38Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal, Vol.4, No.2, 2012 ISSN: 1837-5391; http://utsescholarship.lib.uts.edu.au/epress/journals/index.php/mcs CCS Journalis published under the auspices of UTSePr ess, Sydney, Australia Immigrant T eachers in Australia Jock Collins University of Technology, Sydney Carol Reid University of Western Sydney Abstract One of the features of contemporary society is the increasing global mobility of professionals. Australia is a major immigration nation with an increasing emphasis on selecting skilled and p rofessional applicants. While have been an important component of skilled and professional immigration into Australia over past decades immigrant teachers, there is no comprehensive contemporary national study of the experiences of immigrant teachers in Australia. This article aims to fill this gap. It draws on quantitative and qualitative research with immigrant teachers in NSW, SA and WA to provide insights into the contemporary immigration experience of immigrant teachers. The article explores a number of stages in th e immigrant teacher experience: their decision to move to Australia; their experience with Australian Education Departments in getting qualifications recognised their experiences as teachers in the classroom and in their lives in their new Australian community. Introduction One of the features of contemporary global society is t he increasing brain circulation of professionals (Castles and Miller 2009; Goldin et al. 2011). While the education ind ustry is a key site of the demand for contemporary global professional migration, lit tle attention has been given to the global circulation of education professionals, includin g teachers and university lecturers. The labour shortage of educational and other profess ionals in western nations is partly due to demographic (supply) factors and partly due to the strong growth of the services sector in countries like Australia. In 2003 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmen t(OECD) reported that western nations like Australia face a serious shortage of experienced teachers within the next few years, with teacher shortages most likely in male-dominated secondary specialisations such as physics, chemistry, mathematics and technology studies, and languages other than English (OECD 2003). Two years later, the OECD recommended that OECD countries could learn from each other through “sharing innovative and successful [teaching] initiatives, and to identify policy options for attracting, developing and retaining effective [immigrant] teachers” (OECD 2005).
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CCS Journal is published under the auspices of UTSePress, Sydney, Australia
Immigrant Teachers in Australia
Jock CollinsUniversity of Technology, Sydney
Carol ReidUniversity of Western Sydney
Abstract
One of the features of contemporary society is the increasing global mobility of professionals. Australia is a
major immigration nation with an increasing emphasis on selecting skilled and professional applicants. While
have been an important component of skilled and professional immigration into Australia over past decades
immigrant teachers, there is no comprehensive contemporary national study of the experiences of immigrantteachers in Australia. This article aims to fill this gap. It draws on quantitative and qualitative research with
immigrant teachers in NSW, SA and WA to provide insights into the contemporary immigration experience of
immigrant teachers. The article explores a number of stages in the immigrant teacher experience: their decision
to move to Australia; their experience with Australian Education Departments in getting qualifications
recognised their experiences as teachers in the classroom and in their lives in their new Australian community.
Introduction
One of the features of contemporary global society is the increasing brain circulation of
professionals (Castles and Miller 2009; Goldin et al. 2011). While the education industry is a
key site of the demand for contemporary global professional migration, little attention has
been given to the global circulation of education professionals, including teachers and
university lecturers. The labour shortage of educational and other professionals in western
nations is partly due to demographic (supply) factors and partly due to the strong growth of
the services sector in countries like Australia.
In 2003 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported
that western nations like Australia face a serious shortage of experienced teachers within the
next few years, with teacher shortages most likely in male-dominated secondary
specialisations such as physics, chemistry, mathematics and technology studies, and
languages other than English (OECD 2003). Two years later, the OECD recommended that
OECD countries could learn from each other through “sharing innovative and successful
[teaching] initiatives, and to identify policy options for attracting, developing and retaining
German and Greek the top ten LOTE backgrounds of school students in NSW schools (NSW
DET, 2008: 24).
According to 2006 national census data, as Table 1 shows, there are approximately 438,060
teachers in Australia. 74,620 of these, or 16.95% of all teachers in Australia, were born
overseas, that is, first generation immigrants. Compared to the proportion of the Australian
population who were foreign-born at the time of the Census (24%) immigrants are under-
represented in the Australian teaching sector.
Table 1 Birthplace of Australian Teachers
Birthplace of Teacher No. %
Australia 356120 81.29Overseas 74260 16.95
Not Stated 7680 1.73
Total 438060 100
Source: Compiled from 2006 national Australian census
Australia’s immigrant teachers are drawn from countries around the globe. As Figure 1
shows, the majority of teachers – like the majority of all immigrants - were born in the UK
and English speaking countries. Many immigrant teachers in Australia also come from New
Zealand, South Africa, India, the USA, and Germany. Other immigrant teachers in Australia
come from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South America, so that cultural, linguistic and
religious diversity characterises the population of immigrant teachers in Australia.
Birthplace of immigrants is often a very crude measure of the cultural diversity of Australian
society. For example, many ethnic Chinese immigrants are born in China, India, Fiji,
Malaysia or the UK. As a consequence data on the ancestry of immigrants can assist in
getting a more accurate picture of ethnic diversity of immigrants in Australia. Figure 2
presents ancestry data of teachers in Australia. By far the most common ancestry of teachers
other than Australian is English, followed by other UK countries. However the very long
‘tail’ to this graph indicates the ethnic background of the Australian teaching profession is
very diverse with those of European ancestries German, Italian, Dutch and Greek the largest
cohorts of non-British ancestries. These are the second generation whose parents arrived in
Australia in the 1950s and 1960s to work as labourers or shop-keepers but gave theirAustralian-born children an education to open the doors to professional employment. Chinese
Figure 12 Since coming to Australia have you regularly attended any of the following
activities?
A critical question to evaluate an immigrant experience in a country like Australia is: ‘have
you or would you recommend to other immigrant teachers that they teach in Australia?’ 60%
of all respondents said that they have or would recommend to other immigrant teachers that
they teach in Australia. This finding is very relevant to the issue of the attraction of new
immigrant teachers to Australia. This is a very positive endorsement for the experience of
immigrant teachers in NSW, SA and WA. Responses to this question are not sensitive to
gender differences.
Another critical question, this one relevant to the issue of the retention of new immigrant
teachers, to evaluate an immigrant experience in a country like Australia is: ‘in five years
time do you see yourself teaching in Australia?’ Two in three (64%) of all respondents, or
75% of those who provided an answer to this survey question, said that they do see
themselves teaching in Australia in five years time. This is also a very positive endorsementfor the experience of immigrant teachers in NSW, SA and WA. Responses to this question
are not sensitive to gender differences.
Immigrant Teachers in Australia: An overview
In this article we have drawn on new quantitative and qualitative research to explore the
experience of immigrant teachers in Australia. We now have a much better understanding of
who these immigrant teachers are, where they came from, why and how they came toAustralia. We also have important insights into their experiences on arriving in Australia of
The conclusion then is that the immigrant teacher experience in Australia is a mixed bag from
the point of view of professional teaching experience and as an immigrant living in Australia,
though the majority judge that the benefits and positives outweigh the negatives. Overall,
those who responded that their expectations of being a teacher in Australia been met (80 or
30%) only slightly outnumbered those who reported that their expectations of being a teacher
in Australia had not been met (67 or 25%). Nevertheless most immigrant teachers rated their
experience as a teacher in Australia favourably or more favourable when compared to their
teaching experience back home. From a social point of view, most immigrant teachers had
connected to their new communities and regularly attended sporting and social activities.
This may explain why 60% of all respondents said that they have or would recommend to
other immigrant teachers that they teach in Australia and why two in three immigrant
teachers surveyed said that they expect to be still teaching in Australia in five years time.
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