In Tasmanian classrooms, refugee-background teenagers are often praised for being ‘resilient’ or ‘well settled’. But behind this positive language lies an assumption: that belonging naturally comes with time.
My research with Bhutanese refugee adolescents in Tasmania suggests the opposite. Belonging is neither automatic nor passive. For these young people, it’s something they must negotiate daily – between school and home, culture and expectations, survival and ambition. If we want Tasmanian schools to be places where refugee youth truly thrive, we need to rethink how belonging is created.
School: Where Belonging is Tested
For refugee-background adolescents, school is usually their first sustained contact with Australian society. It offers opportunity and safety – but it also exposes differences.
Several young people I spoke with described everyday moments that made them feel like outsiders: classmates mocking the smell of food from home, confusion about classroom norms, or uncertainty about where they fit socially. One girl told me she stopped bringing lunch to school altogether after being laughed at – not because she rejected her culture, but because she grew tired of explaining it.
These small moments accumulate. They quietly determine whether school feels like a place of belonging or a place that must be endured.
At the same time, many young people identified specific teachers – particularly English as an Additional Language (EAL) teachers – as anchors of care and trust. In Tasmania, where specialist resources are often stretched thin, these educators frequently do far more than teach English. They help families navigate Centrelink, explain school processes, and advocate for students during moments of conflict.
Most importantly, they offer belief. One student simply told me, “My teacher said, ‘You can do this.’ That stayed with me.”
Between Home and School: Young People Bridge the Gap
School, however, is only one of the worlds refugee adolescents inhabit. Home is another – and the space between them is often where tensions surface.
Parents who have experienced displacement tend to place high value on education, stability, and security. Young people, meanwhile, are learning new norms at school around independence, gender equality, and self-expression.
For girls especially, this tension can be sharp. Several described carrying significant household responsibilities while being taught at school that opportunities should be equal. Rather than rejecting family values, many young women acted as negotiators – carefully explaining to parents how ‘things work here’ in Tasmania while still honouring cultural expectations.
This emotional labour often goes unseen. Yet it is refugee young people themselves who are doing much of the work of social cohesion.
Belonging is Not Assimilation
When asked how they saw themselves, few young people chose a single identity. They spoke instead of being Bhutanese, Nepali, and Australian – sometimes all at once. They mixed languages, cultures, and traditions with confidence.
This hybridity should not be seen as confusion or lack of integration. It is evidence of adaptation, creativity, and agency.
Too often, schools treat belonging as assimilation – something achieved when differences fade. But my research shows that belonging grows when young people are allowed to carry multiple identities without having to choose between them.
What Tasmania Can Do Better
If we are serious about inclusion, Tasmanian schools need to move beyond symbolic gestures like Harmony Day alone. Belonging requires everyday practice: culturally responsive teaching, strong EAL support, and space for students’ lived experiences to be recognised as strengths.
Refugee young people are not just fitting into Tasmania – they are shaping its future. The question is whether our education system is prepared to meet them where they are, rather than asking them to become someone else.
Dr Nabaraj Mudwari is a researcher at the University of Tasmania whose work focuses on refugee youth, education, and belonging. His research draws on in-depth interviews with refugee adolescents living and studying in Tasmania.
