Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) - Parliament of Victoria

Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) Submission to the Victorian Parliament Education and Training committee:

Inquiry into the approaches to homework in Victorian schools, focusing on the impact on student learning

Submission to the Victoria Parliament Inquiry into the approaches to homework in Victorian schools © Centre for Multicultural Youth 2014

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Key recommendations 1. Government support the development and implementation of a Homework Assessment Tool that unpacks implicit assumptions in the setting of homework, and measures factors such as students’ access to: social supports; conducive after school learning environments; and practical resources required to undertake homework. 2. Support formal programs that enable English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners to develop their oral language skills. Embed 1:1 English language mentoring opportunities provided through schools and homework programs working in partnership, into the EAL curriculum. 3. Through specialist agencies, offer professional development to teachers working with students with complex needs; particularly those needs arising from refugee and asylum seeker experiences. Raise teachers’ awareness of how homework can be planned to ensure it positively impacts on such students. 4. Improve resourcing of EAL programs, including increased budgets for EAL resources and specialist EAL teachers. We also call for a thorough understanding of student’s academic ability to be sought by schools. Approaches to assessing students in their first language (with the use of interpreters) require further investigation. 5. Formalise partnerships between schools and community organisations to provide parents with a better understanding of their role in education and link them with capacity building information and opportunities. Particular attention needs to be given to newly arrived families from migrant and refugee background communities, who may be unfamiliar with the Australian education system. 6. Bridge the digital divide between Victorian students. We strongly encourage that any changes to the EMA thoroughly examine the impact they might have on students’ access to essential learning technologies. We also support any initiatives that provide additional resources to homework programs and public libraries to increase access to technology for students after school hours. 7. Formally recognize the impact of extracurricular activity in student learning. Engaging students in learning can be achieved through opportunities that provide both a recreational or arts focus, alongside an academic focus.


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About the Centre for Multicultural Youth CMY has more than 20 years of experience working with young people from diverse backgrounds. CMY was the first organization in Australia to work exclusively with migrant and refugee young people and works across both rural and metropolitan Victoria. Through a combination of specialist support services, training and consultancy, knowledge sharing and advocacy, CMY works to remove the barriers that young people face as they make Australia their home.

Key Themes CMY’s submission has three key themes that we believe require consideration in the context of approaches to homework policy and practice. Our submission is underpinned by: 1. Acknowledgment that students from migrant and refugee backgrounds have particular needs. 2. A focus on the social supports, time and practical resources required by students in order to complete homework outside school hours; 3. A conceptual framework that recognizes a difference between education and schooling. Such a framework situates learning undertaken outside school hours (i.e. including homework) within a far broader context for education. Within this context a wide variety of stakeholders are seen as contributors to young people’s education. They include community organisations, parents, students, peers and teachers.

Introduction The Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this submission to the Victorian Parliament Inquiry into the approaches to homework in Victorian schools. CMY has extensive experience in the field of education support, particularly in outside school hours settings. We recognize that education occurs in different settings and that a wide range of people and stakeholders contribute to student learning. Schools are obviously a key setting and stakeholder. Home and community settings and stakeholders are equally important, particularly in relation to homework. In 2006 CMY and its partners produced the Refugee Education Partnership Project (REPP) report, which focussed on improving the wellbeing and educational achievement of refugee young people. A key finding of this report acknowledged homework programs as an important educational support for many students, and particularly for young people with refugee backgrounds. The REPP report led to the development of Learning Beyond the Bell - a program aimed at strengthening homework programs. In July 2008, the State Government provided CMY with funding for four years ($1m per year) for the expansion of Learning Beyond the Bell across Victoria. Learning Beyond the Bell provides support to homework programs in the form of capacity building, volunteer recruitment and training, resourcing and partnership development. It is delivered to homework clubs in metropolitan Melbourne as well as rural and regional Victoria. In 2012 the program was funded for a further 3.5 years, up until December 2015.


