Date of Award

Spring 2018

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Sociology

Degree Name

Master of Arts

First Advisor

James Tucker

Second Advisor

Lawrence Hamilton

Third Advisor

Benjamin C Brown

Abstract

The Indigenous population is a small minority in most areas of Australia, except the Northern Territory where Indigenous people make up roughly a quarter of the population. Indigenous people have lower educational achievement when compared to non-Indigenous people in Australia, with almost half as many of Indigenous having completed Year 12 or equivalent as non-Indigenous in 2016. The focus of this study was to identify factors that may be influencing the lower educational attainment of Indigenous students. Factors related to increased Indigenous presence in a school were expected to predict lower educational attainment. Full or partial support for some of the hypotheses was found, with the percent of Indigenous students, student to teacher ratio, attendance rates, and school location being associated with educational attainment. The attendance rate of students was associated with the socioeconomic score, student to teacher ratio, and location of schools. The results of the analysis may not be representative due to large amounts of missing data, which excluded most schools in very remote locations.

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