Parenting and School Climate Predictors of Australian Aboriginal Students' Optimism, Coping, Self-Efficacy, and Academic Achievement

• In Event: 28.092 - Sheraton Roundtable Two - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 28.092-4 - Examining and Facilitating Student Self-Efficacy: Experiences of Marginalized Populations

Abstract

Aboriginal Australian students have the lowest academic success of any group of Australian students. The large achievement gap between Aboriginal and other students was the impetus for this investigation. A cohort of 103 grade 8, 9 and 10 Aboriginal Australian students reported their perceptions of school climate, parenting style, motivations, coping and optimism via surveys and twelve interviews. When Rasch scale measures of the variables posited to enhance achievement were imputed into Structural Equation models, significant relationships emerged between school climate and parenting style to achievement mediated by optimism, mastery goals, and positive coping; family structure, self-efficacy, and positive coping predicted achievement directly. Qualitative interviews corroborated findings highlighting a critical need for culturally responsive teacher relationships and school environments.

Author

• Helen Joanna Boon, James Cook University - Australia