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Snapshot of homework programs CMY support in Victoria  Around 250 homework programs across Victoria  Over 6000 students attend weekly  75% of programs have a majority of students with an English as an Additional Language (EAL) background  Over 1800 tutors volunteer with homework programs each week Homework programs have been shown to support the development of: •

‘learning to learn’ and study skills

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literacy

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subject related skills and knowledge

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confidence

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social skills and interactions;

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a sense of safety and security

There is a diversity of homework program models, including programs with a focus on parent involvement, those that include recreation activities, specialist programs for VCE students and many catering to students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL). There are also programs catering to broad based groups such as primary or secondary students. The programs are run by a diversity of providers from community organisations to schools to local councils and faith based groups. Whilst homework programs cater for a wide variety of age groups and students from various cultural backgrounds, CMYs participation as a lead agency is recognition that a high proportion of students requiring additional outside school hours learning support are students with migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds; most of whom learn English as an Additional Language (EAL). Constraints faced by homework programs Quality homework programs display a range of good practices that relate to program coordinator capacity, partnerships, tutor quality, child protection policies and procedures, student input and financial sustainability and planning. Many programs however, are constrained in their capacity to improve these elements in their programs. They struggle to be financially sustainable and reply on the goodwill of volunteers. Whilst CMY acknowledge the impact of such constraints and are working with the homework program field to address them, we maintain a belief that a minimum level of accountability and quality needs to be assured if students are to receive the support they require and have their personal safety and wellbeing given priority. Two significant and interrelated challenges exist for the homework programs. 1. The homework club sector relies on inadequate and highly insecure funding from a diverse range of sources (most programs need to apply for funding every year) 2. There are no consistent standards adopted by program providers and funders to ensure program quality (eg student safety, tutor quality and long term financial sustainability).


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Most programs are underfunded, which leads to inadequate time and resources being available to make them as effective as program providers and other stakeholders would like. Refugee Education Support Program (RESP) In 2012 the Department of Education and Early Chilldhood Development (DEECD) developed an additional partnership with CMY and Foundation House called the Refugee Education Support Program (RESP). RESP involves working with approximately 80 Victorian schools in targeted clusters across Melbourne and regional Victoria over 3 years, with an emphasis on improved outcomes for students with refugee backgrounds: CMY has based its submission on the work we do within Learning Beyond the Bell (LBB) and the Refugee Education Support Program (RESP). We note the issues arising and the strategies we view as promoting positive student learning, particularly through homework provision. Community/School partnerships By providing feedback and recommendations it is also important to suggest ‘how improvements can be made’. CMY asserts that no single service or government department can be expected to provide for student’s holistic education. Education occurs in a variety of settings – during school and after school. There is already a large amount of community sector involvement in education. CMY believe this input could be better harnessed, coordinated and built upon in collaboration with the Education Department to achieve better outcomes for students in outside school hours learning i.e. homework. Formal, long term partnerships between education departments and community sector agencies can result in better delivery of key educational messages and supports to students, parents, carers and the broader community. The expectation that schools are, or ought to be, the sole provider of education is unrealistic and needs to change. Student voice CMY encourages the inquiry to hear directly from young people about their experiences of homework provision and approaches. CMY would support any effort to facilitate a meaningful dialogue with young people. CMY’s work with migrant and refugee background communities & homework provision CMY’s specialist experience is in working with young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. Whilst these cohorts of young people represent diverse social, cultural and economic backgrounds, a range of common experiences can be often be experienced by them in the context of schooling, parental engagement and their participation in extra curricular activities, such as homework. For example, refugees will likely share a common experience of disadvantage that can impact on their capacity and readiness to learn. Whilst their experiences of social disadvantage can be similar to those of others, in the case of young refugees, factors of disadvantage tend to cluster together and to be particularly acute 1 The following learner profile is typical for recent young refugee arrivals. Frequently they may have: • no or minimal formal schooling in their first language • low levels of literacy in English • lived in insecure societies where civil order and services have broken down 1

Foundation House (2007:10) , The Education Needs of Young Refugees in Victoria, Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Inc.


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• • • •

experienced extreme violence and the after effects of trauma lost family and be without parental support had disrupted schooling due to movement within and between countries so that literacy skills are not consolidated in any one language come from a language background where writing is a relatively new phenomenon.

For parents, carers and students who come to Australia from a refugee experience – understanding the Australian education system can be difficult and often requires communities being given explicit information and support. Both migrant and refugee background communities can have previous experiences of education that vary greatly with the Australian context. These variations can pertain to factors such as: • gender norms; • how year level and skill levels are arranged; • timetabling of school hours; • discipline norms; • learning styles that get promoted in schools e.g. pedagogical differences between teachercentred and child-centred instruction. • homework expectations and more importantly homework style i.e. some CLD communities will have less experience of collaborative projects being set or parent involvement in homework tasks; • student/parent interaction with teachers e.g. some people will have an experience of teachers, whereby sharing the discussion around teaching and learning is not encouraged2; Newly arrived refugees’ experiences pose particular challenges for education policy-makers and providers and need to be considered not only in the context of school based learning, but also homework. 1. Approaches to homework in Victorian schools “If long-term and broad development of knowledge, understanding and skills are expected of homework, then homework activities need to be as systematically planned across the school year as all other academic activities. Schools and teachers need to plan, prepare and implement a homework curriculum.” 3 Homework is by its very name, assumed to be home-based learning. Whilst homework is often considered an independent activity, undertaken without teacher involvement, other adults will often play an integral support role – particularly parents and carers. For young primary age students for example, supervised home reading or being read to by an adult, is assumed commonplace. For older students and particularly those in senior secondary, focused study may include receiving support from parents/carers for: clarification; testing answers and ideas; and ensuring time is allocated for the student to complete their homework - free from domestic or caring duties. Some students may also have access to paid private tutoring. Students’ home context The setting of homework often assumes access to such parental support. For example, the prep student who takes home a ‘reader’ is assumed to have someone who can read to them and listen to 2 3

