Education

This study highlights the learning needs and issues of adult refugees with low language and literacy skills by looking at how their prior experiences and current contexts affect their educational participation and learning. In addition the study has also sought to identify educational strategies for teaching these learners and provide a teaching resource for other teachers based on the project’s findings.
 * Adult refugee learners with limited literacy: needs and effective responses (2012).**

The aim of this paper is to advocate for refugee-background tertiary students to be recognised as an equity group both in government policy and at universities and polytechnics throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
 * An equitable education - Achieving equity status for refugee-background tertiary students in Aotearoa New Zealand (2011).**
 * Authors: ChangeMakers Refugee, Esol Assessment and Access Specialist Service MCLaSS, National Refugee Network and Victoria University of Wellington**
 * Publisher: ChangeMakers Refufee Forum**

Migrant and refugee children face many adjustment factors and their ease in resettling in New Zealand is largely dependent on their ability to learn English.This exploratory study determines an assessment battery for use in examining English language acquisition in refugee and migrant children and to highlight the benefit of using measurement tools that determine incremental change over time in contrast to the use of monolingual psychometric tests.
 * An exploratory study aimed to determine the efficacy of an assessment battery designed to examine oral English language acquisition in refugee and migrant children (2008 )**
 * Author**: **Hurburun, A. L. J.**
 * Masters thesis, Auckland University of Technology (AUT)**

This thesis enquires whether the teaching methodology and approach for refugee resettlement programmes, however, should entail more than just an empathic disposition and indeed whether educational programmes should seek to address the unique and very special needs of refugees through the imparting of 'critical' skills and strategies.
 * Applying post-critical approaches to refugee-centred education (2007)**
 * Author: Hayward, M.**
 * Masters thesis, Auckland University of Technology (AUT)**

Recent changes to policies and funding for tertiary education are exacerbating an already difficult situation for refugees aiming to earn university degrees. The paper discusses how new policies interact with a range of existing barriers faced by refugees pursuing degrees and how, without urgent attention, this will constrict or close pathways into and through university study. It further suggests that the strongest foundation for an effective program to provide equitable access to university education is including refugee-background students among those groups who receive equity consideration.
 * [[file:nzrefugeeresearch/Closing pathways - refugee background students and tertiary education.pdf|Closing pathways: refugee-background students and tertiary education (2011).]]**
 * Author: O'Rourke, D.**
 * Publisher: Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online**

A participatory Action Research Project by the Homewokr Club & Victoria University of Wellington. An assessment of the Wellington Homework Centre for refugee-background youth, run by the Somali Council.
 * Homework Club: Strengthening refugee achievement (2005). **
 * Authors: Somali Council & Victoria University of Wellington **
 * Postgraduate paper, Victoria University of Wellington. **

This review from Education Counts looks at different models, methods and best practice for intervening with refugee children in NewZealand schools. It examines the literature on refugee trauma, loss and grief and second language concerns, resilience, issues of migration, school and teacher effects, and conceptual and policy issues. It also discusses a range of best practices for refugee children within schools.
 * Interventions for refugee children in New Zealand schools: Models, methods, and best practice (2005) **
 * Authors: Hamilton, R.J, Anderson, A., Mathieson, K.F, Loewen,S., & Moore, D.W.**
 * Publisher: Education counts, Ministry of Education**

This research focuses on Congolese refugee parents who came to New Zealand within the last 10 years. The study highlights the experiences of these refugee parents living in New Zealand and their views of education, especially early childhood education.
 * Living in New Zealand - Congolese refugee families' aspirations for children and early childhood education (2010).**
 * Authors: Mitchell, L and Ouko, A.**
 * Publisher: Waikato University**

This report documents the experience of a group of Victoria University of Wellington researchers who started a Participatory Action Research project with the Assyrian youth community in Wellington. The report identifies issues and challenges that Assyrian youth face growing up in Aotearoa New Zealand. It covers barriers to education, transition to independence, transition between cultures, issues with parent-child relationships and services and support.
 * Participatory Action Research with Assyrian youth (2005) **
 * Authors: Armstrong, L., Leathers, A., Collie, P., Koshin, H., Blake, F., Markland, M., Pithyov, P., & Eshow, E. **
 * Postgraduate Research Report, ****Victoria University of Wellington **

This report is based on a new ESOL Beginners Class introduced by English Language Partners Hutt which commenced in February 2011 for a period of two terms. Class members were recently arrived Columbian refugees, who had more than six years education and most are literate in Spanish, and Myanmar refugee who were not literate in their native language but have attended an English Language Partners Literacy class and some have worked with a home tutor.
 * Personal observations of English learning in a refugee classroom (2011).**
 * Author: Kaur, T.**
 * Publisher: Ako Aotearoa - National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence**

This paper presents a thematic analysis of postgraduate social work student research on refugee and migrant experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand, collected in the last decade from one university social work programme. The study identifies that when postgraduate researchers put themselves in the refugees' and migrants experiences, it not only enabled them to learn how to conduct qualitative research but also greater personal learning, and in some cases, healing.
 * Self-reflexive Student Research and its Implications for Social Work Education (2011). **
 * Authors: Nash, M. **
 * Publisher: Social Work Education **

This report provides an overview of the literature surrounding refugee-background youth, the Wellington Somali ‘community’ and both regional and national strategies to support them.
 * Step for success: Exploring educational support for Somali secondary school students in Wellington (2008) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Authors: Burford, J., Hammonds, J., Kendyll, M., & Clark, S. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Postgraduate Research Report, ****<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Victoria University of Wellington **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A literature review and analysis from participatory action research undertaken with refugee-background students and service providers. It examines what helps - and what hinders - students from achieving their goals, and canvasses services available that support refugee-background students.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Victoria University of Wellington: Supporting refugee-background students to achieve their goals (2006) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Authors: Horner, C., Khan, S., & Paton, K. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Postgraduate Research Report, ****<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Victoria University of Wellington **