Deakin teaches togetherness

Deakin University researchers are leading the way in developing programs that will allow students from diverse cultural backgrounds - especially young Muslims - to better fit into not just Australian school systems, but the broader community.

Professor Fethi Mansouri from the university’s Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights has been the lead researcher in a five-year study begun in 2003 that looks at attitudes of students and teachers in three Melbourne secondary schools.

Young Arab-Australians from years nine and 10, their parents and teachers have taken part in a series of interviews, surveys and focus groups.

“We found many things, many of them pointing to the fact that the schools need better resources and training facilities for teachers,” Professor Mansouri said.

“However, the issue that is of great concern is that since the events of September 11th in New York, a lot of people from Muslim backgrounds had begun to feel more isolated and begun withdrawing into their own communities.

“These are people we should be encouraging to join in more with the community, not less, so that we all get a better understanding of each other’s cultures and beliefs.

“Sadly, they are responding to what they perceive as strong anti-Muslim sentiments in politics and the media and they are less inclined to participate in school programs.

"These young people told us they had difficulty talking about highly emotional issues with teachers and did not believe they would show them the empathy and support they wanted. They have become less inclined to believe the education system would give them a platform to develop and succeed in life."

The problems are made worse, Professor Mansouri said, by a perception of an Anglo-bias in the curriculum.

“We need to change that perception by creating programs that take account of their backgrounds,” he said.

“We also need to engage more with the parents, many of whom don’t speak a lot of English, to ensure they take an active role in encouraging their children to work their way through the education system.”

Professor Mansouri said young Muslim woman were concerned about negative attitudes associated with them wearing a hijab while young men distrusted the police whom they felt suspected them of wrongdoing simply on the basis of their race.

He also offered hope though that over the next two years of the program, much could be changed through a more inclusive approach - a model that should be adopted right throughout the education system to reduce the impact of racism in the broader community.

The program is taking a multi-tiered approach to improving communication between parents, teachers and students.

A cultural diversity facilitator has been employed to help parents understand the education system, particularly the challenges faced by the teachers.

Teachers in turn have been given extra training and resources to help them manage cultural and racial diversity issues.

Already the results have been promising.

In 2005, 79 per cent of students said relations between ethnic groups were good or excellent compared with 48 per cent in 2003. The number of parents who said they were interested in and supported their children's education grew from 19 to 54 per cent during that period.

"We are seeing parents becoming more involved in schools and more tolerant of why their kids are doing certain things like playing sport or studying music,” Professor Mansouri said.

“Because the parents can see where the teachers are coming from, they are more respectful of them and their work.

"The inter-change of ideas has also helped teachers to get a better understanding of why in the past students have behaved in a suspicious or non co-operative way.

“We are developing this marvellous meeting in the middle which will have a positive outcome not just for the schools or the Arab-Australian communities, but the whole of society as we develop a better understanding of each other.”

The Australian Research Council and the Scanlon Foundation have funded the projects.

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