Weaving the Threads Between: Collaborative Auto-Ethnographic Reflections on Experiences of Migrant Learning and Teaching in Australia

Authors

Paul Throssell Dr, University of TasmaniaFollow
Jinjin Lu Dr, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool UniversityFollow

Abstract

This article aims to use the two authors’ life experience, as English teachers, and university academics in the U.K., China and Australia, to improve an understanding how life trajectories can assist exploration of cultural difference and changes. Our experiences can be utilized as a means of understanding how responses to change and cultural differences can be influenced. Using a collaborative auto-ethnography research method offers readers opportunities to engage with the text through encountering the cultural nuances in these transitional journeys. The analysis is undertaken through the theoretical lens of transformational learning, cultural identity, and space. This paper will be of benefit both to academics in multicultural settings and to pre-service teachers in postgraduate programs. First, it will assist in sensitizing readers to become more culturally aware and competent through understanding how change across cultures can be beneficially accomplished and, second, by showing how constructive change can influence all evolving cultural identities within vibrant, multicultural and multilingual contexts such as we experience in Australia.

Keywords

collaborative auto-ethnography, Australian migrants, reflection, transformative learning, cultural identities, pre-service teachers

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Paul Throssell is an adjunct academic staff member at the University of Tasmania. He has rich experience in teaching and undertaking research projects in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia. Moreover, he also writes, presents and consults internationally on areas related to global educational change, T.E.S.O.L, Agelessness, and Lifelong Learning. He finished postgraduate study and obtained his PhD at the University of Tasmania. He is actively engaged in writing on educational change, autobiographic pieces, and preparing for a book publication on Agelessness.

Dr. Jinjin (Helen) Lu has over 15 years of international experience in educational research and professional roles in education. Dr. Lu obtained her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in the U.S.A and her Ph.D. in the Faculty of Education at the University of Tasmania. After she finished her Ph.D., Helen successfully completed a range of education research projects in interdisciplinary teams in Tasmania and New South Wales in Australia. She has developed her professional and academic skills in China, Europe, USA and Australia and her leadership skills as a leading researcher. Between 2018 and 2020, Dr. Lu attracted a large amount of funding from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme in Europe. In the last two years, Helen closely collaborated with senior staff at the Czech Ministry of Education and Early Start UOW, Australia to assist multilingual and multicultural young children and their families in Europe and Australia: Corresponding author: Jinjin.Lu@xjtlu.edu.cn.

Publication Date

9-2-2023

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2023.5940

Recommended APA Citation

Throssell, P., & Lu, J. (2023). Weaving the Threads Between: Collaborative Auto-Ethnographic Reflections on Experiences of Migrant Learning and Teaching in Australia. The Qualitative Report, 28(9), 2523-2539. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.5940