The education outcomes of Indigenous students fall consistently below those of other Australian students (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, 2014). Differences in attendance rates collectively amount to the loss of more than a year's schooling for Indigenous students by Year 10, a fact that has remained consistent over the last five years (Council Of Australian Governments, 2013; Dusseldorp Skills Forum, 2009). As a whole population, non-Indigenous Australians are almost twice as likely to have completed Year 12, or hold a postsecondary qualification, and four times more likely than Indigenous Australians to hold a Bachelor degree (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). Only 40 per cent of Indigenous 17–24 year olds are currently participating in education, training or employment, compared with 75 per cent of non-Indigenous youth (SCRGSP, 2014).
Not all Indigenous education statistics are as shocking. Figures reported by the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (2014) show that the Year 12 equivalent attainment gap has decreased from 43 per cent in 2008 to under 30 per cent in 2012–13, and that the rate for Indigenous 20–64 year olds studying toward or achieving Cert III or higher increased from 26 per cent to 43 per cent in the decade since 2002 (SCRGSP, 2014). During this same time, however, the proportion of participation and attainment in this education sector has also increased for non-Indigenous Australians, hence, the gap in attainment of postsecondary qualifications between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has not reduced.
Disturbingly, the statistics for postsecondary engagement in work or study are worse for the Indigenous population (61 per cent not fully engaged) than for the lowest socioeconomic quintile of the full Australian population (42 per cent not fully engaged) (COAG, 2013), a fact which indicates that Indigenous ethnic status still has a greater impact on meaningful full-time engagement in study and employment than does poverty and unemployment in the social network. These are reasons to be genuinely concerned about the entrenched education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, particularly in the areas of school attendance and long-term postsecondary engagement in training and/or study.
The list of factors contributing to this state of affairs is as well-studied as it is diverse (COAG, 2013; Lamb, Walstab, Teese, Vickers & Rumberger, Reference Lamb, Walstab, Teese, Vickers and Rumberger2004). The attendance gap remains, despite the modern-day push from the Australian Government for a culturally inclusive curriculum (Booth, Reference Booth2014), and the resourcing of strategies such as homework clubs, Indigenous role models, tuition programmes, private school scholarships and sports engagement programmes to name a few, aimed at alleviating the geographic and socioeconomic causes of disengagement that disproportionately affect Indigenous people (COAG, 2013; Luke, Reference Luke2013). There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence for these strategies, and yet the issue of the Indigenous education gap remains intransigent. In this paper, we attempt to address one factor which has not been, and cannot be, addressed by the strategies above: the demotivating effect on Indigenous students of cultural dissonance in the classroom.
This paper argues that a key to better engagement of all Indigenous school students lies in the way teachers behave ‘at the chalkface’. The classroom environment, specifically the teacher–student relationship, is an integral part of a student's schooling experience (Lamb et al., Reference Lamb, Walstab, Teese, Vickers and Rumberger2004; Munns, Martin & Craven, Reference Munns, Martin and Craven2008). It is in these areas that the school has the greatest opportunity to influence student behaviours and decision-making toward positive educational outcomes, and the greatest prospect to disenfranchise those who would otherwise engage. This paper uses selected anecdotes from Australian schools to demonstrate ways in which disenfranchisement arises when teachers remain unaware of cultural, economic and social factors affecting their students.
In this paper, we discuss Indigenous student engagement in Australian schools through the application of social theory. Each day, students make behavioural choices that influence educational progress. These choices might be as basic as whether or not to attend school that day, to engage with a lesson activity, or to follow a school routine or discipline expectation. Behavioural decisions may be more complex, such as the amount of time and energy a student allocates to homework, whether to pursue tertiary education or vocational training, or take on tuition for a difficult subject despite a busy schedule. In this paper, two respected theories from the field of psychology — the TPB and SDT are utilised to explain the components that affect behavioural decisions. It is argued that teachers who make use of these theories will be in a strong position to create an environment where more students are enabled to engage with education in positive ways.
To our knowledge, neither of these behavioural theories has been applied to the context of Indigenous Australian schooling before, a fact which is both a drawback and benefit at once. The theories arose from Western understandings of psychology, and have not yet been tested within Indigenous Australia.
