For Afro-Australian 12th grader Jeanne Munyonge, belonging is something she struggled with throughout high school.
Key points:
- African-Australian high school students often feel they don’t fit in, with few teachers around them.
- A project will analyze how the situation can be improved.
- Student teachers are taught what they could do
Ms. Munyonge told her that belonging meant feeling comfortable in an environment.
But being the only black girl at the full-year level at her Adelaide secondary school, she said if it hadn’t been for her cousin, who later joined the campus, she wouldn’t have experienced fitting in.
“I and [my cousin] they always hung out together, and that’s when I thought, ‘At this point, I’m not going to belong here… we don’t. So let’s stick together,'” Ms Munyonge said.
Ms. Munyonge’s experiences are not uncommon.
In fact, a Victorian study earlier this year revealed that 91 per cent of African-Australian students witnessed racism in schools, and students reportedly felt discriminated against by their teachers.
“When I went to them with a problem that was going to happen, they didn’t take it seriously,” Ms Munyonge said.
“There were times when something happened, someone offended me or said something offensive, and even though sometimes they didn’t tell me, it’s like you’re saying something that is offensive not only to me but also to my people.”
Research program to fill the gap
Senior lecturer at the University of South Australia, Melanie Baak, said a sense of belonging was “everything”.
“It is what we need as humans, to feel connected. That we fit in and that we can be who we want to be in whatever space we’re in,” she said.
The Australian Research Council will pay $460,000 for a new research project looking at how young Africans experience a sense of belonging, in partnership with the University of South Australia, which will award a PhD research program grant.
Dr. Baak will oversee the program and said the hope was to use the research to inform society about how to foster belonging in communities and how society in general views people of different races.
And he said he would start by looking into high schools.
“In secondary education, teachers often see 120 children in one day, [so] it’s much more difficult to develop that deep understanding of every student that comes through your class,” he said.
Dr. Baak said that sometimes the diversity of the teaching staff could also create barriers to connections.
“We know that most of our teachers are white, middle-class, predominantly women but also men. Therefore, many students from the African diaspora do not see themselves represented in their teaching staff and teachers cannot see themselves reflected in the students either.” said.
Ms. Munyonge said her school recently hired an African teacher, giving her the confidence to be understood.
“I now know that there is a teacher who is actually from the same place as me and has probably experienced the same things that I am experiencing,” he said.
“So if something happens, I can go to him, I can talk to him. But with other teachers you don’t really have that trust.”
Belong ‘a warm hug’
Gabriel Akon, 28, believes that the feeling of welcome and the ability to trust are essential for young people.
“I have always followed the concept of ‘a child who is not embraced by the people will burn it to feel its warmth,'” Akon said.
He said it was something he championed in his work as a hip hop artist and record label founder.
“If it is not done, these children will not only turn on themselves, but they will turn on a society they thought they belonged to,” he said.
Mr. Akon has been working with Dr. Baak lecturing to college students completing their teaching degrees.
The conference explores schooling from a refugee background and highlights the experience of black African students in Australian schools, with Mr Akon even sharing his own experiences of racism in schools.
Mr Akon said the research from this new PhD program could help create a level playing field for all students.
Something Bior Aguer said would have been valuable during his time at the school.
Mr. Aguer arrived in Australia at the age of four as an unaccompanied minor nearly 20 years ago and has since become an author and community advocate.
“It’s very interesting because I never thought I would write a book, I was more interested in the sport: basketball. I thought that was where I was headed,” he said.
“Until I realized that here in Australia I needed to bring a voice. I felt there was something left unsaid, especially for my community, so I decided to focus more on the humanities.”
Aguer said there were cultural differences at play when it came to African youth and the education system.
And he believed that barriers could be broken through open conversation and understanding.
“I feel like I have a sense of ownership now, however there is room for improvement and we are growing more and more in our society and we need the voices of the African diaspora to be heard about how they feel in school,” she said. .
speaking for the future
With graduation in sight, Ms. Munyonge is now part of the reference group of young people for the doctoral program.
His hope is that by speaking up, he can encourage others to do the same.
“Use your voice, because I remember at school a lot of students started to lose hope, and every time there was a problem they just brushed it aside,” she said.
But she says to keep trying.
“At the end of the day, yes, you’re going to leave school, but other younger people are coming. And you can pave the way for them. They don’t have to fight like we did,” he said. saying.
