Previous research has established that young people from refugee backgrounds may have experienced loss and trauma prior to coming to Australia, may experience ongoing racism and discrimination in their host country, and may struggle to adapt to a new and sometimes unfamiliar culture. Students from refugee backgrounds may also require additional learning support to engage with the Australian education system due to limited English language capabilities, missed or interrupted schooling, and unfamiliarity with Western curricula and schooling approaches (Brown et al., 2006; Woods, 2009). 

In a previous report (Baak et al., 2021), the authors described the outcomes of the second stage of the Refugee Student Resilience Study, which identified six key domains of current best practice in refugee education from the perspectives of 50 school leaders and teachers. 

In this second report, they privilege the perspectives and voices of students from refugee backgrounds on the school-level relationships, activities and services that enable them to develop resilience despite their sometimes challenging life experiences as young refugees. The report also gives voice to their concerns about cultural issues and educational arrangements that impede their positive development as emerging citizens of an increasingly diverse Australia.

Seven themes were identified from the analysis that reflect the views of refugee-background students about their schooling experiences. These themes were: 

• Personal history and wellbeing, which refers to the life events students have experienced, and continue to experience, as a result of forced migration and how these impact on their welfare after their resettlement in Australia. 
• Relationships, which refers to the social connections and relational interactions students have with significant others in their lives.
• Cultural and religious dimensions, which relates to the ways in which students experience the cultural and spiritual aspects of their lives, and responses to them, at school.
• Racist attitudes and behaviour, which include prejudiced, discriminatory or biased actions towards students based on students’ ethnicity or religious affiliation. 
• School rules and administration procedures, which refers to the suite of controlling expectations and directions sanctioned by schools. 
• Targeted support, which refers to the extra help students receive in their schools. 
• Curriculum and assessment, which refers to the formal provision of learning and evaluation activities planned and enacted by schools.