugees to regionalAustralia introduced

1981: Special HumanitarianProgram introduced

1977: Humanitarianprogram introduced

1954: Australia ratifiesUN RefugeeConvention

1945: Firstimmigrationdepartmentestablished

'White AustraliaPolicy' in place

From 2000: increase in immigrantsfrom Africa, particularly Sudan,Liberia, Somalia and Sierra Leone.

Refugees mainly from Balkans,Middle East, Central Asia & EastTimor

1981–82: 21,917 Humanitarianarrivals, mainly Indochinese

1976: Vietnamese 'boat people'arrive

'Populate or perish':£10 Poms & European migrants

Post-war settlement of Europeanrefugees

10,000 refugees fleeing NaziGermany

Migrant are people who make aconscious choice to leave their countryto seek a better life elsewhere. Beforethey decide to leave, migrants canseek information about their newhome, study the language and exploreemployment opportunities. They cantake their belongings with them andsay goodbye to the important people intheir lives. They are free to returnhome at any time if things don’t workout as they had hoped, if they gethomesick or if they wish to visit familymembers and friends left behind.

Refugees are forced to leave theircountry because they are at risk of, orhave experienced, persecution. Theyare concerned about human rights andsafety, not economic advantage.Refugees have been forced to leavebehind their homes, most or all of theirbelongings, family members andfriends. Some are forced to flee with nowarning and many have experiencedsignificant trauma or been tortured orotherwise ill-treated. The journey tosafety is fraught with hazard and manyrefugees risk their lives in search ofprotection. They cannot return unlessthe situation that forced them to leaveimproves. Refugee Council of Australia (2012)

33

Refuge and economicsPeople seeking refuge from war and civil strifehave played a significant role in increasing themulticultural make-up of our population. So toohave Australia’s policies for economic prosperity.After World War II, Australia was a sanctuary forthousands of refugees from Europe, who, fromthe first arrivals from Estonia, Latvia andLithuania (Neumann 2010:1), brought culturaland linguistic diversity to the predominantlyAnglo-Celtic population. Over the next fewdecades, the fear that Australia was insufficientlypopulated to defend against invasion, plus theneed to stimulate the post-war economy, saw theFederal Government sponsor thousands ofBritish and European migrants (Phillips et al.2010:4).

The focus on Europe shattered with the arrival, in1976, of the first ‘boat people’ fleeing theaftermath of the war in Vietnam. With globalobligations as a signatory of the United NationsConvention on Refugees, Australia responded tothis humanitarian crisis by setting up, for the firsttime, a specific refugee program—the Humani-tarian Program. Shortly after, the SpecialHumanitarian Program was introduced to assistpeople who ‘did not fit neatly into the “refugee”category but who were subject to human rightsabuses and had families or community ties inAustralia.’ These programs saw 130,000refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laosresettled in Australia over the next decade and ahalf (Karlsen et al. 2010:3). By the 1991 census,Vietnamese migrants were the sixth largestoverseas-born group in Australia (Phillips et al.2010:28).

Cultural and linguistic diversity in Victoria cont’d

Our population has continued to diversify witheach new wave of refugees fleeing war, civilunrest and persecution. By the second half ofthe 1980s, over forty nationalities had soughtrefuge in Australia including significant numbersfrom Latin America and the Middle East (DIAC2008:69). Since then, the humanitarian intakehas included people from the Balkans, theMiddle East, Central and Southern Asia,Southeast Asia, North Africa and Sub-SaharanAfrica. The largest intakes in the last decadehave been from Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma andSudan (DIAC 2010b:26). By 2009–10, over 30%of Humanitarian arrivals had been born in Northor Sub-Saharan Africa (DIAC 2010b:3), mostsignificantly in Sudan, but also Horn of Africacountries as well as smaller numbers fromLiberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi and theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo),among others.

Economic considerations have also continued toplay a major role in our diversification, withcurrent policies having a strong focus ontargeting those with skills to fill shortages in theAustralian workforce. As a result, by far thegreatest numbers of those who come to Australiado so through our Migration Program for skilledand family migrants. While this has not increaseddiversity to the same extent as the HumanitarianProgram, it has attracted large numbers ofmigrants from China and India so that by 2010these two countries had become the second andthird top countries of birth after New Zealand(DIAC 2010b:27).

