Transcript Charlotte-Setijadi

AMEP Longitudinal Study:
Employment, workplace
participation, and settlement
success among recent migrants
Charlotte Setijadi, George Major, & Dr Agnes Terraschke
Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University
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Language training and settlement
success
• Funded by Department of Immigration and
Citizenship
• Aims:
• Explore language needs of migrants in early
settlement:
• Language use and needs
• How language affects settlement experience
• Role of Adult Migrant English Program
• → Improve support for migrants
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Language training and settlement
success: A two phase study
• Qualitative, longitudinal, multi-site study
• Phase 1: 152 migrants over 1 year
• Phase 2:
• 60 participants from Phase One (Cohort A)
• 85 new participants at AMEP (Cohort B)
• Locations: Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart,
Adelaide, Launceston, Brisbane, Perth
3
Language training and settlement
success
• Data:
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•
•
•
•
semi-structured interviews
classroom observations
teaching and assessment materials
out-of-class interactions
fieldnotes
4
This presentation
• Report on longitudinal snapshot of Cohort A
data from Phase 1 (2009) and Phase 2 (2011)
• Focus on migrants’ stories on finding work and
their experiences in the workplace:
•
•
•
•
General employment trends
Patterns of under-, and unemployment
Language use at work
Workplace socialisation
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Some key employment trends
• An educated cohort: 40 out of 60
participants have at least 13 years of
education
• 36 participants were employed by the start
of phase 2 of AMEP LTS (end of 2011)
• 7 participants are unemployed and actively
looking for work
• 12 women are stay-home
mothers/housewives
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Longitudinal view of participants’
employment
Occupation group
Pre-migration Phase 1
Phase 2
Managers
6
2
0
Professionals
19
5
7
Technicians & Trade Workers
7
1
2
Community & Personal Service
Workers
3
7
6
Clerical & Administrative Workers
6
2
2
Sales Workers
2
5
6
Machinery Operators & Drivers
0
0
1
Labourers
4
11
11
Housewives
4
9
12
Students
9
4
4
Unemployed
0
12
7
Retired
0
2
2
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Longitudinal view of participants’
employment
Occupation group
Pre-migration Phase 1
Phase 2
Managers
6
2
0
Professionals
19
5
7
Technicians & Trade Workers
7
1
2
Community & Personal Service
Workers
3
7
6
Clerical & Administrative Workers
6
2
2
Sales Workers
2
5
6
Machinery Operators & Drivers
0
0
1
Labourers
4
11
11
Housewives
4
9
12
Students
9
4
4
Unemployed
0
12
7
Retired
0
2
2
8
Longitudinal view of participants’
employment
Occupation group
Pre-migration Phase 1
Phase 2
Managers
6
2
0
Professionals
19
5
7
Technicians & Trade Workers
7
1
2
Community & Personal Service
Workers
3
7
6
Clerical & Administrative Workers
6
2
2
Sales Workers
2
5
6
Machinery Operators & Drivers
0
0
1
Labourers
4
11
11
Housewives
4
9
12
Students
9
4
4
Unemployed
0
12
7
Retired
0
2
2
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Goals and aspirations
• Employment important marker of settlement success
• Majority would like to be in the same industry as the
one they were in pre-migration
• Employment viewed as a relatively quick way to
improve English and integrate into Australian society
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Over-qualified and under-employed
• 5 participants explicitly stated that they could not
get jobs that match their overseas qualifications
and/or working experiences
• Path to getting overseas qualifications recognised
seen as too difficult/expensive/time consuming
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Unemployed and unable to find work
7 participants are unemployed for a number of
reasons, including:
• Not being able to find a job in the industry that
they desire
• Not having good enough English for work
Unemployment can make participants feel
financially vulnerable, unable to contribute to
society, and unfulfilled:
“I cannot find myself when I’m just at home and
not working”
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Language at work
• Of the participants who were employed at
phase 1 (n=32) and phase 2 (n=36):
o Three participants work mainly in an L1speaking environment
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Language at work
“I want to find a job in the Aussie shop… Hm because I
want change… You know still in Chinese shop I can’t
improve myself. I can’t improve my English or that is
not for the long time job. So I MUST be change”
Lily (Chinese bakery worker)
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Language at work
• Of the participants who were employed at
phase 1 (n=32) and phase 2 (n=36):
o Three participants work mainly in an L1speaking environment
o Four participants work in an English-speaking
environment but are able to mainly use their L1
at work
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Language at work
“My English is very limited now so, I have to settle
with this job”
Li Ming (cleaner)
Through an interpreter
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Language at work
• Of the participants who were employed at
phase 1 (n=32) and phase 2 (n=36):
o Three participants work mainly in an L1speaking environment
o Four participants work in an English-speaking
environment but are able to mainly use their L1
at work
o Most participants speak ONLY English at work
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Talking to clients/customers
• More participants in phase 2 (69.44%) interact
with customers daily than in phase 1 (43.75%)
• Some have only very minor interactions with
customers – either because of the nature of
the job or because they are actively
discouraged from talking with clients
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Talking to clients/customers
“One thing might be my English, yeah. Like,
um, it might make his shop look
unprofessional, because - but, yeah, but still,
I think many reason, but it's one of the
reason that, I think because the owner
doesn't - because I can do everything. If I
have money, I can open my own”.
Lisa (dog groomer)
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Talking to clients/customers
• More participants in phase 2 (69.44%) interact
with customers daily than in phase 1 (43.75%)
• Some have only very minor interactions with
customers – either because of the nature of
the job or because they are actively
discouraged from talking with clients
• Others describe positive experiences about
gaining the confidence to talk with customers
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Talking to clients/customers
“And now I'm giving them whatever they
want and talking to them, ‘How is your day’?
‘Where you come from’? ‘Do you stay in
hotel’? ‘How are you doing’? ‘Have you
seen Opera House in Sydney’? I start to
chat and talk with people”.
Kamran (hotel worker)
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Workplace socialisation
• Establishing relationships with colleagues can
be a very important part of the workplace
experience
• Workplace socialisation was explicitly discussed
by 11 participants in phase 1, and 21
participants in phase 2
• 3 participants (all in phase 2) mentioned little or
no opportunity for socialisation
• 8 participants in phase 1 and 13 in phase 2
describe positive experiences
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Workplace socialisation
“I like abouts when I got the good friend
and we can talk, we can laugh. I'm
proud of myself. I'm not a good English
but the way I can make a joke to make
them all laughing and then the way
they're laughing like before start or break
time, I feel happy more than them”.
Tat (chicken factory worker)
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Summary
• Finding employment is a crucial milestone for
migrants: gateway to Australian society
• Restricted access to work due to:
• English proficiency
• Unrecognised qualifications
• Participants often have to adapt their
employment aspirations
• Some participants have limited opportunities
to use English at work and socialise with
colleagues
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Summary
• Majority work in English speaking contexts
• By 2011, more participants:
• were employed
• had direct contact with customers (using English)
• Despite facing a range of issues regarding
communication in the workplace, many
participants report having positive experiences
with:
a) gaining confidence in talking to customers
b) socialising with colleagues
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Thanks to all our participants
and to the research team:
•
Ingrid Piller
•
Pam McPherson
•
Lynda Yates
•
Kerry Taylor-Leech
•
Donna Butorac
•
Charlotte Setijadi
•
John Ehrich
•
Agnes Terraschke
•
Laura Ficorilli
•
Alan Williams
•
Sun Hee Ok Kim
•
Vera Williams Tetteh
•
Loy Lising
•
Beth Zielinski
•
George Major
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Email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
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