CMY (2006:9), Issues paper: A Three-Way Partnership? Exploring the experiences of CLD families in schools Horsley, M. & Walker, R. (2013:23), Reforming homework: practices, learning and policy, Palgrave Macmillan


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them. A VCE student who is expected to study 3 hours per night if they want to get good results is assumed to have access to a quiet space to study and time away from other responsibilities. A whole range of material resources are also required, just as they are in school e.g. a desk, access to a computer. It cannot be assumed however, that students have access to these relationships, resources and conducive settings that assist in completing homework. If such resources and supports are assumed by teachers to exist, holding such assumptions can result in homework planning being solely focused on curriculum content and teachers monitoring the completion of homework. Our work with migrant and refugee background in particular, and other students, highlights these factors need to be proactively considered when setting homework for students. This is the emphasis of CMY’s submission. We know for example, that some VCE students may be young people with responsibilities that include looking after younger siblings or undertaking large amounts of domestic duties. Some may be carers. Young people may be newly arrived to Australia after living in refugee situations for protracted periods can face numerous other challenges related to their settlement. Often these students and others from migrant backgrounds, live in families where an understanding of the Australian Education system may be limited, or where parents have limited English proficiency. These home contexts impact greatly on the level of homework assistance that can be expected from family members – that many other students have access to. Policy and practice Whilst CMY is not aware of any formal policy in relation to homework provision in Victorian schools, we acknowledge there are guidelines and expectations outlined in DEECD documents 4 and in practice, most schools require students to complete some kind of homework – with the amount and the complexity of tasks increasing with each year of school. If effective school based learning is assumed to rely upon important contributing factors such as curriculum, sound pedagogy and teacher quality; ‘homework’ requires attention be given to the relevancy of learning according to students’ needs and the support mechanisms required for homework to be completed successfully. Without a considered approach to homework, its effect on students risks being counterproductive, with a real potential to contribute toward disengagement and frustration. By ascertaining what might otherwise remain the ‘implicit requirements’ of homework, schools can determine the supports and resources students have access to. CMY are currently working with schools as part of the Refugee Education Support Program (RESP) to trigger conversations whereby teachers take into account the broader context of their students by asking questions about their students, such as: • Do they have a computer? • Do they have time away from other duties (are they a carer?) • Do they have someone to ask if they need to clarify a question? • Do they have someone to hear them read? • Do they have a parent who can participate in the activity, if that is required?

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http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/curriculum/pages/expectations.aspx

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/curriculum/Pages/guidelines.aspx Submission to the Victoria Parliament Inquiry into the approaches to homework in Victorian schools © Centre for Multicultural Youth 2014

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Do parents or carers understand the schools’ homework expectations e.g. the study requirements for VCE students?

If students are found to have limited access to required resources and support, other strategies can be developed. These could include: • • •

Referring students to other support networks that can assist, such as homework programs. Adapting homework tasks to take account of the student’s home context e.g. if a student is also a carer, developing a realistic plan that acknowledges the available time a student may have after school, compared with others. Engaging parents and carers through a long term strategy that develops their awareness of the Australian Education system and the role they can play in student learning e.g. including giving parents the skills to support students’ positive study habits; giving them the knowledge to assist students making informed choices about their subjects and career pathways.

