Practitioner advice on how to deal and engage with crosscultural
diversity needs to be embedded in all pre-service
and in-service teacher education units and courses.
Pre-service educators need opportunities to engage
firsthand with culturally diverse groups of children during
teacher education practicums.
Skills for critical reflection need to be refined in pre-service
and in-service practitioner education with examination of
Self and Other, personal identity, values and the social,
theoretical and educational discourses that have helped
shape Australian practitioners.
Government and private education providers need to
support teachers dealing with refugee and immigrant
children. Teachers in this present study were making
the best of limited resources but on many occasions
this proved to be inadequate and stressful for both
teachers and children. Multilingual translator services,
specialised English as an Additional Language/Dialect
teachers, professional support and community support
networks that can help immigrant families settle into
their communities would benefit these teachers. Such
resources are expensive, and this would not be the first
piece of research to advocate greater spending, but it is
necessary to reiterate this stand.
Opportunities for better informed practitioners to engage
in dialogue with students and their families about teacher
and learner expectations need to be formally established.
One way to achieve this might be through learning
journals where students, teachers and parents record
their questions, impressions and anxieties with the aid of
a translator. Alternatively, regular face-to-face meetings
between the three parties may be effective