A Motivational Psychology for the Education of Indigenous Australian Students

Abstract

This article explores an integrative framework for a motivational psychology for the education of Indigenous students. Drawing on and adapting Graham’s (1994) taxonomy for motivational psychology, it is suggested that enhancing the educational outcomes of Indigenous students involves addressing factors relevant to the self (positive identity, academic self-concept, and academic resilience), cognitive and affective factors (that facilitate motivation, engagement, achievement, and enjoyment of school), socialisation and child-rearing antecedents (the role of the family), failure dynamics (fear of failure and shame), the role of significant others and their contexts (peers, community, teachers, schools, and the scope for pastoral pedagogy), and the issue of young people’s pathways and transitions. Values, attitudes, and approaches to school and schoolwork that are common across Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students and the role of positive psychology are also explored as a means of contributing to a better general understanding of human behaviour.

Indigenous students' persistence in higher education in Australia: contextualising models of change from psychology to understand and aid students' practices at a cultural interface

“…In one of the few attempts to consider the cognitive and affective aspects of engagement with education, Martin (2006) developed a framework that draws on ideas of motivational psychology. He suggests, for example, that factors relevant to the self (such as positive identity, academic self-concept, and academic resilience), as well as a range of cognitive and affective factors that facilitate student motivation, engagement, achievement, and enjoyment of school, will all have a significant influence on educational outcomes.…”

“…In line with Martin's (2006) model, understanding more about student motivation to persist in the face of negative influences will, therefore, be important to the development of responses that are matched to the needs of individual students or the needs of students clustered in particular faculties, programmes or courses who may face similar challenges. As already noted, there has been a tendency to view Indigenous students as a homogenous cohort with collective or shared cultural characteristics, rather than as members of a distinct but quite diverse cohort, with a range of individual interests, behaviours, approaches, capacities, skills and needs.…”

‘No Shame at AIME’: Listening to Aboriginal Philosophy and Methodologies to Theorise Shame in Educational Contexts

“…We contend psychological notions of shame as ‘fear of failure’ underscores much of the literature on Western education of Indigenous Australians (e.g., Harkins, 1990; Louth, 2012; Martin, 2006). This is the case in literature on teaching English to creole speakers (e.g., Sharifan, 2005; Wigglesworth & Billington, 2013) and job readiness training (Oliver, Grote, Rochecouste, & Exell, 2013).…”

Exposing the patterns of statistical blindness: Centring Indigenous standpoints on student identity, motivation, and future aspirations

“…Numerous authors have raised the need to identify links between patterns of achievement and motivation for Indigenous students within education (De Bortoli & Thompson, 2010;Martin, 2006). Importantly, links between a diversity of motivational constructs and varying schooling outcomes have been identified for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, with results revealing significant associations with school engagement and enjoyment, future aspirations, and absenteeism (Bodkin-Andrews, Craven, Parker, Kaur, & Yeung, 2013;McInerney & King, 2013;Martin et al, 2013;Mooney, Seaton, Kaur, Marsh, & Yeung, 2016).…”