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Internationally, there is a gap in high-school completion rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. In Australia, gap estimates are commonly based on lag indicators, precluding examination of underlying mechanisms. Using two longitudinal representative samples of Australian youth, we explored differences in high-school completion between Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous rates, and whether the gap varies for students of similar academic ability. Using an intersectional approach, we show the Indigenous gap is significant, is mostly a function of differences in academic achievement, but varies by socioeconomic status (SES) and location. Specifically, high SES and living in urban settings are protective factors for non-Indigenous students, but not for Indigenous students. Conversely, rural and poor non-Indigenous students appeared to have dropout rates as large or even larger than similarly poor and rural Indigenous youth. Overall, the results suggest the need for a more nuanced perspective on 'Indigenous gaps' in educational attainment.

Improving educational outcomes for Indigenous Australian students is a key strategy to helping Indigenous people reach their full potential. This has resulted in well-intentioned efforts by Australian educators and governments to ensure Indigenous children have positive school experiences. However, Indigenous students still lag behind their non-Indigenous counterparts in educational outcomes. This is particularly so for Indigenous students living in rural and remote parts of Australia where educational opportunities are limited, especially in high school. One solution to this problem has been to enrol these students in boarding schools in urban and metropolitan centres. While research on the success of boarding schools for Indigenous students is scarce, what little that does exist is not encouraging. The focus of this research was to examine the effects of boarding for Indigenous (n = 11) and non-Indigenous students' (n = 158) wellbeing (N = 1423) in two large private boys' schools. Participating students aged 12-18 years old completed a survey measuring wellbeing constructs on two occasions, 12 months apart. Non-Indigenous boys were generally higher in wellbeing compared with Indigenous boys. There was also evidence of improved social wellbeing beyond that of non-Indigenous boarders over time. Overall, while evidence of merit was weak, boarding schools may benefit their Indigenous students' development in social wellbeing.

Every sphere of life has been revolutionised by science. Thus, science understanding is an increasingly precious resource throughout the world. Despite the widely recognised need for better science education, the percentage of school students studying science is particularly low, and the numbers of students pursuing science continue to decline internationally. This study establishes a new measure to investigate students' science self-concepts, motivation, and aspirations. The instrument shows sound psychometric properties in investigating secondary students' science self-concepts in different disciplines of science. Though available data show that students' science self-concepts are domain specific, it could not be shown that motivation and aspirations are.

Indigenous Australian students generally attain poorer educational outcomes compared to non‐Indigenous students. However, some remote schools are challenging the status quo by providing schooling experiences where Indigenous students thrive. Using an Indigenous research paradigm and a comparative case study methodology, we conducted interviews with stakeholders from two different remote community schools where students were predominantly Indigenous. Recognising the limitations of assessing student success solely on westernised concepts of success, we adopted a strengths‐based approach. Using thematic analysis, qualitative data were analysed to yield themes that were sorted using a model of Indigenous wellbeing comprising five dimensions (academic, cultural, physical, psychological and social wellbeing). Responses from stakeholders (teachers, community leaders and students) show that success can be achieved when local culture is respected and incorporated into the curriculum by dedicated staff who maintain open communication with community. While both schools shared a largely common approach to Indigenous education, a hallmark was their responsiveness to local needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how satisfaction of the basic psychological needs at work was associated with the psychological and physical wellbeing of Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees both within and outside of the workplace. Participants included 1,146 Indigenous (n = 559) and non-Indigenous Australians (60.9% female), aged 18 to 81 years (Mage = 43.54) who were recruited through their employer or online advertisements. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data, and Indigenous status and occupation type were investigated as moderators. Results revealed that independent of income, autonomy satisfaction was related to better physical and psychological health, satisfaction of the need for relatedness was associated with increased family and community thriving, and competence satisfaction was linked to decreased psychological distress. Results also showed that autonomy, competence, and relatedness need satisfaction was lower among Indigenous employees compared to non-Indigenous employees. Moderation analyses suggested that relatedness at work was especially important for non-Indigenous employees' connection with their community, as were high levels of competence satisfaction for Indigenous employees. These findings are discussed in the context of self-determination theory and the implications for organizations wanting to improve the wellbeing of their Indigenous and non-Indigenous workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of academic disengagement, regardless of its specific conceptualisation (e.g., cognitive, affective, or behavioural) is one that has received considerable attention within the educational and social psychological literature, especially with regard to disadvantaged minority groups. Although such research has done much to identify the complexity of factors as to why some minority groups may disengage from the schooling system (extending well beyond rightfully maligned deficit models), there is a still a need to empirically identify factors that may lesson the risk of disengagement. This investigation tested the causal impact of secondary students' academic self-concept on patterns of school disengagement (once prior measures of disengagement had been accounted for) for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian secondary students across two time waves of data. The results suggest that a heightened sense of academic self-concept is causally, yet differentially, related to varying patterns of disengagement for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The implications of this research suggest that academic self-concept may be a key variable to unlocking trends of school disengagement that have been noted for Indigenous Australian students, although more effort should be made to increase the strength and importance of academic self-concepts for Indigenous students. (Contains 6 tables and 2 figures.)

A major concern I have is that we hear that term self-determination, and that this will be a Voice from Indigenous people, for Indigenous people, Indigenous people taking care of Indigenous affairs and so on, but basically it is an us/them mentality; separatism. The request for creating the Indigenous Voice to Parliament was a result of the May 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, delivered by the First Nations National Constitutional Convention which met at Uluru. The commonalities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians far outweigh the differences. Firstly, to say that Indigenous people are without a Voice is a bit concerning when you consider you've got the ABC, SBS and ITV -- they seem have to have a Voice there. [Extracted from the article]