It can be problematic to frame issues and look for ‘solutions to problems’ from a Western perspective. Any attempt to explain classroom interactions using Western framings of behavioural motivation may result in unintentional silencing of Indigenous knowledge regarding schools systems and teacher–student relationships. Yet, Nakata's (Reference Nakata2002, Reference Nakata2007b) cultural interface theory posits that the academic separation of Western and Indigenous knowledge creates a falsely simplified dichotomy of objective truth. Both knowledge systems are founded in complex cultural domains, and fluid in space and time. There is value in harnessing the knowledge of both Indigenous and Western culture when examining educational tensions at the cultural interface. Regarding theories that have been found to work, Nakata states ‘it is radically dumb to . . . not use them because they come from white traditions’ (Reference Nakata2007b, p.13). The TBP and SDT present a new approach to a long-standing issue, and may provide fresh insights to improving educational outcomes in mixed culture classrooms. It is important, however, that we pay respect to Indigenous Standpoint Theory, and justify why the ideas in this paper, Euro-centric in their origin, are worth consideration (Ardill, Reference Ardill2013; McGloin, Reference McGloin2009; Nakata, Reference Nakata2006; Reference Nakata2007a).
We acknowledge that any discussion around Indigenous engagement framed by a Western epistemology of ‘success’ at school, assumes certain goalposts. Within these goalposts, successful achievement and attainment of educational qualifications is usually contingent on a student's capacity to embody Euro-centric models of learning and to achieve high marks in written theoretical examinations, often irrespective of common sense and practical skills. Students would be expected to enter a workforce that frequently values conformity and capitalism at the expense of commitments to family, community and the environment. As academics, we grapple with the question: From whose Standpoint is this a successful outcome?
The definition of a successful outcome for Indigenous students at school is a decision arena that is rightfully possessed by members of Australia's Indigenous community. As non-Indigenous researchers, we are critically aware that the research world privileges Western knowledge systems, and that the psychological theories presented here represent only one interpretation, one subjective truth founded in a Western cultural standpoint (McGloin, Reference McGloin2009). We do not believe our scholarship on Indigenous issues is invalid because we are non-Indigenous (Aveling, Reference Aveling2013), but rather that it is imperfect in its ability to describe events at the cultural interface (Nakata, Reference Nakata2007b; Smith, Reference Smith1999). We are perhaps more aligned with authors such as Ardill (Reference Ardill2013) and McGloin (Reference McGloin2009) who argue that for non-Indigenous people to be silent in the search for solutions to issues affecting Indigenous Australians, would be tantamount to complicity in the face of social injustice. As researchers and educators, we join in the discussion that aims to provide freedom, dignity and justice for Indigenous people, but also understand the boundaries of our role. For this reason, our scholarship is only valid as long as it is held transparently accountable to the critique of the Indigenous community whom we write about (Ardill, Reference Ardill2013).
For us, the reason to pursue Indigenous educational engagement lies in the socioeconomic indicators for the Indigenous and Australian population. Indigenous Australians are underrepresented in many fields of employment, and are overrepresented in the health and justice systems (ABS 2013; ABS, 2015). Increasing educational engagement and achievement of Indigenous Australians should be an important goal for all educators, whether Indigenous or not, for reasons of social justice. In this, we as authors consider ourselves not voices for the Indigenous community, but allies (Aveling, Reference Aveling2013). In writing this paper, we call for white Australians educators to grapple with issues such as Indigenous sovereignty (or lack thereof) (Ardill, Reference Ardill2013), Standpoint Theory (Ardill, Reference Ardill2013; Nakata, Reference Nakata2007a) and white privilege (Aveling, Reference Aveling2006).
In this paper, we apply behaviour theories familiar to Western psychology in order to assist non-Indigenous Western teachers to explain, from a psychological point of view the causes of cultural dissonance, and to suggest a framework that teachers can use to modify their own behaviour and, in turn, the classroom environment. This paper aims to introduce another perspective to ongoing dialogue on ways to improve cultural competency for teachers. It does not intend to lessen the importance of Indigenous ways of knowing, or to sideline the voices of Indigenous students, parents, academics and educators, which speak about racism, parochialism and discrimination in schools.
