Deciphering distance: Exploring how Indigenous boarding schools facilitate and maintain relationships with remote families and communities

Deciphering distance: Exploring how Indigenous boarding schools facilitate and maintain relationships with remote families and communities Conference Paper

AARE 2015: Coast to coast: locations and directions in educational research

• Author(s): Benveniste, Tessa, Guenther, John, Dawson, Drew, Rainbird, Sophia
• Published: 2015

Link to resource Report broken link

Abstract: Remote Australia remains a complex educational environment. Boarding schools in regional or metropolitan areas have long been an option that provides remote students with access to opportunities available in a mainstream setting. Recently, media and policy focus on Indigenous boarding programs has increased dramatically, yet research on the impact and experience of boarding school on remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students, families and communities is scarce. Schools that employ models of shared governance between the school (principals, teachers, students), the community (parents, Elders, wider community), and others (education department personnel and researchers) result in improved outcomes for Indigenous students both in Australia and internationally. Previous research has highlighted the need to understand how Indigenous parents and communities in remote Australia can remain involved with their children’s schooling despite the constraints of (often vast) geographical distance. Furthermore, understanding students’ background and cultural context is beneficial for educators, especially due to the stark contrast in environment between remote communities and metropolitan areas. This paper presents findings from the author’s broader doctoral research on boarding school experiences, expectations, and outcomes, based on an Aboriginal Residential program in South Australia. It aims to understand the ways in which the program communicates and interacts with the families and communities of students. Thematic analysis of qualitative, semi-structured interviews with staff and parents involved with the program suggests that successful strategies are currently in place to bridge the gap between community and boarding life, however more visits by staff to community, increased cultural awareness training, and further involvement of family in the program may be integrated to improve these connections. By including the perspectives of staff and family, this paper contributes valuable insight to the broader impacts and practical implications of the boarding school model in the context of remote education. Insight from those most closely affected by boarding is valuable and necessary to inform future policy and practice.

• Urls: https://www.aare.edu.au/publications/aare-conference-papers/show/10327/deciphering-distance-exploring-how-indigenous-boarding-schools-facilitate-and-maintain-relationships-with-remote-families-and-communities, https://www.aare.edu.au/data/2015_Conference/Full_papers/505_TessaBenveniste_ATSI.pdf
• Publisher Location: Melbourne