Teaching in borrowed spaces: community language schools and educational equity in New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores community language school teachers’ access to classroom resources and school facilities within a framework of educational equity. Community language schools are significant language education providers that exist worldwide. In Australia, as elsewhere in the world, these schools often borrow a classroom at a mainstream school to hold lessons on weeknights and weekends. Nonetheless, they are often perceived as marginalized in wider educational contexts and emerging evidence suggest tense relationships between community language schools and mainstream educators. This study explores community language school teacher’s access to educational tools and resources when borrowing a classroom at a mainstream school. It is situated in the context of New South Wales (NSW) where approximately 3000 teachers teach community languages to more than 30,000 students on weekends and weeknights. 167 community language school teachers responded to a survey about their access to classroom resources and school facilities during teaching. Findings showed that there were significant differences across schools in terms of access to resources, in particular technology. This brings to the forefront issues of unequal opportunity within broader educational contexts. This paper then argue that such inequalities continue to reinforce marginalized positions of community language schools.