‘It makes you feel like you’re at home, you’re safe, you’re happy in here’: Enacting culturally responsive and enabling pedagogies with refugee students in a university pathway program

Abstract

Students from refugee backgrounds (thereafter ‘refugee students’) are entering Australian universities in increasing numbers, often via university pathway programs (enabling programs), contributing to the superdiversity in higher education institutions. A growing body of literature acknowledges the academic and socio-cultural challenges faced by these students in higher education. This article draws on the narratives, gained through interviews and focus groups, of 10 refugee students and 15 academic and peer support staff within an enabling program at one Australian university. This study explored the pedagogical approaches used by staff in their teaching and the support offered, and how these approaches were perceived by the refugee students. Academic and peer support staff promoted the use of enabling pedagogies and culturally responsive pedagogies as effective teaching approaches for these students. In line with these pedagogical approaches, we argue that the educational achievements of refugee students can be enhanced when academic and peer support staff are responsive to the educational and socio-cultural experiences of their students in both enabling programs and the wider university.