Explaining away Aboriginality : causal modelling of academic self-concept and disengagement for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students

![CDATA[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 socialpsychological literature, especially with regard to disadvantaged minority groups. Implicit within aportion of the disengagement research is the assumption that notions of disengagement are largely a resultof one’s racial/ethnic identity, thus potentially raising misattributions of the now rightfully maligneddeficit models. With regard to this investigation, the validity of such ‘deficit’ models of disengagementshall be critically and quantitatively tested by utilising SEM causal modelling techniques. Specifically,the causal impact of secondary students’ Aboriginality (Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian) andacademic self-concept will be tested over self-reports of academic disengagement (once a prior measureof disengagement has been accounted for). The results suggest that although Aboriginality held asignificant correlation with disengagement (suggesting that Indigenous students are more likely todisengage from school), the causal impact of this variable is negated when the causal impact of academicself-concept was also considered. The implication of this research suggests that academic self-conceptmay be a key variable to unlocking trends of school disengagement that have been noted for IndigenousAustralian students.]]