A last resort?
National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
In Port Hedland there is a school outside ... I used to stand on a chair and look out at them. I like to see what they looked like in their school uniform. There was an officer … and she pulled my shoulder down and put me on the ground and said, ‘You are not allowed to look at those people because they are different to you.’ And I was like ‘Why are they different to me? Because they know English and they are Australian, does that make them better?’
Teenage boy, Perth focus group
All children in Australia have a right to education. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Australian governments are required to provide, as a minimum, primary education that is 'compulsory and available free to all' and secondary education that is 'available and accessible to every child'.
All children in Australia, regardless of their nationality, their immigration status, or how they arrived in the country, have the same right to education.
The Inquiry looked at whether children in immigration detention received a standard of education that was comparable to 'similar children' in the Australian community. To help make this assessment, the Inquiry looked at the education services available to refugee children and asylum-seeker children living in the community.
It is the responsibility of the Department to ensure that detainee children receive an adequate education.
Since 1999, most detainee children have had access to educational programs inside detention centres. For several years, some detainee children from some centres have attended local schools outside their detention centre.
Since late 2002 this opportunity was extended to most detainee children. However, as most children in immigration detention over the period of the Inquiry attended internal detention centre schools, it was important to examine the quality of that education.
How does the detention environment affect children's ability to learn?
When I first came here, we were very hopeful to get out – we thought our stay here was very short … after that I became very upset and depressed and because of my mental condition I couldn’t bring myself to go to the school.
Teenage boy, Curtin
Children in detention often carry with them experiences that make learning very difficult, such as the effects of past torture and trauma. However, the detention environment itself makes learning even harder.
Experts told the Inquiry that factors such as riots and disturbances, moving from one compound to another, disruptions associated with arrivals and releases and uncertainty over visa applications, all undermine the effectiveness of education programs.
Of most particular concern, however, was the mental health of children, which deteriorated the longer they were in detention. Detainee children told the Inquiry that depression and anxiety made it very difficult for them to concentrate and learn.
In addition, children's attendance at on-site schools declined with the length of time they had spent in detention and as they grew older because they felt depressed and because the classes didn't meet their needs.
School education buildings and recreation area at Curtin, June 2002
Education in detention centres
The lack of adequate education
programs is a major issue.
More often than not no trained teacher [is] available, classes are
irregular at best, no curriculum, no subject programs or timetables
and no learning outcomes identified. This also has a negative impact
on the behaviour of the children as they don’t have enough
to occupy their time constructively.
Department Manager Report, Port
Hedland,
January - March 2001
Despite the significant efforts of teachers, the Inquiry found that there were fundamental problems associated with providing education services in on-site schools throughout the period of the Inquiry. These included:
- insufficient infrastructure
- inadequate hours of tuition
- inadequate educational assessments and reporting of children's progress.
Two other significant problems - the lack of an appropriate curriculum and the shortage of teachers - are discussed below.
Many of these problems were substantially addressed when, in 2002, the Department arranged for increasing numbers of children to attend local schools.
Curriculum and resources
There was no curriculum set
or advised by ACM or [the Department] ...
we were certainly given some classrooms to teach [in at Woomera]
and some materials in terms of white boards … but nothing
in terms of what type of syllabus for any subject so we made that
up ourselves.
Former Woomera teacher, submission to the Inquiry
An effective education requires a carefully developed curriculum which is appropriate to the needs of children. It also requires adequate resources. Former education staff and community organisations presented evidence to the Inquiry that the curriculum offered to detainee children at on-site schools varied considerably over time and between centres - however, it was often inadequate and unstructured.
Detainee children and parents consistently said that a lack of age-appropriate teaching resources restricted children from receiving an education suitable for their age and needs. This was a particular concern for older children.
There was only one class and everybody like from five year old and I were put in the same class. And what they did was put a photocopy of some basic mathematics in front of us and they were trying … to teach me simple addition and these sort of things – basic mathematics.
Teenage girl, Curtin
Further, there were limited learning opportunities for detainee children aged 15 and over – even though two years of post-compulsory schooling are available to children across Australia. At this age detainee children were encouraged to enrol in education programs for adult detainees, which were generally inappropriate to these children’s needs.
We had no computers. We had pens
and exercise books. We just copied from difficult books, some books
like dictionaries, just copying, then put in the rubbish bin. No
easy story books, just dictionaries. Not learning English, just
copying and copying.
We were like a printer!
