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Self-concept is recognised as useful in facilitating understanding of the development of resilience, academic achievement and social and emotional maturity in children. This framework is valuable for studying minorities such as Indigenous children, for who a positive self-concept is a means of bolstering resilience and mitigating the inherited structural disadvantages of colonisation. This paper aims to understand the academic self-concept of Indigenous children in Australia through analysis of univariate, bivariate and multivariate data of Indigenous children aged 9.5-11 years from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children Wave's 7 K Cohort. Results show overall positive levels of Indigenous children's self-perception at school. Further, factors such as level of relative isolation, teacher perception, peer relationships, feedback from mother and contact with community leaders and Elders is positively associated with Indigenous children's schooling mathematic and reading self-concepts. Ensuring that Indigenous students are supported by community, peers and parents, immersed in their culture and are recognised and supported by their teachers can alleviate the undesirable effects that structural inequalities may have on their academic self-concept.

Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) are utilised by primary and secondary schools to improve components of success for Aboriginal students, liaise with their families and the Aboriginal community and contribute to developing and promoting an Aboriginal pedagogy. Despite the challenging role of decolonising the school environment, the important work undertaken by AEWs can be misunderstood and underappreciated by the Western school system. This paper aims to measure the influence of AEWs on Aboriginal culture within schools using quantitative data from Wave 7K Cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. Results show that there is a positive impact on Aboriginal culture within schools through having an AEW present all or some of the time. For Aboriginal children to grow up strong, employment of an AEW is important to decolonise the school environment and provide a holistic education.

This paper argues that a component of increasing the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youths completing their secondary education is having parents and teachers maintain heightened expectations of these children in achieving this goal. To understand this phenomenon, we investigate the importance of, and discrepancies between, primary caregiver and teacher outlooks regarding Indigenous youths completing year 12. For the purpose of this paper, we adopt the term 'primary caregiver' in place of parent. This is because the majority (87.7%) of P1s analysed are the biological mothers with the remainder being close female relatives. P2s analysed are all male, 93.3% are biological fathers; remainder are step-fathers or adoptive fathers. This paper uses quantitative data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children to measure expectations from parents and teachers of Indigenous children. Results suggest that parents maintain exceptionally high expectations of their children, while teachers' expectations significantly decline over the course of Indigenous children's primary and secondary schooling years. We suggest that relationships and communication between parents and teachers, regarding expectations of students, are important to establishing an equilibrium in expectations of children, and that teachers may benefit from further training to address any underlying biases towards Indigenous children.

In Australia, there is insufficient exploration and understanding of how we can strengthen the critical role played by Indigenous fathers. This paper argues that for Indigenous fathers to feel supported in childrearing, greater attention must be given to their social and cultural determinants of health and well‐being. To gain insights into the challenges experienced by Indigenous fathers and the support they require in fatherhood, we primarily apply thematic analysis to data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC). The findings reveal that most fathers identify a social or cultural health and well‐being determinant challenging their fatherhood journey. We examine these results and suggest why and how appropriately focussing on the social and cultural determinants of health and well‐being will enhance and support Indigenous men in fatherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to understand who Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children select as role models, and the reasons underlying these choices. Drawing data from Wave 8 of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children, it comprises a sample of 307 children (169 male and 138 female) aged between 10.5 and 12 years at the time of data collection. Content analysis was used to analyse survey responses regarding two questions pertaining to role models, the analytical process being underpinned by Indigenous standpoint theory. The findings show that participants tended to select role models correlating with their gender and who were Indigenous or people of colour. For boys, most selected Indigenous sportsmen, whilst girls more evenly selected mothers, women from the entertainment industry, and sportswomen. The reasons why these individuals were selected were similar for boys and girls: the role model's ability, mastery and/or competency in a given field. These findings are important for educators and schools in guiding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths in their educational and career choices, and for policymakers in creating campaigns and pathways into fields where Indigenous persons are underrepresented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quality education is a basic societal right. Yet for many Aboriginal students that right is not yet a reality. This paper focuses on the situation of Aboriginal/palawa school students in Tasmania and employs a quantitative methodology to examine the comparative educational achievements of Aboriginal school students. State level Grade 3, 5, 7 and 9 numeracy and reading test results from the National Assessment Program of Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2008-2016 support the analysis. Results indicate that Aboriginal students remain more likely to be at or below minimum literacy and numeracy standards than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. It is also found that Aboriginal students' academic achievement declines as they move through the schooling system. Further, Aboriginal students are less likely to partake in NAPLAN due to higher absenteeism on test days. These results are discussed in the context of education policy and the broader national and international literature on factors influencing academic achievement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school students. Despite an increasing awareness and the development of strategic policies to address Aboriginal educational inequality, it is evident that little has changed between 2008 and 2016. It is strongly argued that Aboriginal students' underachievement is more likely tied to schooling and policy environments that do not adequately meet their needs, rather than the students themselves. As such, policies and interventions that create long term, embedded improvement of Aboriginal students' schooling experiences and the engagement of their families and communities are a prerequisite for improving Aboriginal student outcomes.

This paper argues that a component of increasing the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youths completing their secondary education is having parents and teachers maintain heightened expectations of these children in achieving this goal. To understand this phenomenon, we investigate the importance of, and discrepancies between, primary caregiver and teacher outlooks regarding Indigenous youths completing year 12. For the purpose of this paper, we adopt the term 'primary caregiver' in place of parent. This is because the majority (87.7%) of P1s analysed are the biological mothers with the remainder being close female relatives. P2s analysed are all male, 93.3% are biological fathers; remainder are step-fathers or adoptive fathers. This paper uses quantitative data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children to measure expectations from parents and teachers of Indigenous children. Results suggest that parents maintain exceptionally high expectations of their children, while teacher's expectations significantly decline over the course of Indigenous children's primary and secondary schooling years. We suggest that relationships and communication between parents and teachers, regarding expectations of students, are important to establishing an equilibrium in expectations of children, and that teachers may benefit from further training to address any underlying biases towards Indigenous children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]