Reconsidering Deindividualization: Co-Learning with Refugee Students Towards Inclusive Education in Australian Secondary Schools

Abstract

Global refugee displacement has risen sharply in recent years, with children comprising nearly half of all refugees worldwide. In Australia, despite strong policy commitments to equity and multiculturalism, refugee-background students in secondary schools continue to face systemic barriers such as linguistic marginalization, deficit-based discourses, and cultural deindividualization.
This study examines how deindividualization manifests within inclusive education practices and explores how learning with and from refugee students can foster more relational and transformative models of inclusion. This study addresses the research question: How can refugee-background students and educators collaboratively co-construct inclusive educational practices that resist deindividualization and cultivate relational, transformative learning?
Using a systematic literature review guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework, eighteen peer-reviewed studies (2020–2025) were thematically analysed through the lenses of critical pedagogy, recognition theory, and transformative learning. Findings reveal ongoing tensions between inclusive policy rhetoric and classroom realities. Three interrelated themes emerged: (1) experiences of deindividualization and “othering,” (2) relational inclusion grounded in empathy, agency, and co-learning, and (3) transformative learning as a pedagogical and institutional process. Creative and embodied practices—such as arts-based learning and sport—were identified as powerful catalysts for belonging, identity affirmation, and social connection.
The study concludes that genuine inclusion demands a systemic and ethical reorientation of education—from teaching refugees to learning with refugees. It calls for participatory, mixed-method research and culturally sustaining pedagogies that bridge policy and practice, positioning schools as transformative spaces of empathy, recognition, and shared humanity.