ANSN Board Member Margaret Vickers, from University of Western Sydney, is Program Director for a project to support the learning of Sudanese immigrants. She has provided this report.

Progress Report March 2007

In August 2006, the University of Western Sydney (UWS) commissioned an education and development consultant who interviewed Sudanese community leaders, people from voluntary agencies, and staff from migrant resource centres. The consultant also researched a wide range of electronic and documentary sources.

Following presentation of the consultant's report to the UWS Regional Council, the University committed $80,000 to launch a new initiative to support the Sudanese community in western Sydney. This initiative – the Sudanese Learning and Literacy Alliance (SLLA) - aims to increase awareness within schools and families of practices that lead to school success, and support the development of English literacy among parents and community members.

SLLA will involve the direct engagement of UWS students who will work in partnership with schools, parents and communities. This work is an integral part of the UWS service learning curriculum through which students gain course credit while working with community agencies. Service learning subjects are available across all UWS undergraduate degrees as well as in the Master of Teaching (Sec) degree.

SLLA will work with local high schools to employ two Sudanese professionals who will work in partnership with UWS staff to co-manage service learning activities and facilitate home-school liaison. In SLLA, UWS academics will be responsible for project management. A steering committee that includes community members and staff from participating schools will meet to oversee progress. UWS believes that SLLA activities should be negotiated and conducted in partnership with relevant state government agencies, as well as through local partnerships with schools and councils.

UWS has committed funding for two projects: one in the Blacktown region and one in the Auburn region. The goal of the projects is to increase awareness within schools and families of practises that lead to school success and support the development of English literacy among African refugee students.

In early December 2006, two meetings were held with UWS academics, DET personnel, Sudanese community members, local high school representatives and interested community members. One was held at the UWS Nirimba campus (for the Blacktown literacy project). The other was at the UWS Bankstown campus (for the two Auburn projects).

Following discussions about each project, it was agreed that the projects should serve all refugee students whose needs might be met by the activities being provided. There will be a strong focus on Sudanese students, but students from other African countries, or from Afghanistan, will not be excluded. A summary of these projects is provided in the attached pdf.