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From Stability to Mobility: African Secondary School Aged Adolescents' Transition to Mainstream Schooling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2014

Sashya Gunasekera ,
Stephen Houghton ,
Kenneth Glasgow  and
Christopher Boyle Open the ORCID record for Christopher Boyle [Opens in a new window]
Sashya Gunasekera
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Stephen Houghton*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Kenneth Glasgow
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Christopher Boyle
Affiliation:
School of Education, The University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Stephen Houghton, Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Crawley WA 6009, Australia. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Setting clear achievable goals that enhance reputational status has been shown to direct the energies of adolescents into socially conforming or non-conforming activities. It appears to be the case that following transition from Intensive English Centres (IECs) into mainstream schooling, students from African refugee backgrounds experience difficulties in attaining the goals they had initially set, and in light of this become non-conforming. This present study investigates the goal setting, reputational status, and behaviour of 60 students from African refugee backgrounds prior to and following their transition into mainstream schooling. Findings revealed that prior to mainstream schooling, while in an IEC, these adolescents set specific academic goals, were highly committed to attaining them, sought a socially conforming reputation, and did not involve themselves in non-conforming activities. Within 6 months of transitioning into mainstream classes, however, these same adolescents set social goals commensurate with a non-conforming reputation, attached great importance to these goals, and evidenced significant increases in their delinquent and aggressive behaviour and significant reductions in their connectedness to school and teachers. These findings have important implications for assisting adolescent students from refugee backgrounds to develop clear, self-set achievable goals, and in supporting them through the process of attaining them following transition to mainstream schooling.

Keywords

African adolescentsrefugee backgroundsschoolingtransition
Type
Articles
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , July 2014 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society Ltd 2014 

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