Successful Indigenous student transition to secondary education

This presentation focuses on the significance of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Parents’/ primary care givers’ involvement in school, specifically in regards to the impact they have on their children’s’ attendance in the later years of primary school. Analysed is data from the older cohort study children (SC) (n= 499) in Wave 7 of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) – the majority of the children being in grade 5. The primary aim of this presentation is to give insight into how important Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander parent/primary care giver (P1) involvement in their child’s schooling is. To operationalise this, bivariate and multivariate regression modelling is employed to analyse how factors pertaining to P1 involvement in school, inter alia, influence the chosen dependent variable (DV) ‘Absences per term’. Results indicate that absenteeism is significantly reduced if P1s indicate that they had visited their child’s classroom within the last school term. What the findings confirm is that the physical presence of the SC’s P1 in the school is associated with improved attendance – observed is a significant decrease in absenteeism of approximately 1 day per term (p = < .05). A further 11 variables in the multivariate model produced significant results. These results are discussed in the context of the broader national and international literature on factors influencing attendance and engagement for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander school children and their families. It is strongly suggested, through these findings and the current literature, that facilitating culturally appropriate and supportive environments for parental/primary care giver presence at school is paramount.