Recommendation 1 Government support the development and implementation of a Homework Assessment Tool that unpacks implicit assumptions in the setting of homework, and measures factors such as students’ access to: social supports; conducive after school learning environments; and practical resources required to undertake homework. 2. What attempt is made at determining how homework impacts on student learning? CMY is not in a position to comment on the impact of homework on academic achievement as such, , however evaluations of student participation in homework programs undertaken by CMY highlight the learning styles homework can promote can be beneficial. Students have self-reported benefits of having access to 1:1 assistance through homework programs (usually provided by a volunteer tutor). Whether this benefit has a strong correlation to academic improvement is very difficult to measure. What is evident is that students from across primary and all levels of secondary schooling have a strong desire for 1:1 support. This is indicated by the 6000 students estimated to attend homework programs every week in Victoria, all of them doing so voluntarily. In fact all students need opportunities to seek clarification and ask multiple questions pertinent to their learning needs. For many students, a supportive home provides these opportunities. For others, homework programs provide at least some degree of comparable opportunity, even if limited to far fewer hours per week. Opportunities for tailored instruction are often lacking in a classroom context where multiple needs often outweigh the time teachers have to respond individually. Having supported learning opportunities provided within informal environments, free from pressures of a peer audience, enables students to direct their own learning and develop self-motivation. “I want an environment where it is OK to enquire, where there is no fear of failing or asking too many questions. A culture that everyone understands is important and that culture has to be aspirational 5 because these kids are like raw diamonds.” Raphael, Homework Program Coordinator. 5

CMY 2011, Best Practice Case Studies of Homework Clubs: Part of the Evaluation of Learning Beyond the Bell Program


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Students learning English may not be confident speaking in front of groups during school time. Yet language learning requires having the opportunity to interact verbally with fluent speakers. English language students face two major challenges. 1. They may find it very difficult to find practice partners, to develop their oral language skills. This issue is exacerbated by social isolation from English speaking communities, commonly faced by newly arrived students and their communities. 2. They may have extremely limited access to outside school hours support to undertake homework based on writing or reading English. Assistance from a fluent English speaking mentors and tutors provides a real context for using English and can be especially beneficial when experienced in an informal community setting such as an outside school hours homework program. Recommendation 2 Support programs that enable English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners to develop their oral language skills. Embed 1:1 English language mentoring opportunities provided through schools and homework programs working in partnership, into the EAL curriculum. CMY is working with Victorian schools and their local homework programs to increase access students have to 1:1 language mentoring across Melbourne and rural and regional Victoria. Many of these partnerships have a track record of providing opportunities to students to practice their language skills. CMY would welcome the opportunity to discuss how such programs could be more formally integrated with the EAL curriculum.

3. What is the role of individual teachers in determining the impact of homework on student learning? In CMY’s experience working with schools, we know that the complexity of some students’ lives may not enter teachers’ considerations pertaining to the setting and assessing of homework. Individual teachers require support to develop their knowledge of students’ broader life contexts. If teachers can develop a more holistic outlook they will be more equipped to set homework that can be achieved rather than creating additional pressures. Without such support, teachers can too easily presume students have home environments conducive to learning and have access to people who can provide adequate learning support. Without the opportunity to gain a broader perspective, teachers will remain unaware of the constraints that may hinder homework effectiveness. In such cases teachers may wrongly judge students who do not complete homework as lacking a positive attitude or lacking skills - when neither interpretation may be correct. Establishing communication protocols between enrollment, welfare and teaching staff could improve understanding in this area. This requires time being allocated to internal information sharing and potentially coordination with external agencies such as specialists and casework services. Service coordination protocols will already exist in some schools however they may rarely take into account the context of homework provision.


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Recommendation 3 Through specialist agencies, offer professional development to teachers working with students with complex needs; particularly those needs arising from refugee and asylum seeker experiences. Raise teachers’ awareness of how homework can be planned to ensure it positively impacts on such students. 4. Approaches in linguistically diverse communities A lesser known issue that CMY hears about is schools’ tendency to correlate English proficiency with proficiency across other subject areas. Students in senior secondary levels in particular, often report having their aspirations curtailed due to wrong assumptions being made about their academic abilities, without thorough assessment. Many students with limited English will have highly developed content knowledge in areas such as numeracy, biology, sciences etc. However, to enable such students to remain learning at their ability level requires improved access to learning resources in students’ mother tongue and/or improved access to content specific learning materials designed for EAL students. In addition, using interpreters and Multicultural Education Aides (MEAs) can assist teachers undertaking academic assessments to make more informed judgements about student abilities. Such actions would enable students to remain on a healthy learning trajectory. Recommendation 4 Improve resourcing of EAL programs, including increased budgets for EAL resources and specialist EAL teachers. We also call for a thorough understanding of student’s academic ability to be sought by schools. Approaches to assessing students in their first language (with the use of interpreters) require further investigation.

