A team from Armidale Secondary College has been recognised at the 2026 NSW Humanitarian Awards for work that is helping refugee-background students in the New England find their way into further study, training, and employment.
The college’s “Pathways to Belonging” team received a Highly Commended Award for the ASC Pathways Program, an initiative built to support newly arrived and refugee-background students as Armidale became a regional refugee location.
The team brings together EAL/D Education Leader David Partridge, EAL/D Head Teacher Rebecca Tarrant, IEC Head Teacher Carole McKinney, and Careers Advisor Lana Hardman.
“This changed the nature of our work, with all but [Careers Advisor] Lana [Hardman] moving out of our traditional teaching roles into the English as an Additional Language or Dialect and refugee education space,” said EAL/D Education Leader David Partridge.
“Although Lana didn’t head in this direction per se, as a high-skilled Careers Advisor, the nature of her work has pivoted to support refugee background learners to navigate work and education pathways in Australia in a culturally responsive manner.”
Mr Partridge said the program grew out of a shortfall in support for refugee learners once they had left school.
“Our work, particularly in careers and pathways, was a result of there being a gap in the education system to cater for recently arrived refugee learners with developing textual literacy after school,” Mr Partridge said.
“We noticed that there were not enough post-school programs, and students and families lacked awareness of Australian pathways. Many students were not aware of the benefits of TAFE or saw it only as a place to learn English in the Adult Migrant English Program.”
To address the gap, the team worked with Ben Parsons at Armidale TAFE and Dr Helen Harper from the School of Education at the University of New England.
“We collaborated with Ben Parsons at Armidale TAFE and Dr Helen Harper from the School of Education at the University of New England to find a solution to this, and it is for this work that we have been recognised at the NSW Humanitarian Awards,” Mr Partridge said.
The awards announcement stated the program had helped transform educational and career pathways for refugee-background students in regional New South Wales, supporting Ezidi, Congolese, and other students to navigate subject selection, vocational training, further education, and employment.
Working closely with schools, universities, TAFE, employers, and community organisations including STARTTS, SSI, and New England Family Support, the team established a holistic model of support to address both educational aspirations and settlement challenges.
For Mr Partridge, the reward has been both the local collaboration and the results for students.
“The most satisfying things about this have been that we were able to collaborate locally to find solutions to an educational problem of practice and, of course, seeing the positive impact this has had on our students,” Mr Partridge said.
“Students are now more aware of their educational pathway options.
“It is always amazing to see former students who say where they have ended up as a result of this work.”
More information is available at the 2026 NSW Humanitarian Awards announcement.
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