Aveling (Reference Aveling2006) has written of the difficulty in engaging some white persons in understanding cultural standpoint theory and reforming their perspectives. Perhaps, the use of this very fundamentally Western approach here can find traction with those who are least well positioned to engage in valuing Indigenous epistemologies.
The two theories of TPB and SDT form the conceptual lens through which the literature is explored. We present examples from the literature to illustrate the possibilities that may arise when applying these theories to Indigenous education in Australia.
TPB (Armitage & Conner, Reference Armitage and Conner2001, p. 472) formulates all intended behaviour as a tripartite combination of an individual's perception of social norms, perceived locus of control and expected outcomes. Educators who employ TPB have the capacity to influence their students’ attitudes and also their perception of normative behaviour and locus of control as a means of encouraging students towards effective educational behaviours (Ajzen, Reference Ajzen, Van Lange, Kruglanski and Higgins2005). In this paper, it is argued that discrepancies in the cultural and socioeconomic norms between teachers and Indigenous students can create a blockage that prevents students learning effective educational behaviours. Successful educators will realise these discrepancies, and develop a shared social norm that increases the potential for student engagement.
It will be contended that an effective school environment is not only better at developing certain behavioural tendencies in students, but that it is better at helping students develop intrinsic motivation towards effective educational behaviours. In this paper, the lens of SDT is used to discuss ways in which an educator can affect student motivation. SDT posits that whilst individuals instinctively internalise behavioural regulations for routine but important tasks, the social context affects the manner in which these regulations are internalised. That is, whether the behaviour is assimilated in to one's sense of self (integration), or is seen as a ‘necessary evil’ — required for one's goals, but ultimately alien and at odds with the ego (introjection). We contend that it is preferable for students to integrate positive educational behaviours (e.g. school attendance, engaging in class activities, applying concerted effort to homework and assessments), and that teachers are in a position to foster the social context that leads towards integration.
Finally, throughout this paper, particular attention is paid to the ways in which teachers of Indigenous students can acknowledge existing cultural and economic prejudices; and address these proactively through the concepts of social norms, locus of control and integration. It is argued that this approach is crucial to develop a classroom with positively engaged students.
Background — How Discrepant Social Norms Lead to Educational Disengagement
The literature reveals frequent and diverse instances where teachers have been unaware that cultural and socioeconomic identities affect educational experiences of students (Bandura, Reference Bandura2001, pp. 4, 6–10; Castro, Reference Castro2010; Hoadley & Ensor, Reference Hoadley and Ensor2009; Mahon, Reference Mahon2006; Partington, Waugh, & Forrest, Reference Partington, Waugh and Forrest2001; Santoro, Reid, Crawford & Simpson, Reference Santoro, Reid, Crawford and Simpson2011).
In this section, illustrations will be drawn from the literature to demonstrate some of the ways in which white, middle-class teachers might misinterpret cultural, economic and social norms of their students. Where dissonance exists between teacher and student understandings of social norms, this can lead to teachers making incorrect judgments about their students’ ability; impede student engagement; increase the frequency of disciplinary actions, and derail classroom routines (Geving, Reference Geving2007; Mahon, Reference Mahon2006; Partington, Reference Partington2003, p. 1–11). Such outcomes, if repeated throughout a child's schooling, could easily sum to create long-term educational disadvantage.
Examples of Cultural Dissonance
We present illustrations from three authors to demonstrate that when teachers hold only superficial understandings of cultural norms (Indigenous or otherwise), students experience negative educational outcomes.
