1
School leadership teams in Western Australian
high schools and culturally diverse student
populations.

• Neil McCallum

Supervisors Professor Tom ODonoghue A/Professor
Simon Clarke
2

• It is crucial to understand the issues facing
  culturally diverse students in schools so that
  students learning opportunities are optimised to
  enhance their employment prospects and further
  educational opportunities.
• However, very little research in Australia and
  overseas has focused on the perspectives of the
  leadership teams in schools.

3

• The proposed qualitative study will
• investigate the perspectives of the
• leadership teams in four Western Australian
• government high schools concerning
• students from diverse cultural backgrounds
• in their schools.

4

• Methodology
• Grounded theory methods will be used for
  developing theory.
• Simultaneous data collection and analysis.
• Selections of Schools
• Four WA government high schools with a high
  proportion of culturally diverse students. Two
  with IECs attached, also two from higher SEI
  areas and two from lower.
• Leadership teams 11 in each school
• (IEC- Intensive English Centres)

5

• Data collection methods
• In-depth semi-structured interviews (X 2)
• Document analysis
• School plans, policies and projects relevant to
  the study
• DET policies
• Data analysis
• Grounded theory methods of analysis
• Use of open coding, axial coding and selective
  coding
• Looking for patterns, categories and concepts in
  the data to generate theory.

6

• Who are the culturally diverse students?
• Migrants (150,000 in Australia in 2007-8)
• Skilled migrants
• Temporary migrants (up to 5 years) Some 457
  visa holders
• Permanent migrants
• Family stream migrants
• Humanitarian entrants- refugees, asylum seekers
• Second generation children
• Third-Culture Children (TCC or TCK)
• International fee-paying students

7

• Increased diversity
• Most migrants still come from New Zealand and the
  United Kingdom.
• Large increase in the number of migrants from
  different countries over the last 25 years.
• Increases in migrants from China, Vietnam,
  India, Philippines, South Africa, and refugees
  from Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, Eritrea,
  Congo
• Increased diversity in languages, religions,
  cultural traditions and values.

8

• Challenges facing culturally diverse students
• Achievement gap
• English language proficiency
• Age at arrival
• Prior education
• Parent/Family support
• Identity adolescence
• Racism and discrimination
• Peer support / Gangs
• Teacher/Administrator understanding/curriculum
• Socio-economic status

9

• WA provisions for culturally diverse students
• IEC available for permanent migrants/refugees and
  some fee paying students for 12 months. Not
  available for most temporary visitors- (e.g. 457
  visas)
• ESL teachers and Ethnic Aides in schools with
  high numbers of ESL students
• No DET ESL policy- other states do
• No DET multicultural education policy- other
  states do
• Interpreter service available to schools