Ethiopian-Australian Secondary School Students’ Experiences

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.