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In their own words : what migrants say about succeeding in TAFE

Research into the determinants of success for migrant students at the Canberra Institute of Technology found that English proficiency was only one element; awareness of and ability to operate in a different educational culture was seen by a group of successful migrant students as the principal factor. Our research, conducted in 1997-98, consisted of taped focus group discussions and individual interviews of 10 migrant students from a variety of cultural backgrounds studying various diploma programs at the CIT. Students were also asked to write about the differences they perceived between the way they had been educated in their country of origin and that of their Australian TAFE experience. This paper will describe our response to the findings of this research which has involved the implementation of a multi-pronged program of subject-specific, integrated support and staff development. The aim of our program is to increase the success rates of migrant students but a key underlying need is to develop awareness amongst teachers and students of the educational cultural differences between the Australian VET system and that common to many of our migrant students. Using AVETMISS standards we have consistently shown a significant increase in the success rates of migrant students in our program over the past three years. The findings and approaches described in the paper are equally applicable to International students.