Teenage girl, quoted in NSW Commission
for Children & Young People,
submission to the Inquiry
By late 2002, efforts were made to expand the curriculum in some centres, particularly in Woomera and Baxter. However, this expanded program was not given sufficient resources in the early stages.
Availability of teachers
Evidence to the Inquiry highlighted the significant shortage of suitably qualified teachers in detention centres, particularly in Woomera and Port Hedland, which at times had very large numbers of children.
For instance, there were 282 children at Woomera on 1 August 2001 and 456 children there on 1 September 2002. However, during these months no more than five teachers were employed - often the number was less. By contrast, there is one teacher for every 25 to 30 students in Australian primary schools.
To cope, adult detainees without Australian teaching qualifications were sometimes called upon to teach classes. Mostly they acted as teaching assistants but occasionally they taught classes alone.
This shortage of teachers also had an effect on the hours of tuition students received. In most Australian schools, students receive approximately six hours of teaching each day. However, detainee children attending on-site schools prior to the end of 2001 received considerably fewer hours of tuition. For example, ACM documents show that during 2001 teaching hours at Woomera varied between one and three each day, depending on detainee numbers.
The high turnover of teachers also undermined the quality and availability of education programs.
Finally, in some centres during 2002, teachers wore ACM uniforms and security earpieces and consequently it was initially difficult for children to distinguish teachers from detention officers.
Attending local community schools
Prior to 2002, education for detainee children largely took place in on-site schools in detention centres. Some child detainees from some detention centres were able to attend local schools in the community. However the arrangements for this provision of external education were ad hoc and the opportunity was only extended to a small number of children in detention.
From mid-2002, increasing numbers of children in detention were allowed to attend local schools, after the Department began to negotiate agreements with State and Territory education authorities. By the end of 2003, the majority of children in detention were attending external schools.
Evidence to the Inquiry was clear about the benefits - child detainees are able to experience a 'normal day' outside the detention centre, be taught a full curriculum, socialise with other children and make new friends, all of which improves their well-being. The Department Manager in Port Hedland reported in June 2002 that the '[b]ehaviour and socialisation skills of the children [are] improving as a result of attending community schools.'
Parents told the Inquiry that they preferred their children to attend external school. However, these benefits can be offset by the experience of returning to the detention centre each afternoon.
When we go outside we see the children, they go out free, when they go back home, we have to come back here. Sometimes they say to each other, ‘We’re going to beach or somewhere else’ - we can’t go.
Teenage boy, Port Hedland
Not all children, however, were allowed to attend external schooling. For example, at Curtin, ACM staff determined whether a child could attend the local school, based on how well they thought the child would cope, their level of English and their social skills. Children in the Australian community are never excluded from school on the basis of requirements such as these.
In addition, some older children aged 16 and above were denied the opportunity to attend external schooling because of their age. Being denied access to attend a local school had a detrimental effect on some children, contributing to greater levels of depression which, in turn, affected their ability to learn in the detention centre school.
St Cecilia’s Catholic school attended by
children in Port Hedland,
June 2002
When did children in detention attend local schools?
Maribyrnong
1998 |
Children had access to education
at St Margaret Mary's Catholic primary school from the beginning
of 1998. Approximately 12 children participated in this arrangement.
2002 In October children began attending the local State schools. |
Port Hedland
1998 |
Two children enrolled at St Cecilia's
Catholic primary school. 2002 In April two children began attending
St Cecilia's. From May, all children attended the school. |
Curtin
2001 |
Children commenced at Derby District
High School in March 2001 - five children attended during 2001.
2002 Approximately 16 children attended Derby District High School
- a small proportion of the children detained at the time. |
Villawood
2002 |
In August 2002 some children began
attending local State schools. More children commenced at external
schools in October, however, not all children could participate. |
Woomera
2002 |
In December, primary school-aged
children commenced attending St Barbara's Catholic Parish School
in Roxby Downs, two days a week. 2003 By mid-2003 children detained
at the Woomera Residential Housing Project were attending the Woomera
Area School. |
Baxter
2003 |
In March 2003 secondary school-aged
children began attending local State schools, with primary school-aged
children attending local State schools from April 2003. Some children
were excluded from these arrangements. |
Inquiry finding
The Commonwealth failed to take all appropriate measures to provide children in immigration detention with an adequate education over the period of the Inquiry, resulting in a breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Many problems were addressed when child began attending external schools.