Introduction

Meeting the learning needs of all students in Australia is the main priority of the Australian
Education system. Many argue that the traditional education system one size fits all is insufficient
at meeting the needs of all students. Therefore much research has been done on alternative
schooling practices. The essay will explore different ways of improving students academic
performance by critically analysing 2 research articles which focus on students academic
performance and school environment.

The first research article is Refugee action support: Crossing borders in preparing pre-service
teachers for literacy teaching in secondary schools in Greater Western Sydney (Naidoo, 2012). And
the second article is Indigenous representation and alternative schooling: prioritising an
epistemology of rationality, International Journal of Inclusive Education (kaddie, 2014). Critically
analysing these 2 articles will involve looking at why the research was conducted, what research
methods were used and what findings were made. After the articles have been critically analysed
they will then be compared to each other to identify if the research findings correlate or contradict
each other and to discuss common themes between the 2 papers. We will also discuss the
implications that this research has on education system and on teaching practices.

In the first Article Naidoo (2012) outlines the challenges faced by refugees and in particular refugee
students. This paper also discusses the Refuge Action Support Program (RAS) that was established in
2007 as a partnership between University of Western Sydney (UWS), Australian Literacy and
Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) and the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET). RAS
provides tutoring to recently arrived refugee students from African backgrounds, and the tutors are
Masters of Teaching students from UWS (Naidoo, 2012). This paper also tries to identify how the
RAS program benefited teachers, pre-service teacher (tutors) and refugee students. To identify these
benefits Naidoo (2012) analyses dada from a case study conducted with a participating school.

The primary role of this paper is to introduce the readers to the RAS program and to identify how it
benefits everyone involved. The ultimate aim of this article and this research is to help refugee
students receive a better education. This article outlines that refugee students require 5-7 years of
effective teaching to become proficient in language and literacy skills. The author also points out
that high school teachers encounter significant challenges when teaching refugee students (Naidoo,
2012). Therefore the need to develop appropriate learning programs to help refugee students is
essential.

The case study that Naidoo analysed focused on the structure, effect and value of the RAS program.
The chief investigator documented participant experiences and gathered data primarily through
semi-structured group and individual interviews. The type of research evident in this study can be
classified as exploratory research that collected data about participant perceptions and feelings.

This case study highlighted the effectiveness of the RAS program; all the participants interviewed
had positive comments about the program. The refugee students outlined that the tutors really
helped them with their study and they outlined a positive rapport with the tutors (Naidoo, 2012).
The pre-service teachers (tutors) stated that they felt like they were making a real difference by
helping the students. The participating school also embraced the program (Naidoo, 2012).
Although all the participants embraced and validated the program there are some limitations and
flaws with the design and implementation of this case study.

The first limitation with this case study is that it didnt have a control group it only had an
experimental group, therefore it was not a controlled experiment (Adcock, 2001). Because there was
no control group we cannot be certain that any improvements that the students outlined with their
school work are a result of the RAS program.

The unit of analyses of this case study is the RAS program; its ability to help refugee students
improve their schooling is being observed and studied. The casual hypothesis of the case study is
that the RAS program helped refugee students improve their academic performance. However we
cannot be certain that this hypothesis is correct because there was no baseline measurement of any
kind carried out at the beginning of the study.

Therefore its not clear if the students language and literacy skills did really improve. Perhaps
instead of just using qualitative dada of refugee students reflections, the chief investigator should
have collected quantitative data by designing some kind of test for the students to complete as a
baseline measurement and then again at the end of the experiment. This quantitative dada would
have provided a clearer picture of the improvements made and would have provided more validity
to the experiment (Adcock, 2001).

Another limitation with the case study is the sample size (only 1 school). Although a small sample
size is less important in qualitative research it can still make it difficult to identify significant
relationships from the data (Sandelowski, 1995).

The second paper is Amanda Keddies (2014) journal article titled Indigenous representation and
alternative schooling: prioritising an epistemology of rationality, International Journal of Inclusive
Education. This article draws on a case study of a small alternative indigenous school in Queensland
called (Indigo House). This paper argues that the needs of indigenous students are better addressed
in indigenous-led schooling context that promotes indigenous epistemology. In this schooling
context the community, kingship and family networks are centre of all relations (Kaddie, 2014).

