I recently pointed out that the widespread belief that migrants refuse to learn the language of their new country does not stack up against the realities of adult language learning.…
Ingrid PillerApril 28, 2016
Australia: The White Man's Land (Source: NLA) Australia has a proud national narrative of migration and multiculturalism. It also has an equally prevalent history of exclusionary and discriminatory migration policy.…
Laura Smith-KhanDecember 9, 2015
Nizaqete Bislimi (Source: DuMont Verlag / Franz Brück) Some of the most striking images from the refugees who have been trekking across Europe are of families and children. Beyond the…
Ingrid PillerOctober 7, 2015
Who is a real refugee? The refugee crisis in Europe has caught a lot of global media attention. Countries at the entry points and their official actions, as well civil…
Agnes BodisSeptember 23, 2015
High Court of Australia (Source: Wikipedia) When people arrive in countries like Australia, seeking to be recognised as refugees and offered protection, it is obviously important that they are able…
Laura Smith-KhanAugust 26, 2015
"Naughty boys" in the media: image from the Channel 4 gangs and drugs drama "Top Boy" Teacher expectations can constitute a self-fulfilling prophecy: teachers behave differently towards children depending on…
Ingrid PillerMay 13, 2015
Plaque commemorating the work of migrants in the construction of the Mundaring Weir In response to my blog post about the disparity between educational qualifications and employment outcomes faced by…
Ingrid PillerAugust 15, 2012
Average employment outcomes of the tertiary-educated (Source: Colic-Peisker 2011, p. 647) The labour market integration of migrants presents a persistent conundrum. The Australian story – as that of other migrant…
Ingrid PillerAugust 10, 2012
In the past couple of years, I have been a passenger in Sydney taxis driven, inter alia, by an agricultural engineer from India, a civil engineer from Somalia, a surgeon…
Ingrid PillerAugust 27, 2010
Yesterday, the New York Times carried a heart-breaking story about an exceptional school principal forced from her position under No-Child-Left-Behind legislation in order for the school district to obtain federal…
Ingrid PillerJuly 21, 2010
Some people just can’t win it seems. Second language speakers are in that category. I can’t even begin to count how many people who have read a fraction of the…
Ingrid PillerNovember 19, 2009
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