Santoro (Reference Santoro2009, pp. 33–45) interviewed Australian preservice teachers regarding observed interactions with multicultural students during practicum. Santoro's subjects, who she suggests are culturally typical of Australian preservice teachers, were Anglo-Australian, middle-class, monolingual and had limited life experience in multicultural contexts. From such a position, the preservice teachers were inclined to reach negative conclusions about their students’ cultural norm based on observed behaviours within the classroom. For example, when a teacher delivered a lesson on the Crusades to a class with a number of Muslim boys, she did not recognise that the Euro-centric viewpoint of the lesson may have jarred with her students’ knowledge of Middle Eastern history. When some of those students called out repeatedly during the lesson, the teacher felt that the boys were testing her authority as a female (which she believed Muslim boys were raised to do), and was unaware students may have been displaying a more deep-seated discontent with the lesson's Euro-centric curriculum bias. In this example, gender roles were attributed as the reason for perceived student misbehaviour because the teacher had an over-simplistic and insufficient understanding of her students’ normative beliefs (Santoro, Reference Santoro2009, pp. 37, 39). In this instance, classroom discipline was lost, but more importantly, so was an opportunity for all students (Muslim and non-Muslim) to experience authentic learning about societal constructions of historic events and to practise mutual respect necessary for civil interactions in a multicultural society (Booth, Reference Booth2014).
A second illustration of cultural dissonance causing unnecessary classroom friction is found in the work of Partington et al. (Reference Partington, Waugh and Forrest2001, pp. 53–82), who interviewed non-Indigenous Australian teachers and their Indigenous students regarding behaviour incidents at school. The researchers discovered a clear differential in the perceived cause of some behaviour incidents. Teachers who attempted to manage the classroom environment by subjugating students, found that minor incidents escalated quickly. Consequently, Indigenous students who had been socialised to expect autonomy in small decisions (such as whether to wear a hat, or where to sit) felt that teachers were unnecessarily impinging on their decision-making rights. Teachers in this study did not construe these situations as an exhibition of culturally subjective interpretations of authority, autonomy or justice, but rather as a negative reflection on the individual student's engagement with schooling and willingness to behave in socially appropriate ways (Partington et al., Reference Partington, Waugh and Forrest2001).
In a third example, Gower and Byrne (Reference Gower, Byrne, Beresford, Partington and Gower2012) report that a teacher in their research was frustrated that he was not able to speak with the parents of an Aboriginal student. In fact, the student's grandparents had come in to school to see him, but the teacher had refused to meet them as he insisted on meeting the child's parents. Unfortunately, in this incident, the teacher ignored advice from an Aboriginal staff member that grandparents do take on primary caregiver roles at times. In this case, the teacher wilfully ignored Indigenous cultural norms in a manner that caused educational discrimination for the student and family.
Naïve or discriminatory teacher constructions of cultural norms within the classroom affect many Indigenous students. A student who is slower to reply to a question may be seen as unintelligent rather than recognised as multilingual. A student who does not stay in their seat could be seen as disruptive, rather than as a kinaesthetic learner. Indigenous families who remove their children from school for an extended period of time due to funeral obligations may be construed to undervalue school attendance. A similar judgment may be made about those parents who require their children to fulfil occasional carer duties, thus missing days at school. Teachers can only adequately engage and provide for their students’ needs once they have taken the time to properly examine the subjectivity of normative beliefs. Santoro (Reference Santoro2009, pp. 41–43) calls for teacher education to prepare teachers to examine their own cultural standpoint, and how this affects their interactions with other cultures.
Examples of Economic Dissonance
Negative teacher expectations of students can arise due to economic factors as well as cultural factors. Poverty has been recognised to be one of the strongest predictors of education participation in Australia (Lamb et al., Reference Lamb, Walstab, Teese, Vickers and Rumberger2004, pp. 16, 21–23, 136). Some poverty indicators, such as overcrowded housing and a low education level amongst adults in the household, disproportionately affect Indigenous children in Australian schools (Biddle, Reference Biddle2007, pp. 223–229; Lamb et al., Reference Lamb, Walstab, Teese, Vickers and Rumberger2004, p. 136). This disparity means that more frequently than for other students, Indigenous students may not have the resources at home to complete high quality homework and may not have tertiary- or Year-12-educated parents from whom to seek assistance. They may have only intermittent access to a computer with Internet, and may not have a quiet, dedicated study area. All these factors have been shown to significantly impact school engagement (Lamb et al., Reference Lamb, Walstab, Teese, Vickers and Rumberger2004, pp. 10–31).