This article has many similarities and common themes with the first article that was analysed. The
research methods outlined in Keddies (2014) paper involves interviews, playground observations
and document analysis of school resources. Interviews with the school elders were the primary
method of data collection. In both research papers qualitative research methodology is utilised and
interviews are the primary method for data collection.

The reason that both researchers prefer qualitative research methodology over quantitative
research methodology is because the research that is being done is exploratory research, which is
looking at ways of improving schooling for specific disadvantaged student groups. Qualitative
research methodology s seen as more flexible and correlates with the research design and data
collection methods of the 2 papers (Grimez & Schulz, 2002).

Kaddies (2014) article also shares some of the limitations and design flaws as the first article. These
limitations include small sample size (only 1 school), only qualitative data was used and no baseline
measurements were recorded. These limitations and design flaws have a negative effect on the
validity of the research.
A common theme evident in both the articles is that mainstream schools are unable to cater for the
learning needs of all students. Naidoo (2014) outlines that refugee students are disadvantaged in
mainstream schools and Kaddie (2014) identifies that indigenous students struggle in mainstream
schools. The 2 disadvantaged groups experience problems in mainstream schools for different
reasons but it can be argued that a sense of belonging and self-confidence issues are evident in both
cases.

Naidoos (2012) paper outlines that the RAS program was successful because of the positive rapport
between the tutors and the refugee students, and because of this rapport refugee students
improved self-confidence and academic results. Kaddies (2014) article identifies that indigenous
students struggle with their indigenous identity in mainstream schools and didnt have a sense of
belonging. The Indigo House helps solve this problem by promoting proud indigenous identities
through a focus on cultural recognition.

Another common theme is that both papers argue that student education should not only involve
the school, but should also involve outside institutions as well as community support. These ideas
correlate with other research into school education e.g. Dei (2008) states that education must
cultivate a sense of identity within culture and community.

Although both of these articles have some limitations and design flaws the premise of the research is
positive. Both of the articles also share the belief that mainstream schooling doesnt meet the needs
of all students. These two articles also share common themes and their primary goal is the same
(improving schooling for disadvantaged student groups).

The research findings in these articles have major implications for both the education system and for
teaching practices. The education system as a whole must realise that the traditional teaching
system is not sufficient in meeting the learning needs of all students. Therefore change is needed;
this change can come in different forms and from different areas e.g. teacher training should be
looked at, school curriculum, student assessment processes, outside institutions, community
involvement, and holistic approach. The education system can look into all these areas and outline
better ways to educate students or specific student groups. The implications that these 2 papers
have for teachers is to be aware that there are different groups of disadvantaged students in any
given class. Therefore teachers should identify the best ways to teach these students and use that
knowledge in lesson plan design and lesson plan delivery.

Conclusion

This essay has clearly analysed the two specified journal articles and has compared the two articles
to each other. It was identified that these articles have very similar research methods and similar
data collection methods. These articles also shared the same primary method of data collection
which was semi structured interviews. It was also clear that these articles had some of the same
limitations and research design flaws.

These two articles also outlined that there are certain student groups who are disadvantaged in
mainstream education and identified programs that can help. The findings in the articles were
positive for both the RAS and Indigo House programs. This essay has also outlined the implications
for the whole education system and implications for teachers. Specific areas that the education
system should look to improve were detailed in the essay. Overall its clear that change is necessary
and more research should be done into providing effective schooling for disadvantaged students.
With more research comes more knowledge and hopefully this will result in a better education
system that meets the learning needs of all students.
References

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research. In American Political Science Association (Vol. 95, No. 03, pp. 529-546). Cambridge

University Press.

Dei, George J. Sefa. "Schooling as community race, schooling, and the education of African youth."

Journal of Black studies 38, no. 3 (2008): 346-366.

Grimes, D. A., & Schulz, K. F. (2002). Bias and causal associations in observational research. The

Lancet, 359(9302), 248-252.

Keddie, A. (2014). Indigenous representation and alternative schooling: Prioritising an epistemology

of relationality. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 18(1), 55-71.

Naidoo, L. (2012). Refugee action support: Crossing borders in preparing pre-service teachers for

literacy teaching in secondary schools in Greater Western Sydney. International Journal of

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Sandelowski, M. (1995). Sample size in qualitative research. Research in nursing & health, 18(2), 179-

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