Self-concepts of Indigenous Australian students in urban and rural school settings

Indigenous Australians have been known to be disadvantaged in many ways although higher art and physical self-concepts have been reported with Aboriginal samples. Given recent research demonstrating the reciprocal effects of achievement and self-concept in academic domains, Aboriginal students may experience further disadvantages in both academic performance and self-concept. A sample of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students (N = 1,342) from schools in New South Wales (NSW), Australia were asked to respond to a survey on 5 self-concepts (i.e., school, reading, maths, art, and physical abilities), 2 learning related factors (enjoyment and participation), and a self-assessment of their schoolwork. Their scores in a NSW state-wide assessment of students' literacy and numeracy were also obtained. Confirmatory factor analysis established the self-concept and learning-related factors. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) using a 2 (Aboriginality: Aboriginal vs. Non-Aboriginal) x 2 (region: urban vs. rural) design found significant effects of Aboriginality for all variables except for art self-concept. That is, non-Aboriginal students scored higher than Aboriginal students, irrespective of urban and rural regions in the literacy and numeracy tests, self-concepts, learning-related factors, and self-ratings of schoolwork. The results did not support previous claims of a relatively higher art self-concept for Aboriginal children based on stereotypical perspectives. Educators should no longer assume stereotypic differences between Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal Australian students or assume a great difference between urban and rural school settings. There seems to be a need for improving the school environment so as to promote Aboriginal students' performance and enjoyment of school life.