When teachers are unaware of the effect of poverty on educational behaviours such as homework completion, attention levels in class or access to school supplies, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can find themselves more frequently a target of teacher discipline and low expectations. In their interviews with Indigenous Australian teachers, Santoro et al. (Reference Santoro, Reid, Crawford and Simpson2011, pp. 65–76) postulated that non-Indigenous teachers often make incorrect judgments about a student's academic effort or ability level because they are not cognisant of the manner in which educational resourcing in the home environment impacts their students’ ability to engage in education. Whilst school programmes such as breakfast clubs and homework clubs aim to improve the education resources available to children from financially challenged backgrounds, these programmes are not classroom based, and do not necessarily reflect any particular accommodation on the part of the classroom teacher. Again, teacher expectations provide students with a social norm. Teachers who believe the low SES child to be unwilling or incapable of educational success, are likely to lower the child's expectation of their own success, as well as his/her perceived control over academic performance.
Castro's (Reference Castro2010) metareview of research in this field found that teachers also often fail to comprehend the complexity of interaction between social background and a student's inclination towards goal-setting, reflective thinking, self-regulation and sense of autonomy. Students from more socially difficult backgrounds may have environmentally informed normative beliefs that lead them to value different styles of learning and different modes of authority (Sims, O'Connor, & Forrest, Reference Sims, O'Connor, Forrest, Beresford and Partington2003). The consequences of such discrepancies can be confused with a lack of ability to learn.
Cultural and Social Norms: A Teacher's Blindspot?
Unfortunately, there is significant evidence in the literature that many teachers are not aware of how their constructions of social and cultural norms impact on classroom outcomes (Dunne and Gazeley, Reference Dunne and Gazeley2008; Luke, Reference Luke2013; Mahon, Reference Mahon2006). Teachers who wish to be properly prepared for teaching students of other cultures or social backgrounds must recognise that some ‘truths’ are relative, and that ‘appropriate’ behaviours are determined by social constructions (Partington, Reference Partington2003). Whilst recent teacher training in Australia has begun to incorporate cultural competency (Booth, Reference Booth2014; Gower & Byrne, Reference Gower, Byrne, Beresford, Partington and Gower2012), studies show that many practicing teachers around the world do not comprehend the extent to which cultural norms impact educational practice. Mahon, (Reference Mahon2006), in her study of 155 practicing teachers in the US, found that teachers were likely to minimise the impact of culture when formulating an understanding of their students’ learning needs. These teachers felt that to foreground cultural identity would be racist and discriminatory. Those teachers who themselves had minimal international or crosscultural experience were most likely to assume that culture had a limited impact on their students’ identity in the classroom. In a similar manner, Dunne and Gazeley (Reference Dunne and Gazeley2008) found that UK teachers in their study actively resisted classifying students’ social class, yet relied heavily on subconscious assumptions about social class when predicting students’ future achievement.
The majority of teachers in Australia may be no better prepared for crosscultural education. In his study of 371 Australian teachers, Luke (Reference Luke2013) found that teachers have generally felt their preservice training was insufficient for working with Indigenous students. The teachers in Luke's (Reference Luke2013) study had been teaching on average for over ten years, hence would not have benefited from recent improvements in the area of Indigenous cultural competency training (Booth, Reference Booth2014).
In Partington et al. (Reference Partington, Waugh and Forrest2001) study, students’ own understanding of cultural norms also played a significant role in the outcome of classroom conflict. Indigenous students sometimes interpreted the power plays made by the teacher as overt racism because they observed non-Indigenous students receiving milder punishments for a similar misbehaviour. A possible interpretation of this finding is that non-Indigenous students who break class rules, may be able to appease the teacher through their knowledge of hegemonic social norms that reacknowledge the authority and power of the teacher, thus bringing about a milder consequence or punishment. If Indigenous students violate the hegemonic norms of authority appeasement, they might unintentionally contribute to an antagonistic relationship, with the result that students perceive the teacher to have intentionally acted in a racist and unfair manner. In this instance, the student might appropriately protest the unfairness of the situation but might also assume that the teacher's discrimination was intentional, institutional or consciously acted upon. In these situations, both teacher and student would benefit if the teacher had been able to adequately recognise Indigenous cultural norms of authority, punishment and restitution, and understand students’ behaviours in relation to classroom routines and expectations from the Indigenous standpoint.
