Our ability to know what works to improve Indigenous students’ attendance and retention levels is hindered by a lack of credible evidence, according to a new research paper.

School attendance and retention of Indigenous Australian Students, the first Issues Paper produced for the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, contends that evidence about attendance and retention strategies that work for Indigenous students is not strong.

ACER researchers Dr Nola Purdie and Sarah Buckley co-authored the paper, which draws upon key national and international studies to highlight the issues in analysing Indigenous and non-Indigenous school attendance and retention.

The paper shows that programs and strategies to improve Indigenous students’ attendance and retention are varied, and educators are encouraged to use those strategies that have been shown to work.  However, a review of material that claimed to evaluate which programs work found that very few high-quality evaluations have been conducted in this area.

Research revealed that many programs aimed at improved attendance and retention do not specify targets or key outcomes.  Aims and objectives generally express a desire ‘to improve levels…’ and are too vague to be able to determine whether change has occurred.

The review therefore found no clear evidence about the success of the programs other than claims and opinion, unsupported by credible evidence.

One possible explanation for the lack of evidence on Indigenous student attendance and engagement is that such research requires a relatively large sample size and this is difficult to achieve in the Australian context.

Another reason could be the poor reputation among many Indigenous people and communities of the term ‘research’, as much of it has been conducted from the perspective of an outsider rather than an insider and positions its people as ‘objects’ rather than participants in the process.

The paper recommends that future research must therefore adequately reflect the experiences and worldviews of Indigenous peoples and communities.

Constantly changing causes of non-attendance are identified as a further obstacle in examining what works to improve student attendance and retention.

The reasons for student absenteeism are complex and contextual but, generally, a combination of individual, family, community and school factors are involved.

While parents and pupils tend to stress school-related factors as the main cause, educators tend to believe that parental attitudes and the home environment are more influential.

The review did, however, find some consensus about Indigenous student attendance and retention.  It is agreed that a significant gap exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school attendance rates and that non-attendance and non-completion of school causes harm.

However, due to the different ways that student attendance and retention are recorded in the different states and territories, there is insufficient information to show if these gaps have increased or decreased over time.

The paper recommends that programs and strategies incorporate longitudinal monitoring and evaluation to track progress and confirm that programs are working.

Research conducted within this framework will not only benefit Indigenous students but all students across the nation.

The paper is available at:

http://www.aihw.gov.au/closingthegap/documents/issues_papers/ihw/33/index.cfm

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