Victoria’s recent arrivals More than a quarter of all migrants to Australiastate that they intend to live in Victoria, making itthe most common destination after New SouthWales (DIAC 2010b:19). Table 1 shows the topten countries of birth (COB) of migrants settlingin Victoria in the 2009–10 financial year. Thesettlers from these top ten countries wereprimarily skilled and family stream migrants, withnumbers from China, India, the Philippines,Malaysia and Vietnam having steadily increased,and numbers from Sri Lanka having almostquadrupled over the previous decade. (DIAC2010a:26–27).

Table 1: Top 10 COB of migrants settling inVictoria

Top 10 COB Migrant numbers(2009–2010)

1 China 5,9692 India 5,3463 NZ 3,6964 UK & Ireland 2,9045 Sri Lanka 2,0186 Philippines 1,3647 Malaysia 1,2268 Vietnam 1,0559 South Africa 92010 Iraq 669

Source: DIAC (2010a:24–30)

Only 7.2% of the settler numbers in Table 1 wererefugees (DIAC 2010b:19). The largest group ofhumanitarian migrants was from Iraq which is thetenth country on the list. Department ofImmigration and Citizenship (DIAC) statisticsalso record small numbers of refugees amongstthe primarily skilled and family migrants from SriLanka. However, because DIAC records showcountry of birth rather than ethnicity, there are


refugee camps where many refugees fromBurma have lived for decades to escapesystematic human rights abuses.

As Table 2 shows, after the top four countries ofbirth, the numbers of humanitarian arrivals inVictoria dropped considerably. Some—such asthe Iranians, Ethiopians and Sudanese—joinedsubstantial communities already in Victoria. Infact, Sudanese refugees were the largest groupto be resettled under Australia’s offshoreprogram in the last decade (Neumann 2010:2).In that time, more than 8,000 Sudanese wereresettled in Victoria with more than half of thesearriving between 2002 and 2006.

Others, such as the 72 arrivals from the DRCongo, the 57 from Bhutan and the 21 peoplefrom Burundi contributed their numbers to newlyemerging communities in Victoria. New andemerging communities have been defined ascommunities of ‘less than 20,000 in Australia,most of whom have been in Australia for lessthan ten years’ (HREOC 1999:3). The Federationof Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australiaincludes in their definition that new andemerging communities show ‘a significantincrease in numbers over the last five years’(FECCA 2010:2). Table 3 shows the arrivalscontributing to small and emerging communitiesin Victoria over the last few years.

However, because DIAC records entrants bycountry of birth rather than ethnicity, the range ofcommunities that are emerging are notadequately portrayed in the table. For example,the ethnicity of entrants recorded in the DRCongo statistics may be Hutu, Tutsi, Luba, Kasaior Bantu (DIMA 2006:4), to name just a few. Withbetween 200 and 250 ethnic groups in the DRCongo ‘people are likely to identify themselves inrelation to their tribal or ethnic backgrounds’(DIMA 2006:9).

other, much smaller, numbers of refugees‘hidden’ in these figures, such as Uighurs andTibetans who are Chinese nationals.

In the next six months, there was a sharpincrease in Sri Lankan-born humanitarian settlersin Victoria as the Tamil ethnic group, in particular,fled by boat fearing reprisals following the officialcessation of the long-running civil war. By thesecond half of 2010, they had become the fourthlargest group of humanitarian settlers in Victoria(see Table 2). In the same timeframe, there wasa sharp rise in the arrival of boats carryingAfghani asylum seekers. The majority of thesewere Hazara who differ ethnically from thedominant Pashtun tribe and claim intense andsustained persecution (Chadbourne et al. 2004).

Table 2: Top 10 COB of Humanitarian arrivals inVictoria

Top 10 COB Humanitarian (Jun ‘10–Jan ‘11) arrival numbers

1 Afghanistan 3472 Burma 3093 Iraq 1954 Sri Lanka 1215 DR Congo 726 Bhutan 577 Ethiopia 558 Sudan 499 Iran 4810 Burundi 21

Source: DIAC HEMS stats generated 01/01/11

Ethnic groups fleeing Burma’s ruling militaryregime were the second largest number ofhumanitarian arrivals. These were primarily Chinand Karen peoples, but also included smallnumbers of Karenni, Shan, Burmese andRohingya. Their actual numbers are higher if weinclude those who born in Malaysia or in Thai

35


In July 2011, the Republic of South Sudan became the world's 193rd nation whenSudan was officially divided after five decades of wars and interethnic conflict …In 2001, the Sudanese population of Australia was slightly less than 5,000, most ofwhom were refugees. By 2006, the number had grown to just under 20,000; a ratethat put enormous pressure on the fragile community structures established byearlier arrivals …The vast majority are Christians with a smaller group ofMuslims. The largest settlement is in Melbourne.