Fortunately, preservice teacher training in Australia is moving towards the provision of cultural competency modules as standard. Such training aims to engage new teachers in a proper critique of how their own culture informs their ideas about appropriate classroom behaviours, in order to lessen the likelihood that teachers make uninformed, elitist judgments of other cultures (Phillips, Reference Phillips2011; Santoro, Reference Santoro2009 S.Forrest, personal communication, July 14, 2014; G.Gower, personal communication, July 2, 2014). This being said, many new teachers may still have a superficial grasp of cultural relativism, despite university courses attempting to meet this need. Aveling (Reference Aveling2006), found that over a ten-year period of teaching students to deconstruct white privilege, consistently one quarter of students each semester reported dissatisfaction with the intention of the course curriculum. Aveling's statistics indicate that discussion of relativism, cultural standpoint and white privilege is often confronting to undergraduate teachers, and more work is required to educate non-Indigenous teachers about the classroom impact of their ‘blind spot’. We suggest that one method of addressing this issue is to discuss the relationship between student behaviours and normative beliefs during undergraduate training.
Creating an Environment of Shared Norms and Positive Outcomes - Through the Lens of TPB
The TPB captures the factors that unite to form behavioural intention (Ajzen, Reference Ajzen1991). According to TPB, an individual will be naturally motivated to behave in ways that reflect their attitudes, perceived norms and perceived locus of control. In this section, examples and strategies are presented to explain how educators can utilise the TPB model to create a classroom environment that encourages desired educational behaviours in students (e.g. frequent school attendance, homework completion, class engagement and goal-setting).
The school environment often presents routines, structures and particular behavioural expectations that reflect hegemonic society and cultural norms. These routines, structures and expectations can be disenfranchising to Indigenous students, becoming educational stumbling blocks in ways described in the previous section. Hence, it is the school's responsibility to establish with students a shared view of norms, an expectation that educational engagement leads to positive outcomes, and a sense of control over behavioural choice. Doing so is likely to reduce classroom conflict, increase attendance and engagement and improve long-term educational outcomes for students who have experienced cultural, social or economic discrimination in the past. The steps required for building shared norms are discussed further in relation to the literature on Indigenous education in Australia.
Creating Shared Norms
According to TPB, perceived social norms can be based on any social group that the individual refers to, such as peers or family (Armitage & Conner, Reference Armitage and Conner2001, p. 488). However, the group is likely to be one with shared social or cultural indicators. The idea that minority culture students might preference their ethnic identity when establishing normative beliefs is supported by research in both the USA and Australia (Biddle, Reference Biddle2007; Xu, Farver & Pauker, Reference Xu, Farver and Pauker2014). Biddle's (Reference Biddle2007, pp. 271–276) study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students across Australia found that Indigenous students’ aspirations and expectations of success reflected the career opportunity, education levels and socioeconomic status of their community. Other authors have argued that the presence of Indigenous staff in a school provides a model (or norm) of positive educational engagement for those students who lack this model at home (Behrendt & McCausland, Reference Behrendt and McCausland2008, p. 29; Hones, Reference Hones2005, pp. 10–13). Whilst a recent evaluation of the Stronger Smarter Learning Communities project found that positive Indigenous role models were not a sufficient condition for improved student attendance and outcomes (Luke, Reference Luke2013), they are likely to still be a part of the complex array of factors required to reduce student perceptions of institutional discrimination or internalised stereotypes of cultural deficit.
