CwB ePoster- Australian Red Cross
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The document summarizes a service learning project conducted by university students to support refugees and asylum seekers. The students worked with the Australian Red Cross Migration Support Program and OzHarvest to collect and distribute food to vulnerable community members. Key activities included selecting culturally appropriate food, transporting it, and researching food storage safety. While the project provided benefits, challenges included a lack of resources and supervision. Overall, the experience helped students develop skills in teamwork, technology, and working with diverse groups.
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CwB ePoster- Australian Red Cross
- 1. Ashleigh Dinner ville (16291498) Matthew Chener y (16292680) Vatha Chanthalangsy (17384849)
- 2. Australian Red Cross: Migration Support Program Provides “support to refugees, asylum seekers, immigration detainees and other people who are vulnerable as a result of migration” OzHarvest “Rescues excess food which would otherwise be discarded.” Supports vulnerable members of the community. Delivers 266,000 meals per month in Sydney alone. 2
- 3. Primarily based around the Red Cross’ weekly Oz-Harvest delivery Roles and responsibilities included: o Meeting the Oz-Harvest van o Selecting appropriate food for the week o Transport food o Package and label Oz-Harvest provides food to the Migration Support clients who visit the Red Cross
- 4. Migration Support clients in the process of acquiring English as an additional language Administrative tasks included: o Online research o Safe food storage activities for MSP clients (fridge, freezer, pantry) Indirect service learning Benefits the Migration Support community as a whole
- 5. Academic o Minimal application of theory to practical tasks assigned. Social o Different ways of approaching tasks. Organisational o Inefficient use of time. o Food storage task was not implemented. o Limited technological resources and space. o Team leader absence.
- 6. Social Skills: o Working as a group. o Working within a large organisation. Professional Development: o Technological competency o Working Unsupervised
- 7. Provide support to refugees, asylum seekers and immigration detainees (Australian Red Cross, 2012). Identifying food that best catered to the religious dietary requirements of the migration support clients.
- 8. Through service learning, students can better understand themselves and diverse members of the community, develop intercultural competence, and at the same time engage in acts of civil idealism (Hones, 1997).
- 9. Mentoring has been shown to strongly benefit learning through: o Improved engagement with learning o Improved skills development o Articulation of student voice o Improved social relationships The process of mentoring includes; o Reflective analysis of past experience o Taking into account individual differentiation o Understanding expectations of others o Building of positive social relationships
- 10. Effective teaching strategies a) focusing on oral development, reading and writing conventions, expanding vocabulary b) using learning materials that are relevant to their lives, c) allocating purposeful tasks, and; d) providing sufficient time for literacy development.
- 11. Success depends on; a) cultural recognition and support b) development of literacy and numeracy skills; and c) effective student participation.
- 12. Students from low SES are more likely to: o Enter the schooling process with lower levels of cognitive development o Achieve lower levels of academic success o Experience lower levels of motivation and self- efficacy Positive influences include: o Positive adult role models o Encouragement and engagement with learning activities o Increased access to resources
- 13. Arnold, D. H., & Doctoroff, G. L. (2003). The Early Education of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Children. Annual Review Of Psychology, 54(1), 517-545. Australian Government. (2011). Fact Sheet 60. Australia’s refugee and humanitarian programme. Canberra: National Communications Branch, Department of Immigrations and Citizenship. Australian Red Cross Migration Support Program Website: http://www.redcross.org.au/migration-support.aspx Brown, J; Miller, J & Mitchell, J. (2005) Interrupted schooling and the acquisition of literacy: experiences of Sudanese refugees in Victorian secondary schools. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 29/2, pp.150-162 Gallagher, P. A., Abbott-Shim, M., & VandeWiele, L. (2011). Head Start Mentor Teachers Impact Child Outcomes in Protege Teachers' Classrooms. NHSA Dialog, 14(2), 75-78. Hones, D. (1997). Preparing teachers for diversity: A service learning approach. p. 1. Retrieved on 15th March from http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED406381.pdf Janus, M., & Duku, E. (2007). The School Entry Gap: Socioeconomic, Family, and Health Factors Associated with Children's School Readiness to Learn. Early Education And Development, 18(3), 375-403. Jordan, N. C., & Levine, S. C. (2009). Socioeconomic Variation, Number Competence, and Mathematics Learning Difficulties in Young Children. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 15(1), 60-68. 13