Ethiopia has experienced over thirty years of disruption, with refugee communitiesscattered through Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya … The 2006 censusrecorded the community [in Australia] at about 5,000, with 60% living in Victoria… with a significant group of 350 (comprising Christian women with children atrisk) arriving in 2004.

In 2001, there were about 1,600 Eritreans living in Australia—again mostly inVictoria—with the number growing to 2,000 by 2006. Almost all Eritreans inAustralia are either humanitarian or family entrants; over half identify as Muslims,with a smaller number being Coptic and Eastern Orthodox.

Somalis began arriving in the 1980s and established community organisationsearly on. Most gravitated towards Melbourne … In 1996 there were 2,061 Somalis,a number which increased to 3,713 by 2001…The community has grown onlyslightly since. Most Somalis are Sunni Muslims and their religious practice hashelped them establish links with other Muslim communities in Australia. Somaliawas an attempted amalgam of former British and Italian colonial territories andhas experienced constant civil war and tension.

From: Jakubowicz (2010:15–16)


because of the group having little or no previoushistory of migration to the country. Lackingestablished family networks, support systemsand community resources relative to moreestablished communities, they also tend notto have community infrastructures and organi-sations that can attract funding (FECCA 2010:2).This, as Whittlesea Community Connections(2008:7) points out, ‘impacts on their ability toseek support from more established communitymembers, reducing access to culturally andlinguistically appropriate support networks’.

As acknowledged by DIAC (2011), allhumanitarian entrants ‘typically arrive havingexperienced high levels of disadvantage’,including not only trauma caused by humanrights abuses and loss or separation from familymembers, but possibly also low levels ofschooling and work skills caused by thedisruption of war or civil unrest, and years livingin refugee camps or urban poverty in anothercountry. Of all new arrivals to Australia,humanitarian entrants are, therefore, generallyacknowledged to be the most in need of post-arrival support. However, small and emergingcommunities may be even more vulnerable thanmore established communities, precisely

37

Birthplace 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11*

Azerbaijan 3 3 3 – – – 6 –Bhutan – – – – 1 40 115 57Burundi 1 58 67 20 16 4 13 21Congo 7 11 21 7 2 1 3 17Djibouti 1 6 1 5 1 3 1 –DR Congo 2 3 41 44 31 19 62 72Liberia 2 176 54 69 47 68 83 11Rwanda – 6 2 4 3 15 12 –Sierra Leone 9 15 35 44 26 11 36 6Togo – – 1 10 24 3 4 7Uzbekistan 11 6 15 19 14 12 6 –

Source: DIAC (2010a:24–30) and DIAC HEMS stats generated 01/01/11 (*6 months only)

Table 3: New and emerging communities:Victorian arrivals by COB


CALD settlement in VictoriaWhether part of a newly emerging community orjoining a more established community, themajority of recent arrivals to Victoria settled, atleast initially, in metropolitan Melbourne—asmost have always done. DIAC settlement figuresshow that although all metropolitan localgovernment areas (LGA) hosted the initialsettlement of significant numbers of new arrivals(most particularly skilled migrants), the numberssettling in the southern municipality of GreaterDandenong are far greater than in any otherLGA. Moreover, while Dandenong is the initialhome of many migrants in all visa categories, thenumbers of humanitarian migrants are strikinglylarger than in any other municipality (seestatistics compiled by Newcombe & Achren,2010). As a result, the City of GreaterDandenong enjoys the status of being the mostculturally diverse municipality in Victoria. With56% of its population born overseas and 51%from non-English speaking countries, thebirthplaces of its residents are a microcosm ofVictoria’s economic and humanitarian migrationover the decades (City of Greater Dandenong2011).