Regardless of differences between school and home culture, schools also provide an important norm reference group for students. The importance of individual teacher–student interactions in establishing student perceptions of norms cannot be overemphasised. Previous research has shown that negative teacher expectations of achievement do correlate to actual lower achievement as well as lower self-expectation, irrespective of student academic capacity. (Brophy & Good, Reference Brophy and Good1970, p. 373; Hones Reference Hones2005, pp. 10–13; McKown & Weinstein, Reference McKown and Weinstein2002, pp. 174–178). Research in the USA has found that for minority culture students particularly, self-esteem is linked to ethnic identity (Xu et al., Reference Xu, Farver and Pauker2014). It is then of particular concern that studies of Aboriginal secondary students found that these students typically experienced lower academic expectations from teachers, perceived greater levels of racial discrimination, reported higher levels of school disengagement and were also provided with less complete information on the career pathways available to them (Bodkin-Andrews, O'Rourke, Grant, Denson & Craven, Reference Bodkin-Andrews, O'Rourke, Grant, Denson and Craven2010; Munns & Parente, Reference Munns and Parente2003, pp. 10–15). A recent large-scale study of secondary students in New South Wales (Bodkin-Andrews, Denson, & Bansel, Reference Bodkin-Andrews, Denson and Bansel2012, pp. 226–237) found that for Indigenous students, perceived individual discrimination by teachers (e.g. racism, cooler emotional climate or lower academic expectations) had a negative association with student engagement. Where students perceived that the school environment generally supported multicultural respect, it was found that experiences of racial discrimination had a magnified negative effect on engagement and academic self-perception. This finding has resounding implications because it indicates that schools that attempt to provide culturally relevant experiences, role models and structures, but do not address teacher prejudice within each classroom, may continue to witness academic disengagement amongst Indigenous students.
It is impracticable to suggest that teachers can create a classroom that reflects completely the cultural or socioeconomic norms of each individual student in the class. It might also be unwise to suggest that classroom cultural norms should consistently differ from those of the wider Australian society. Yet, we (as many others have done) argue that Australia's First Peoples have the right to expect that their cultural norms are respected, valued and preferenced within educational institutions. Multiculturation can be an important part of improving school engagement, allowing students to find greater personal meaning in education and ultimately teaching all students to respect diversity of world views (Bodkin-Andrews et al, Reference Bodkin-Andrews, O'Rourke, Grant, Denson and Craven2010).
In order to address dissonance and improve multiculturation, teachers must acknowledge student norms and their impact on behaviour. One suggestion for how this might occur within the classroom, would be that teachers take the time to learn about their students, conduct formal and informal two-way discussions of normative behaviours and social roles, and honestly and critically analyse the cultural values or economic resources influencing such norms. School leaders and teacher educators could also assist teachers in achieving culturally respectful classroom norms through appropriate preservice and in-service training. Doing so is likely to lead to less frequent perceptions of disrespect, lower levels of teacher stress, higher academic outcomes for students and improved student engagement. Furthermore, such in-service training is in-line with cultural competency requirements within the new Australian Charter for the Professional Learning of Teachers and School leaders (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2013).
Part of a teacher's training in the understanding of nuanced cultural norms should be an awareness that ethnicity is not binding. Ethnic groups are diverse within, and behaviour and attitudes within those groups can be extremely varied (Santoro, Reference Santoro2009, p. 37). This may explain why Luke, Shield, Theroux, Tones, & Villegas, (Reference Luke, Shield, Theroux, Tones and Villegas2012) found that engaging the local Indigenous community had the greatest impact on teachers’ use of appropriate cultural pedagogy in the classroom. Community engagement such as social interactions with parents, home visits, visiting Indigenous organisations in the community and attending Indigenous events and so on, provides opportunity for the non-Indigenous teacher to become familiar with the complexity of their Indigenous students’ normative world, and to better contextualise their students’ background and experience in relation to the school setting. Teachers who do not have any personal engagement with Indigenous Australians are more likely to build binary understandings of black/white identity that allow ‘othering’ and reduce empathy (Booth, Reference Booth2014).
Given that our education system places control of the classroom dynamic firmly within the grasp of the school body, the responsibility falls on teachers and school administrators to identify areas of ethnic prejudice impacting classroom interactions and deal with these explicitly. It is a daunting task for schools to create an environment where teachers feel safe to confront and interrogate their own beliefs while simultaneously coaching students to do the same. Even in the university setting, cultural competency educators such as Aveling (Reference Aveling2006) have found this a formidable task, calling it ‘teaching against the grain’ (p. 264), ‘not unproblematic’ (p. 263) and ‘risky business’ (p. 262).
