Engagement with African-Australian families in South Australian Catholic schools research Project
Resources developed by Dr Melanie Baak and Dr Emily Miller as part of a research consultancy for Catholic Education South Australia (CESA). The project was initiated by CESA with the African Catholic Council and Archdiocese of Adelaide in response to concerns that some African-Australian families were experiencing barriers in accessing Catholic education for their children, and some families whose children were in Catholic schools were experiencing challenges in communicating with schools. The Cabrini Collective, a funded program to increase engagement with African-Australian families and to improve outcomes for students, was introduced in four Catholic schools in 2018. These schools all have a significant number of students from diverse backgrounds and make use of a range of approaches to support these students. Through the Cabrini Collective, the schools implemented a range of additional strategies and provided additional support to students and families with the aim of improving the engagement of families and outcomes for students. These included: structured language support from classroom teachers, the employment of a community liaison officer, changes to communication approaches with families, and discussion forums with the African-Australian community to improve staff understanding of the community and their needs. Through the use of online surveys and focus groups with staff, students and families at the Cabrini Collective schools, this project identified a range of school approaches that can foster improved communication with families and engagement of families and students.
Written report for the ‘Engagement with African-Australian families in South Australian Catholic schools project’ is available here:
Resources
Other relevant research by Dr Melanie Baak
Melanie Baak (2019) Racism and Othering for South Sudanese heritage students in Australian schools: is inclusion possible?, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23:2, 125-141, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2018.1426052
Melanie Baak, Renae Summers, Shephard Masocha, D Tedmanson, P Gale, J Pieters & A Kuac (2019) 'Surveillance, belonging and community spaces for young people from refugee backgrounds in Australia', in S Habib & MRM Ward (eds), Youth, place and theories of belonging, Routledge, UK, ch. 3, pp. 25-38.
Melanie Baak, Emily Miller, Anna Sullivan & Kathleen Heugh (2021) Tensions between policy aspirations and enactment: assessment and inclusion for refugee background students, Journal of Education Policy, 36:6, 760-778, DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2020.1739339
Melanie Baak (2021) 'Once a refugee, always a refugee? The haunting of the refugee label in resettlement', in J Silverstein & R Stevens (eds), Refugee Journeys: histories of resettlement, representation and resistance, Australian National University, Australia, ch. 2, pp. 51-70.
Melanie Baak (2016) Baak, M 2016, Negotiating belongings: Stories of forced migration of Dinka women from South Sudan, Sense Publishers, Netherlands.
Melanie Baak (2011) Murder, community talk and belonging: an exploration of Sudanese community responses to murder in Australia, African Identities, 9:4, 417-434, DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2011.614415