- 14. Means, B. (2010). Technology and Education Change: Focus on Student Learning. Journal Of Research On Technology In Education, 42(3), 285-307. Oliver, R., Haig, Y., & Grote, E. (2009) Addressing the Educational Challenges Faced by African Refugee Background Students: Perceptions of West Australian Stakeholders [online]. TESOL in Context, Vol. 19, No. 1, May pp. 23-38. OzHarvest Food Rescue Website: http://www.ozharvest.org/index.asp Partington, G., (2003) Why Indigenous issues are an essential component of teacher education programs. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 27/2, pp. 39-48. Roberts, M. (2007). The Contribution of Learning Mentors to Achievement. Pastoral Care In Education, 25(3), 53-55. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0122.2007.00417_1.x Scherer, M. (2011). Transforming Education with Technology. Educational Leadership, 68(5), 16-21. Stanulis, R., & Ames, K. T. (2009). Learning to Mentor: Evidence and Observation as Tools in Learning to Teach. Professional Educator, 33(1), What Works team. (2010). What Works. The Work Program. Improving outcomes for Indigenous students: The Workbook and guide for school educators (3rd ed.). National Curriculum Services Pty Ltd and the Australian Curriculum Studies Association. Whitton, D., & Walbank, C. (2011). Service learning handbook. Sydney: Pearson Education. Wright, V. H., & Wilson, E. K. (2011). Teachers' Use of Technology: Lessons Learned from the Teacher Education Program to the Classroom. SRATE Journal, 20(2), 48-60. 14
Editor's Notes
- As a group we worked as volunteers for the Australian Red Cross Migration Support Program. We assisted in the providing of support and services to “refugees, asylum seekers, immigration detainees and other people who are vulnerable as a result of migration” (http://www.redcross.org.au/migration-support.aspx). Our responsibilities within this placement were centred around, but not limited to, the collection of a weekly assortment of food from the OzHarvest food rescue charity, who collect excess food from retailers or organisations and distributed to those in need. The office from which we operated was located in the inner city of Sydney, but the members of the community for whom our actions helped serve were more widely dispersed. The office from which we operated was located in the inner city of Sydney, but the members of the community for whom our actions helped serve were more widely dispersed.
- Our roles and responsibilities were formed around the arrival of the Oz-Harvest van. We were required to meet the van in the loading dock after they were to call and advise us they were on their way, select food from the van that was appropriate to transport back upstairs where we would sort through the various containers in which the food was stored and separate food which was considered edible from that which needed to be discarded. We would then repackage and label food as required and store it in a large fridge, after which Migration Support Program officers could then direct their clients to take items which they needed, or could otherwise not afford. We were responsible for correctly identifying and labeling the food so that the many different cultures being catered to could select food that suited their diet.
- In addition to the Oz-Harvest delivery we worked as a group on behind the scenes administrative tasks that would assist with the Migration Support Program. Clients involved in the program were in the process of acquiring English as a second language and a lot of the time had trouble with basic day-to-day activities. Our particular administrative work involved online research for food safety projects. As a group we came up with safe food storage activities that could help clients remember which foods were best stored where and how long they should last. Indirect service does not provide service to individuals but benefits the community or environment as a whole (Whitton & Wallbank, 2011). We say our experience was ‘behind the scenes’ because it was very in direct as we were not involved in meeting or presenting our work to the migration support clients.
- Academic There was minimal application of theory to practical work; therefore placement was not challenging or relevant academically. We addressed this issue by asking for more engaging projects and tasks from the team leader. Social As a team we worked on a food storage activity. Each group member had a different way of approaching task; therefore we incorporated each member’s strengths to complete the task efficiently. Asking for assistance from peers and staff was a concern, because as students, we lacked the knowledge of how the company works and staff in the migrant support division were unfamiliar with our placement, so they couldn’t help as required. To deal with this, we made sure that we obtained as much information from our team leader whenever we met with her. Organisational Time: 1-hr Oz Harvest/3-hrs Food Safety was inefficient use of time as there was insufficient tasks/work undertaken for duration of block placements. We have suggested that future groups should be given more challenging tasks. Due to the indirect nature of the service, we will not see the end result of our work and the impact it will have on the clients. In future, we have decided to select a more direct service learning placement option. As the Red Cross is a NGO, there was limited technological resources and office space available. We learnt to be creative with the limited resources that were offered to us. Our volunteer engagement team leader, Blake Powell, was very supportive but was out of the office quite often due to work responsibilities.