Among the newer arrivals, Dandenong is hometo significant communities of Sri Lankans,Afghanis and Sudanese. It is, in fact, home tothe largest Afghani community in Australia(SERMRC 2009:24). Amongst Sudanesecommunities, Nuer and Shilluk speakingSudanese people tended to initially settle aroundDandenong and nearby Monash, and Dinkaspeakers in the western suburbs of Melbourne(Taylor & Stanovic 2005:10). Other communitiesemerging in Greater Dandenong and theneighbouring LGA of Casey are Muslim Burman,Karen and Chin refugees from Burma, althoughthe outer suburban fringes of Melbourne’s westare home to the largest Karen community inVictoria (Newcombe & Achren 2010).

While Melbourne’s northern, western andsouthern suburbs have the densest populationsof culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)settlers, the eastern suburbs are the most rapidlychanging. For some time, the eastern suburbshave been locations of choice for skilledmigrants and their families, and have becomehome to many Chinese-speaking, Korean andIndian migrants. In contrast, the initial settlementof humanitarian migrants has been small.However, the eastern metropolitan region isbecoming increasingly culturally and linguisticdiverse as a result of secondary migration intothe region, i.e. the voluntary relocation of peoplefrom their place of initial settlement. Amongthese have been Sudanese people, who, as theSouth Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centrepoints out, ‘are a highly mobile set ofcommunities … Numbers rise and fall acrossstatistical regions due to shifting employmentpatterns, availability of housing and secondarymigration associated with family and tribaltrends’. (SERMRC 2007:15) The eastern suburbsare now also home to the second largestcommunity of refugees from Burma (SERMRC2011:22) who are settling around Ringwood,Bayswater, Croydon and in the Yarra Rangeswhere there is the possibility of employment. Thepresence of a Chin Baptist pastor has beensignificant to the emergence of the large Chincommunity in the area.


Secondary migration is not, of course, confinedto the eastern suburbs but occurs throughout themetropolitan area. Employment and housing arethe main drivers of these moves. As a result weare seeing cultural and linguistic diversificationin a greater number of locations, and in locationsfurther from the city centre. For example,Newcombe and Achren (2010) write of CALDmigrants and refugees who, having initiallysettled in public housing in the northern suburbof Broadmeadows, now have the resources tobuy into new housing estates such asCraigieburn and Roxburgh Park on the outersuburban fringes. Another example is the City ofWhittlesea, in the outer north eastern suburbs ofMelbourne, which has one of the fastest growingpopulations in Victoria (ABS 2011) with a highpercentage of CALD settlement as people moveto affordable housing on new housing estates.

The Chin are an ethnic group living bysubsistence farming in the west ofBurma (also known as Myanmar).Most are Christian but some areBuddhist or animist. For decades, theChin and other ethnic minorities havebeen subjected to systematic humanrights abuses by the oppressivemilitary regime. Abuses includemaiming, killing, rape, forced labour,the burning of villages anddestruction of crops. Many Chin havesought refuge in India, but militari-sation along the border makes thecrossing extremely perilous.Consequently, many make their wayto Malaysia, where in 2009, officialstatistics recorded more than 61,000refugees from Burma. Neither Indianor Malaysia are signatories to theUN Refugee Convention, so have noprocedures for providing protection orbenefits to refugees. Unable to worklegally in either country, the Chin liveprecarious lives of extreme poverty,limited access to health care andinadequate schooling for theirchildren. As the numbers are large,gaining registration as an asylumseeker with the UNHCR is a verylengthy process. But it does, at least,give hope of eventual resettlement ina third country. Information based on Alexander (2008).

39


Rural and regional Victoria has also increased incultural and linguistic diversity as a result ofsecondary migration. Many areas of rural Victoriahave long histories of migrant settlement. Forexample, in the post-World War II period, manyItalian, Greek, Albanian and Turkish migrantsmade Greater Shepparton their home, havingbeen attracted by employment possibilities inthe fruit growing industry (Taylor & Stanovic2005:5). More recently, in 1997, there was aspontaneous movement of large numbers ofIraqi refugees from metropolitan Melbourne—where many had difficulties finding work—toGreater Shepparton because of perceivedseasonal fruit picking employment possibilities(McDonald et al. 2008:43).