5. Engagement of parents in student learning “There is an important distinction between involving parents in schooling and engaging parents in learning; it is the latter that has shown to have the greatest positive impact. While involving parents in school activities may have an important community and social function, the key to facilitating positive change in a child’s academic attainment is the engagement of parents in learning outcomes in the 6 home”

In CMY’s experience, schools and other education providers are often very interested in parental engagement in learning (quite likely as a result of renewed research into this area). However, for a range of practical reasons schools can find it difficult to secure the time, skills and resources to have necessary conversations and deliver key messages to parents. Parents as well as school staff lack time, and there are few flexible opportunities for educational staff to interact with parents. CMY’s own research into this area has found there is quite a variation in knowledge and expectations about the Australian education system among migrant and refugee families. This depends on factors such as the length of time families have been in Australia, the supports they have 6

Emerson, L., Fear. J., Fox, S., and Sanders, E. (2012:8). Parental engagement in learning and schooling: Lessons from research. A report by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) for the Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau: Canberra.


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been offered, the degree of connection established with the broader community, and their previous involvement with older children in the education system. 7 To actively engage parents many schools rely on meetings with parents at schools (often at night). This type of strategy often misses those most in need. CMY asserts that a strategy to strengthen parental engagement need not rely solely on schools to deliver it, nor should such strategies be targeted toward parents just because they attend a common school. Instead, an effective parent engagement strategy can be based on engaging cohorts of parents who share common characteristics e.g. they are from similar geographic regions communities; or they share cultural or linguistic similarities; or represent faith based communities. Educational messages provided to parents need not be delivered solely by schools. Community organisations have skills, approaches and experience building parent capacity and know how to undertake community engagement strategies. Such agencies (including CMY) often work with parents, though usually away from school sites. Partnerships between community agencies and schools blend community engagement expertise with educational content knowledge. Such partnership approaches between the education and community sectors are already commonplace within the early childhood sector. Recommendation 5 Formalise partnerships between schools and community organisations to provide parents with a better understanding of their role in education and link them with capacity building information and opportunities. Particular attention needs to be given to newly arrived families from migrant and refugee background communities, who may be unfamiliar with the Australian education system. CMY is developing such programs with Victorian schools and other community stakeholders, and would welcome the opportunity to share our experience in more detail. 6. Access to technology (outside the classroom) CMY would welcome any further support that can be provided to students and their families to ensure equity in education is achieved. It cannot be assumed students will have access to computers or internet in the home. Family and cultural expectations may also constrain young people from accessing technology in public spaces, such as libraries. If homework is considered a necessity as part of the curriculum then technology resources required to complete homework need to be explicitly made available. If financial or other constraints exist for students in gaining access to technology, proactive strategies to rectify inequities must be pursued. CMY is a member of the Victorian Council of Social Services (VCOSS) Equity in Education Alliance. As a member we would welcome the opportunity to discuss the needs of various cohorts of students in relation to the costs of education. In the case of accessing technology we urge further examination into the impacts of changes to the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA). Any reductions to the EMA will have an affect on the capacity of families receiving it, to afford technology. Further, the Outside School hours learning support program sector (i.e. homework clubs) often play a vital role, alongside public libraries, in giving students access to technology and the internet. Their role and the services they bring to students needs to be better understood and quantified in terms of impact on student learning. 7

CMY (2006:10), Issues paper: A Three-Way Partnership? Exploring the experiences of CLD families in schools


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CMY would welcome the opportunity to facilitate better understanding between the Education department and these sectors, focusing on their mutual roles in providing access to technology to complete homework. Recommendation 6 Bridge the digital divide between Victorian students. We strongly encourage that any changes to the EMA thoroughly examine the impact they might have on students’ access to essential learning technologies. We also support any initiatives that provide additional resources to homework programs and public libraries to increase access to technology for students after school hours.

7. Balance between reinforcing and extending what has been learnt in the classroom with time to undertake extracurricular activities and to spend time with family Extracurricular activities are not necessarily counter to formal homework. For some students they may be an ideal form of homework. Access to extracurricular activities involving a broad cross section of the community provides newly arrived migrant and refugee background students both an opportunity to develop important ‘bridging’ relationships and real friendships. In turn, these relationships can increase wellbeing. Such connections also provide a real context for English as an Additional Language (EAL) students to develop their oral language skills.

Recommendation 7 Formally recognize the impact of extracurricular activity in student learning. Engaging students in learning can be achieved through opportunities that provide both a recreational or arts focus, alongside an academic focus. A wide range of outside school hours learning support programs adopt such models. CMY would welcome more support being given to such programs.

For more information about this submission, contact: Tim Watson Coordinator Education Support Centre for Multicultural Youth


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