- Prior to our service learning experience no member of our group had any engagement with another group member. This, combined with the nature of the service learning placement meant we had little time to get familiar with our peers before jumping into action which resulted in a process of learning and the development of social skills. Without immediately being familiar with each others strengths and weaknesses we were required to delegate tasks and to conduct our activities in a manner that did not distract or interfere with others within the organisation. Research has shown that the use of technology in the classroom is becoming increasingly encouraged and recommended in dealing with students’ needs (Means, 2010; Scherer, 2011; Wright & Wilson, 2011) As part of our secondary task to develop a food storage educational activity we were required to have a minimum level of technological skills that exceeded general knowledge. In being confronted with technological difficulties or limitations in our own knowledge we were required to explore alternative strategies or learn new techniques which developed our technological skills. Additionally, working in an unsupervised environment resulted in the learning and development of leadership skills which were required to delegate, organise and complete our required tasks. Research has shown that the use of technology in the classroom is becoming increasingly encouraged and recommended in dealing with students’ needs (Means, 2010; Scherer, 2011; Wright & Wilson, 2011) As part of our secondary task to develop a food storage educational activity we were required to have a minimum level of technological skills that exceeded general knowledge. In being confronted with technological difficulties or limitations in our own knowledge we were required to explore alternative strategies or learn new techniques which developed our technological skills. Additionally, working in an unsupervised environment resulted in the learning and development of leadership skills which we required to delegate, organise and complete our required tasks. Finally, throughout our involvement within the Australian Red Cross we were required to learn and develop skills of resourcefulness. With funding for our projects at a minimum we were required to identify what resources were needed and how we could develop alternative, free methods of utilising them.
- Although we primarily undertook indirect service learning, we were still faced with diversity issues when it came to understanding the different cultures we were catering to as part of the Oz-Harvest program. As already mentioned, a big part of our Oz-Harvest experience was to sort and label the food as accurately as possible so that the refugee and asylum seekers could select food that best catered to their religious dietary requirements. This was an important duty for us as the clients were putting their trust is us in making sure that the food was correctly labeled.
- A common outcome of academic service learning is that it exposes pre service teachers to diverse, unfamiliar situations where they are equally participating in both the learning side and service side. Through participating in the program we were able to simultaneously enhance our own knowledge whilst being exposed to diverse communities.
- With strong research links between the benefits of an experienced mentor and student learning (Gallagher, Abbott-Shim & VandeWiele, 2011; Roberts, 2007), our mentoring experiences while engaged within the service learning process have contributed and benefitted towards our future roles as teachers. As part of our experience, we were responsible for the training and mentoring of a second group from UWS who would continue with the OzHarvest service in following weeks. In doing this we became engaged in a reflective analysis and, taking into account individual differentiation, examined how our observations and experiences might differ from the expectations of the other group. Through this process we became actively engaged in discussion and positively encouraged the other group to direct our teaching through listening to comments and responding to questions. We feel, in a similar fashion to Stanulis and Ames (2009), that this critical examination of our experiences, and the social processes it was imbrued in, has resulted in a development of our mentoring abilities which will improve our pedagogical skills.
- In 2010-11, the Australian government granted a total of 13, 799 visas under its Humanitarian Program which is focused providing settlement for refugees from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South West Asia (Australian Government, 2012). According to Brown, Miller & Mitchell, (2005) The areas of concern for students from EAL backgrounds include, spelling, grammar, study skills due to interrupted or lack of schooling and prior cultural knowledge that assists with understand academic concepts. Oliver, R., Haig, Y., & Grote, E. (2009) suggest that effective teaching strategies for EAL students include: focusing on oral development, reading and writing conventions, expanding vocabulary using learning materials that are relevant to their lives, allocating purposeful tasks, and; providing sufficient time for literacy development.
- Partington (2003) states that learning difficulties for indigenous learners are the result of: Past legislation/policies which deny access to education. Teachers’ lack of understanding towards cultural differences. Low socioeconomic status and related health problems. The DEP’s What Works program has found that the success of indigenous learners is dependent upon a teacher offering: cultural recognition and support developing the student’s literacy and numeracy skills; and encouraging effective student participation.
- As part of our engagement with the Migration Support Program we were engaged heavily with members of the community from a low socio-economic status. We strongly feel that this will be of benefit to our teaching careers, not only from the contacts within the agency that we have developed and the learning of related organisations, but also from an academic perspective. Research shows that students coming from situations similar to what was observed in our placement generally receive less attention and have less access to support structures from teachers, governments and institutions than ‘ordinary’ middle class students (Jordan & Levine, 2009). This results in the perpetuation of a cycle which dictates that low SES students will be significantly more likely to enter the schooling process with lower levels of cognitive development (Janus & Duku, 2007; Jordan & Levine, 2009), achieve lower levels of academic success (Arnold & Doctoroff, 2003; Jordan & Levine, 2009) and have lower levels of motivation and self-efficacy (Arnold & Doctoroff, 2003; Jordan & Levine, 2009). In our secondary responsibility of developing a food storage educational activity we directly addressed the implications of this and as a result now have a level of experience in teaching students from low socio-economic backgrounds which we would otherwise not have. In the process of developing the activity we aimed to include several positive learning influences which have been shown to improve the achievement of students from a low SES background. These included providing engaging content (Jordan & Levine, 2009) and access to resources (Arnold & Doctoroff, 2003) as well as directions for staff on how to provide positive role models and encouragement (Arnold & Doctoroff, 2003).