As the Shepparton example suggests, asignificant driver of secondary migration out ofthe metropolitan area has been employmentopportunities in regional Victoria. These haveoften been promoted by rural employersthemselves or through Melbourne-basedemployment services (McDonald et al. 2008:16).

Such initiatives have seen Sudanese move tolocations in Gippsland to work in the local meatworks, to Colac in the state’s south-west, againto work in the meat works, and to Swan Hill in thenorth-east to work as fruit pickers (VRNH2007:4–5). Some employment-related secondarymigration has also been supported by philan-thropic organisations, community groups,multicultural service providers or local councils.These include the relocation of a number ofSudanese and Burundians to Castlemaine towork in the local meat processing factory (VRHN2007:5), the relocation of Sudanese toWarrnambool, again to work in meat processing(McDonald, 2008:47), and the relocation ofKaren to work in a duck processing factory inNhill.

As well as supporting secondary migration,human rights groups, faith-based groups andother community organisations have also beensponsoring and supporting direct migration fromoverseas to rural and regional Victoria. Forexample, the Bendigo Friends and Mentorsgroup (formerly the Bendigo Karen RefugeeProgram) has sponsored and supported Karenrefugees from Thai refugee camps. Following thearrival of the first family and three Buddhistmonks in 2007, the community has continued togrow (Couch et al. 2010:4). A Karen communitythat began through direct sponsorship is alsogrowing in Wonthaggi.

Direct migration of humanitarian migrants toregional Victoria was initiated in 2004 when theFederal Government announced it would focus


Case study

Work takes Karen people to Nhill In 2010, a group of Karen people moved to Nhill, asmall town half way between Melbourne and Adelaide.After the general manager of the Luv-a-Duck companyheard about Karen families settling in nearby Horsham,he decided to offer the community employment and anew future in regional Victoria. Working with AMES,the manager spoke at an information session inWerribee, the home of the largest Karen community inVictoria. Next, a visit to Nhill was organised forinterested Karen to meet members of the local council,police and health services. Ten members of the Karencommunity, including three teenagers, decided to moveto Nhill where they were initially housed in transitionalaccommodation supplied by Luv-a-Duck. Since then,the Karen community in Nhill has grown with morefamilies making the move as jobs became available.Many of the new Karen residents have enrolled inEnglish classes and computer training at the LearnLocal organisation, Nhill Neighbourhood LearningCentre.

Nanthu Kunoo: Community Liaison Officer, AMES

(VRNH 2007:5). Not all direct settlementattempts have been as successful. A Ballaratpilot, for example, involving twelve families fromTogo in West Africa, proved to be fraught for arange of reasons including: the planning processitself; the challenge of learning about a group ofrefugees with whom no one (locally or nationally)had previous experience; the high levels oftorture and trauma in the families’ backgrounds;the complexity of their family relations; anddivisions within the community itself (Piper2009:6).

on ‘unlinked’ refugees (i.e. those without strongties to family and friends already settled inmetropolitan areas) in the hope of encouragingtheir direct migration from overseas or detentioncentres to regional Australia. This was part offederal, state and territory governments’ attemptto address the labour shortages associated withdeclining and ageing rural populations byincreasing the number of migrants and refugeessettling outside of the capital cities (Phillips2005:3). Direct migration of English-speakingskilled migrants to address skilled workershortages in regional Australia had been inplace since 1996 (Western & Boreham 2010).

In Victoria, the first location to pilot direct refugeesettlement was Shepparton which hosted theplanned settlement of ten families from the DRCongo in 2005. To maximise the potential forsuccessful settlement, the families were selectedon the basis of there being two parents, four orfewer young children, at least one familymember with English, reasonable employmentprospects and no complex medical or otherneeds (McDonald et al. 2008:43). The successof this pilot was attributed ‘not least to theentrants themselves, who have shown greatresilience and openness’ but also toShepparton’s ‘long history of “making space” fornewcomers’ along with existing volunteernetworks and an established mechanism forsettlement planning (Piper 2007:6).

