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Submission to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from
Rose O'Connor
I taught a small group of students (approx.12) for 3 and a half weeks at Port Hedland Detention Centre during March 2002. I am a qualified secondary E.S.L. and English teacher and have taught since 1987. I've taught mainstream English up to Year 12 and E.S.L to European, Asian and Middle-Eastern students in Melbourne and Darwin and I've taught on Aboriginal communities and have some understanding of Primary curriculum and the needs of younger students. I hope you find the following information relevant.
The students in my class ranged from about 7-16 years old. It was a mixed ability group also and included basic beginners to intermediate level students. This made teaching difficult despite the small number of students.
It's hard to teach E.S.L effectively with such variables. In a normal program, older students are separated from younger students as, educationally their needs are different. Due to the size of the room I was working in it was very difficult to accommodate the needs of both groups.
Also effective E.S.L requires a lot of oral work followed directly by reading and writing. It was impossible to teach in what I consider the most beneficial way to both groups-actually there were roughly three levels-in such a confined space and with only one qualified teacher.
It is possible to provide a reasonably effective program in such a situation, but it takes time to develop. E.S.L. is very much a specialist area and requires proper training and a carefully developed program. The conditions under which we worked in the Centre did not allow for the aforementioned.
There was no program to follow or evidence of any curriculum development.
There were no student records in any form ie. academic or any background information of the type which is readily available in all Australian schools and is particularly valuable to new teachers.
I was not given a proper 'hand-over' from the previous teacher as she was sacked on-the-spot, something that never occurs in any other school in Australia.
There was no teacher accountability or monitoring from outside as is the case in other such 'isolated' teaching situations. The usual liaison with other schools did not exist. Hence there was no support either.
There was no parental input into education because of the detainee status of parents and parent-teacher exchanges were not formalised or expected.
There was very little opportunity for variety in the everyday teaching situation. The school lacked the usual facilities at most schools e.g. library, gym, proper outdoors play area. There was an unshaded outside area for games which the climate rendered useless for sustained play.
There was therefore, very little relief from the classroom environment.
I taught in a small, enclosed room under fluorescent lights. Not much light filtered into the room because of the way it was constructed. Bars on the windows added to a feeling of confinement. Plus the constant presence of officers passing up and down the narrow corridor outside the classroom added to the sense of being hemmed in. The blare of the officers walkie-talkies was an ever-present background noise.
Because all the students were still in the Detention Centre when being taught, there was a sense of imprisonment in the school itself. Students were ushered over to and back to the school by guards and gates and doors were locked and unlocked behind them.
As a teacher and member of staff I had to lock and unlock doors for students and the residents who were our assistant teachers. This never felt comfortable for me.
Students were also referred to by their numbers by guards rather than their names. So it was not a very relaxed atmosphere to work in or for children to be taught in.
There were some clearly disturbed children in my class. One boy of about 9 was continuously undermining the lesson through hyper-active behaviour. He was in need of more stimulation than the school could provide. Most of the kids were either badly or apathetic and it was difficult to motivate them even though my lessons were well worked out and suitable for their level.
There was a marked lag between the oral skills of some students and their reading and writing skills that showed to me a lack of a proper English program. The education provided by the Centre lacked continuity, a factor essential to effective teaching. It takes time for a teacher to plan and implement a program suitable for their particular class. The nature of the contract system at Port Hedland did not allow for that time. The contracts were for 6 week rotational blocks and I opted for 3 and a half weeks and, surprisingly, was accepted. The previous teacher had been sacked as I already stated. The abrupt dismissal of that teacher had, I believe, a detrimental effect on the students I inherited as they had come to trust her and were very attached to her.
They constantly referred to her in my class, especially some of the little boys, and they wrote her name whenever they had an opportunity. The children were not allowed a chance to say good-bye to her in person.
The rationale behind the 6 week contract was to discourage attachment on behalf of teachers to residents. This policy contradicts an essential element in teaching ie. the build up of trust from students over time and the time needed to develop an adequate program to suit individual student needs.
I noticed students becoming very attached to teachers. In a normal school environment this attachment would not have been so intense. One little boy became extremely attached to [name removed], the other teacher and had great difficulty letting her out of his sight at times.
In the Centre the kids do not get away from the other kids. They are limited to the same group of children at the time so the sense of variety and wider experience that goes with attending school was somewhat limited. One girl in my class did not have any other teenage girls to sit next to. She sat alone and was the focus of the 2 or 3 teenager boys in the classroom. The presence of other girls would have diffused such an intense situation somewhat.
My experience of working in a regular ESL classroom has been quite different. The students are usually highly motivated and genuinely want to learn. They are generally very well behaved also. Education seemed secondary to those students and there was difficulty making it seem relevant in the face of their everyday reality. The main focus was getting a Visa and the "fallout" from DIMA decisions often encroached on the classroom.
I also had 2 mentally disadvantaged children in the classroom who were in need of specialist support.
I taught with 2 untrained assistant teachers (detainees) who did their best under the circumstances. I did not have the chance to plan lessons with these residents because they were not given the time. In fact there was a feeling of being watched in how we related to these residents by the guards. So again the chance to develop a properly implemented program was hampered somewhat by restrictions on time with assistant teachers. I was in a team teaching situation and yet was not given a proper chance to go through material being taught and to develop ideas together.
These residents also taught alone for stints when teachers were not available, something that is illegal elsewhere. One resident taught the pre-school students on regular basis for a long period of time.
In the time I spent there a number of students left the Centre. Some of the families were not given a chance to say good-bye to anyone ... this caused upset in the classroom on occasions.
In a normal school at least there are some permanent fixtures and far more variety and sense of continuity and a much broader community to relate to. At least attending a regular school as the students at P.H now do, affords the opportunity to escape, albeit for a short time from the unhealthy deadening atmosphere of the Detention Centre. The school in the Centre did not come close enough to a normal school environment and even working for a short time in such an environment has a depressing effect on the psyche. I can't even begin to imagine the long-term effects such an experience can have on a child.
I hope my comments have been useful.
Last Updated30 June 2003.
