Getnet Bitew

Ethiopian-australian Secondary School Students? Experiences: an Investigation of Ethiopian and Ethio-australian Secondary School Students? School Experiences in Melbourne Getnet Bitew

This thesis was aimed at exploring the secondary school experiences of Ethio-Australian students in Melbourne. It examined the different school activities in which the students were participating & how these school activities matched the students? needs & previous background. It also attempted to compare the students' school experiences in selected Australian & Ethiopian schools. A qualitative methodology, using interviews, observation & document analysis as data collection tools, was employed. As an Ethiopian sharing the participants? previous life experiences & as a researcher watching, listening & participating with them & including my own voice, I used a postcritical ethnographic approach. Secondary school students, their teachers & parents acted as informants for the study. A total of fifty nine participants were interviewed. The interview data were transcribed & coded. A combination of narrative & thematic analysis was used. Several constructs emerged out of the data which included the identity factors & exclusionary forces that contributed to students? secondary school experiences when they relocated between schools & countries.