Since that time, direct migration has continued toexpand to other regions of Victoria. Geelong hasnow been a direct settlement site for a number ofyears, with new settlers reflecting the waves ofrefugees arriving in Australia. Among them havebeen refugee groups from Africa, Karen fromBurma and, more recently, single Afghani men.Another government-initiated direct settlementlocation is Mildura in the state’s north which has,in recent times, hosted the settlement ofrelatively large numbers of Afghanis and Iraqis


Keys to successful settlement The Shepparton and Ballarat examples, alongwith others discussed in this chapter, illustratethe complex nature of settlement, and thatsuccessful settlement depends on theindividuals, the attitudes of the hostcommunities, and on the provision of servicesthat address the specific needs of migrants andrefugees. Taylor and Stanovic (2005:52) point outthat there are some needs common to bothrefugees and other migrants. These include theprovision of language services, understanding oftheir cultural background, and assistance inunderstanding the Australian system at local,state and national levels. However, they alsopoint out that refugees have distinctive needsbecause of their pre-migration experiences,which may include torture and trauma, longperiods of time in refugee camps, disruputedschooling, limited work experience or loss offamily and friends. These pre-migrationexperiences have lingering effects onindividuals, their families and the settlementprocess.

The availability of suitable employment is aprimary key to successful settlement. However,for many refugees the pathway to employmentcan be long, particularly when the individual haslittle or no schooling or limited work experience.Needing to acquire not only language skills,study skills and industry-specific skills, CALDlearners seeking employment need assistance ingaining a set of culture-specific skills requiredfor the Australian workplace (see Yates 2008).Moreover, refugees, particularly those withlimited formal education in their own language,need assistance in understanding the pathwayto employment itself. Learn Local organisations,with their long history of providing educationalservices that cater for the disadvantaged, have asignificant role to play in the settlementexperience of such refugees.

Other, often highly skilled refugees take on low-skilled jobs because they have high financialobligations. For example, many must repaysponsoring relatives here in Australia, or thosewho loaned money for their escape frompersecution. Others may be trying to sponsorrelatives to join them in Australia, or financiallyassist families who remain behind in refugeecamps or in other precarious situations.However, skilled and educated refugees oftenview such jobs as temporary stepping stones tomore suitable employment. For example, Taylorand Stanovic (2005:31) report that ‘while in theearly days of settlement the Sudanese werepleased to get work in the meat works … somesaw this as a stage on the way to highereducation and job prospects’. This, coupled withthe low wages and insecure incomes associatedwith seasonal work, means that stablecommunities can be difficult to establish, partic-ularly in the smaller rural towns, as people moveagain because of higher education opportunitiesin larger towns. Learn Local organisations canparticipate in the settlement process through theprovision of further study opportunities for thosein their local CALD communities who arecurrently engaged in entry-level employment notcommensurate with their skills (see Farah 2007).

A recent report commissioned by DIAC foundthat while agencies tended to define successfulsettlement in systemic terms, humanitarianentrants define settlement in terms of lifeoutcomes such as personal happiness andcommunity connectedness (Australian SurveyResearch 2011:64). Learn Local organisationsare well placed to foster connections betweenhost communities and newer CALD communitymembers through a whole of organisationapproach to CALD learners founded on thegood practice principles of Engagement,Supportive Learning Environments andSupported Pathways.


Glossary

ABS Australian Bureau of StatisticsACFE Adult, Community and Further EducationAHRC Australian Human Rights CommissionAMEP Adult Migrant Education ProgramCALD Culturally and Linguistically Diverse CAVSS Course in Applied Vocational Study SkillsCCEH Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and HealthCOB Country of BirthDIAC Department of Immigration and

CitizenshipDIMA Department of Immigration and

Multicultural Affairs (now DIAC)DPCD Department of Planning and Community

DevelopmentDR Congo Democratic Republic of CongoDVLC Diamond Valley Learning CentreESL English as a Second Language FECCA Federation of Ethnic Communities’

Councils of Australia HACC Home and Community CareHEMS Humanitarian Entrants Management

SystemHREOC Human Rights and Equal Opportunity

Commission (now AHRC)LGA Local Government AreaMOU Memorandum of UnderstandingMRC Migrant Resource CentreNCVER National Centre for Vocational Education

ResearchNMLL North Melbourne Language and

Learning OHS Occupational Health and SafetyPRACE Preston Reservoir Adult Community

Education SERMRC South Eastern Region Migrant Resource

CentreTAFE Technical and Further EducationVET Vocational Education and Training VRNH Victorian Refugee Health NetworkWCEC Wyndham Community and Education

Centre

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