Education in Australia begins with kindergarten and preparatory year at the age of five to six years. The name of each school stage my vary from one state to another. But by consensus among states, all students study about 13 years between elementary and high school.
Students in the Middle East attend school from 6 to 18 years of age, which include secondary and high school stages.
If you compare the schools’ curriculum in Australia to the curriculum in other migrants’ home countries, you will find a big difference in content and how it gets delivered.
Adeline Dergham is a secondary school teacher responsible for languages at Saint Charbel School with extensive experience teaching Arabic at the University of Sydney and in public and private schools in both Australia and the Middle East.
She says, "The curriculum in the Arab countries depends on memorising a huge amount of information within a strict curriculum every year. Students are required to study, take exams and pass them in order to qualify for the next year. Therefore, students at overseas schools have a better and broader knowledge of the general culture.”
"This is unlike the Australian curriculum, which is based on the understanding and culture of everyday life. It provides students with enough space, away from pressure, to develop their skills.”
Australia Explained podcast: Adaline Dergham, High school teacher and Head of languages at St Charbel College. Source: Adaline Dergham
“Choosing the school”
One of the first official resources to help migrants choose a school in Australia is MySchool, which provides information on all schools, especially student literacy and math test results. This is known as the NAPLAN test.
The method of evaluating the school and classifying it nationally is one of the first new differences for new migrants compared to their home countries.
Ms Dergham says: "The NAPLAN exams were not intended to be an assessment of the competence of Australian schools. Rather, they were found to provide an assessment of the level of the student. But for some parents, the NAPLAN has become a way for some parents to evaluate the school academically. In fact, this is an Arab custom, as we Arabs like to have our children in strict schools academically. Australians and migrants from other communities in Australia do not seek this assessment as we do."
Private or public school?
After learning about the academic level of the school, new migrants face a question that has puzzled hundreds of families before them: should I choose a private or public school for my children?
"It was a really difficult confrontation, especially when I learned that public schools share information with students that are still considered a taboo today. Therefore, even though I am a Muslim, I had to enrol my children in a Catholic school," says Safaa Samoun.
As for Muhammad Nassar, he decided to start this journey with a public school: “Next to our house was a public school with a high academic reputation. So, we registered my son in it and took the responsibility for teaching him religion at home. But he could not adapt to the community there. He would come home sad every day".
Zeina Taleb, attended primary and high school in Australian public schools. So, she took a deeper look when she decided to choose schools for her own children.
"Because of my experience with low educational level, poor language skills, corruption and bullying in public schools, I chose to enrol all my children in private schools,” she said.
A new study in Australia shows that 30% of children and 40% of adolescents attend private or independent schools. School fees vary widely among them, depending on the type of private school and the different sectors it governs.
“I see parents in private schools as clients, they put thousands of dollars into them,” says Ms Dergham. “In return, they have expectations from the school that they are really trying to meet. While public schools don't give parents a chance to hear their requirements, these schools do what they can and if the parents are not satisfied with that, they have the right to transfer him to another school.”
Zaina Taleb Source: Zaina Taleb
New statistics showed that parents believe that private schools in Australia will provide a better education for their children, and will prepare them for success in life, but there is no conclusive evidence for this claim.
"I decided to transfer my children from a public school to a private school when they finished primary school and I couldn't find anyone to praise or advise one all-boy secondary school for me because of bullying, which is very prevalent in it," says Ms. Doley Yahyaoui.
"This was a fateful decision for us, we are migrants and we don't have any relatives here. We immigrated to give our children the best opportunities. I told myself I don't want to buy a house or open my own business. I want to secure my children's future and give them the best opportunities.”
On the other hand, Duaa Fakhr El-Din says: "There is no reason for me to put my children in schools that will pressure them academically, because as private schools they offer more homework, and in general the student's preoccupation with academic subjects after school hours is very high. I wanted to get my children out of this atmosphere.”
Returning to the comparison between Australia and the Middle Eastern countries, the educational Australian public schools is completely different from the public schools in Arab countries.
"It is as if we are comparing the level of public hospitals here with the level of public hospitals in our Arab countries," says Ms Dergham. "Public schools in our country are not subsidised whereas Australian public schools are well supported by the state in terms of financial resources and teacher training.”
"No teacher can work in the government system easily, as they must meet certain conditions and standards to be able to teach in public schools, unlike the Australian private schools.”
Primary school
The most shocking and surprising thing for Arab migrant families regarding school education is the method of teaching at the primary level.
Ms Doley says: There are no books, programs, and syllabuses for every semester. As a mother, I cannot know how to support my son or daughter to study at home unless I personally go to the school and ask the teacher about the topic discussed this week in the classroom, so that I can follow up on it at home from external sources.”
Muhammad added: "The communication between us and the teachers is very little and far between. It takes place after completing two semesters, after we get the teacher's report on the student's level. This excludes our chance to solve any problem from the beginning, if any.”
Dalia al-Sayed says, "What shocked me the most was the lack of homework and exams in schools compared to Arab countries because we Arabs are used to education being strict and intense.”
As for Zina, “I sympathised with the teachers of this stage.”
"It is sad that teachers with degrees such as fine arts and master's in education are required to teach all subjects to students, from mathematics, science, language and computer.”
Also, while dealing with the teacher in Arab countries has clear boundaries that cannot be infringed, this is not the case in Australian schools.
"We attend trainings designed to control students in classes because the methods that we used in Arab countries doesn’t work and are forbidden to be used here," says Ms Dergham.
For his part, Muhammad recalled the fear of the teacher in the Arab world and how parents always supported the teacher at the expense of their son or daughter whereas the opposite occurs in Australia meaning parents and the education system supports the welfare of the student at the expense of teachers.
Ola Ali says: "I work in a school in Sydney, and one time a student made a paper missile during class and threw it into the head of the teacher. The teacher screamed and said who did this?”
"I was surprised by his mother's presence the next day to complain of her nervousness and disappointment that the teacher had shouted at her son.”
علا علي ضيفة بودكاست أستراليا بالعربي Source: Ola Aly
Secondary or high school
The secondary stage is very important for some parents, especially those who have decided to personally support their children to prepare them for the secondary stage.
Zina says: "Although my daughter was in a private school, when she reached the seventh grade, I worked with her for a whole year on methods of summarising the lesson, how to take pencil tips, how to revise for exams and do exercises. I admit that it was a difficult year for me and for her.”
Dalia commented, "We are not saying that education here is slack, but the students face a great shock when they reach the seventh grade due to the pressure of the curriculum and materials, and they appear to have many surprising obligations."
This stage is also an important transitional stage in a student's life in Australia as in the Arab countries. Australia offers the student a wide range of different choices of subjects to choose from, which may help him or her later in entering the university. Migrants often try at this stage to guide their children in choosing scientific subjects to help them enter either "medicine, engineering, pharmacy or law."
Ghada Saber says, "I was very happy that my children chose scientific subjects of their own free will. If they did not choose them, I would try to guide them to choose them because of the good opportunities it offers them at university and in the job market."
Finally, schools have a significant role in establishing cultural harmony between civilisations in Australia. The Australian curriculum emphasises teaching students about First Nations cultures, and recent migrants benefit from this as well as they find themselves learning it through their children. In turn, promoting education about Australia’s First Nations people helps their students develop an understanding of cultural differences and respect for Australia's cultural diversity.
Listen to Australia Explained in Arabic on , , or . Tailored for new and recent migrants to the land Down Under, the podcast helps demystify the quirky habits that embody the Aussie way of life. Listen in as SBS Arabic24 delves into the culture shock experienced by migrants in social spaces, the workplace, school, and more.
