A reflection of my own experiences of culture and identity in schooling.

Schooling takes place in during a students childhood and adolescence, classically between approximately five and eighteen years old (for primary and secondary education). This time when one is beginning to form their own sense of identity and begin to understand and play a part in their culture. The people we are surrounded by and the attitudes we perceive from our peers are extremely influential on how we perceive ourselves, our traditional cultures, our heritage, our adopted or learned cultures, and our attitudes towards different cultures.

I moved from England to Australia with my family in 2001, when I was eight years old.  This meant that I was personally facing a new culture that I was unfamiliar with.  Australian culture is often portrayed as being extremely easy-going, all about mateship and barbeques, however, in practice this kind of culture does not come into everyday life for most Australians, and particularly not in the schooling system.

Because Australian white culture has descended from British migrants originally, the differences are not too large to overcome, and it is fairly easy for British migrants to assimilate into Australian culture. The most obvious differences may be some confusion as to different slang terms and wording, and accents. Luckily the British accent is usually regarded as interesting and enjoyable to listen to, so although some initial teasing may be experienced by younger children, this is not usually a point of conflict or negative judgements.

A huge benefit of being an English migrant is already being proficient in the language.  It is much more difficult for non English-speaking migrants to adapt to the new environment as it is much more difficult to understand what is required, and in schooling, to reach the outcomes in a curriculum that is written for English-speakers.  The most difficult non-social aspect of changing schooling from England to Australia would be lining up the curriculums and school years (as the English school year starts in September, as opposed to January/February in Australia).  In my case, this meant being placed in Year 3, when my age put me at Year 2 level. However because of the extra few months of schooling plus a judgement of my ability, the acceleration was considered appropriate. There were a few issues in feeling behind or confused due to curriculum differences (for example, all year three students were expected to know their seven times tables, whereas in England I had not reached this particular point in maths yet, although I had covered more in English and Science), however due to the similarities in teaching, curriculum and assessment style, it was relatively easy to adapt to this.

Experiencing different cultures in schooling in experiencing both British and Australian culture personally served less to point out the differences between these cultures, but rather to show how similar they are and how easy adapting was.  Through what I have seen and studied about migrant students from non-English speaking countries, or countries with extremely different cultures, this is where it can become much harder for students, being ostracized or racially stereotyped, and struggling to work well with a new schooling system that does not cater to their styles of learning or values. In her article ‘Educational Achievement, Language-Minority Students, and the New Second Generation’, Schmid notes that in schools, ‘teachers and administrators often confuse the consequences of the lack of English proficiency with underachievement, learning difficulties, lack of attention in class, and language disorders.’ This can lead to many disadvantages and lack of opportunities for migrant students to reach their potential as learners.

 Because I have had a migrant experience myself and felt different from everyone else, I have a lot of empathy for those who are coming from a different culture and struggling much more with these issues. I’m grateful for how relatively easy it was for me to adapt into a new culture and how the schooling system helped me to remain on track, and I am keen to see this kind of smooth and accepting transition for all migrant students.

References:

Schmid, C. L. (2001). Educational achievement, language-minority students, and the new second generation. Sociology of Education, 71-87.