Accents on Teaching? Immigrant Teachers in Australia

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The first part of this paper looks at the presence of first and second generation immigrant teachers in Australia. The remainder of the paper analyses recent fieldwork with immigrant teachers to explore their experiences in three Australian states (NSW, SA and WA) through the lens of accents, language and qualifications recognition. We show that accents matter in relation to school contexts and that qualifications recognition is a maze of different policy making bodies that is extremely complex to navigate. The paper reveals that experiences vary over time and place due to the broader structural features: such as the nature of the school and immigration policies and procedures. The findings of this project are significant given that globally-mobile teachers are set to become a major element in the recruitment strategies of many nations in the coming decade.

Stream: Equity, Social Justice and Social Change; Community, Culture, Globalisation

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

For over 25 years I have worked in communities and schools around issues of social justice and schooling. My research has a focus on teachers and the transformative possibilities resulting from global movements of people and global connections especially in terms of immigrant teachers and Indigenous teachers. I also work with local schools regarding responses to inequitable social conditions and work to understand emerging processes of racialisation. I also have a long term teaching and research interest in the democratising possibilities of new technologies.

Professor Collins has been publishing about Australian immigration for thirty years, and is the author of 8 books and over 60 journal articles and book chapters. Jock has been a consultant to the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Office of Multicultral Affairs and the NSW Department of Treasury. He has an international reputation in the area, and is one of the founders of The International Metropolis Conference.