QSA Q&A Wattle Pathways for refugee students

Wattle Pathways is an education social enterprise dedicated to address education inequities in Australia through paid and subsidised tutoring and civic education for school-aged students. It supports young people from refugee backgrounds in Melbourne, providing educational support and mentoring. At the heart of the program is a simple idea: that young people who have experienced disruption to their education through conflict and displacement should have the opportunity to catch up, build confidence and make the most of their education in Australia.

Ali knows something of this journey himself. He arrived in Australia as a young refugee in 2005 and had to learn English and navigate a new education system. His own experience of the opportunities education can provide has shaped his work ever since.

Through Wattle Pathways, Ali and his team provide tutoring as well as the Rise and Lead mentoring program, which works with students from refugee backgrounds in secondary schools. The programs respond to what young people, their families and schools are seeing and asking for.  A civics education element is built into Wattle Pathways work, building community understanding and engagement with how Australia works.

This Q&A will be a chance to hear directly from Ali about why he established Wattle Pathways, what he has learned from working with young people and families, and what he hopes the organisation can achieve. We’ll also talk about the challenges facing young people from refugee backgrounds as they settle into Australian schools and communities.

There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and conversation, so please join us if you’d like to find out more. Wattle Pathways has been supported by QSA Refugee Program through the Aubrey Bequest.

Dr Ali Reza Yunespour

Dr Ali Reza Yunespour is the founder of Wattle Pathways.

Ali arrived in Australia as a young refugee in 2005 and experienced first-hand the challenges of learning English and adapting to a new education system. He went on to study International Studies at the University of Sydney and completed a PhD in Politics and International Studies at UNSW, researching equity in Afghanistan’s higher education and refugee education issues in Australia.

Since 2017, he has been teaching experiential learning in politics at Melbourne University. For around 20 years, he has supported around 11,000 children in Afghanistan through his volunteer work with the Indigo Foundation Australia. Previously, Ali worked in DFAT and served on the Board of Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia.

Through Wattle Pathways, Ali is bringing together his personal experience and professional knowledge to support young people from refugee backgrounds to navigate education in Australia, build confidence and develop their leadership potential.