A strong theoretical foundation is an essential tool for schools as they decide on policies and strategies for building shared understanding of school expectations with the wider community. This task requires that school staff establish a level of trust amongst the community — that is, a level of assurance that they will act reliably, with integrity and with the best interests of the school community at heart. To this purpose, behavioural theories can assist schools to create an expectation that engaging with education leads to positive outcomes for students as well as the community.
Creating Expectation of Positive Outcomes
The second key consideration of behavioural intention, as modelled by TPB, is that of beliefs and expected outcomes based on prior and observed experience (Armitage & Conner, Reference Armitage and Conner2001, p. 474). According to TPB, behavioural intention is the strongest predictor of actual behaviour. The existence of differing normative beliefs in relation to children, authority structures and learning styles can lead to both schools and families framing negative constructions of others’ intentions (Santoro, Reference Santoro2009, p. 37). When students experience reduced autonomy and perceived cultural disrespect in the classroom, they may find it difficult to trust their teachers and will likely display a more negative attitude (Partington et al., Reference Partington, Waugh and Forrest2001, pp. 59–68). Knowledge of negative interactions between students and teachers then causes parents and community members to doubt whether schools have students’ best interests at heart (Munns & Parente, Reference Munns and Parente2003, p. 3), creating a cycle of distrust and negative expectation.
It must be remembered that schools are not the only entity providing motivational feedback to students on their behavioural choices. Emotional and social norms at home can sometimes be very significant in shaping the expectations of students of any ethnic or socioeconomic status. Students’ negative expectations may have become entrenched well before school attendance even began. Where a student's home environment sufficiently rewards behaviours such as truancy, or sets the student up to believe they are incompetent, then this will equally demotivate the student from engaging effectively with school. Student behaviours that are at first seen as deliberately disruptive, or disengaged, may actually be predicated on expected outcomes developed in the student's home environment. Consequently, effective schools and teachers will work with the student's family and community in order to build their capacity to engage with school systems.
In an effective school community, students trust that teachers will be caring and supportive; teachers trust that principals will make decisions that ensure teacher wellbeing; parents trust that schools will provide a safe environment for their children, and so on (Bryk & Schneider, Reference Bryk and Schneider2003, p. 41). Bryk and Schneider (Reference Bryk and Schneider2003, pp. 40–44) conducted a longitudinal study of 400 Chicago elementary schools and found those that evidenced high levels of trust also demonstrated significant improvements in academic achievement over a five-year period in comparison with schools where distrust was evident (Bryk and Schneider, Reference Bryk and Schneider2003, pp. 42–43).
The literature on interactions between Indigenous parents and schools indicates that the mistrust created by diverse and misunderstood social norms, as well as differences in communication and language styles, is a key reason for partnership breakdown in school contexts. Indigenous parents who feel that the school neither understands nor values their cultural identity also express less confidence in visiting the school, or talking with school staff (Hayes, Johnston, Morris, Power, & Roberts, Reference Hayes, Johnston, Morris, Power and Roberts2009, pp. 55–64).
One way to address the historic power imbalance in schools, and to encourage more parents to actively engage with the school, is to create opportunities for parents to have genuine influence through negotiated norms (Lowe, Reference Lowe, Purdie, Milgate and Bell2011; Trudgen, Reference Trudgen2000). Research in schools has consistently found that improved attendance and retention are related to family partnerships and community involvement in the school (Behrendt & McCausland, Reference Behrendt and McCausland2008, p.10; Epstein, Reference Epstein2008, pp. 10–12; Schwab, Reference Schwab2006, pp. 19–20). Such partnerships do not come without effort, however. Epstein and Sheldon (Reference Epstein and Sheldon2002, p. 308–318) found that a school in a community with a low socioeconomic status typically must do more work to involve parents in the school than would a school in an affluent community.
Teachers are not often formally trained in developing good parent relations, even though it is beneficial to the development of functional relationships with students.
For administrative staff, strong relationships with parents can make it easier to initiate reform strategies, deal with conflicts and implement policies. Trust reduces the risk associated with change and strengthens our capacity to embrace challenge (Bryk & Schneider, Reference Bryk and Schneider2003, p. 43). Schools that put effort into establishing respectful communication with the school community will find themselves in a strong position to improve student expectations and attitudes at school.
Understanding Student Motivation for Educational Change Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory
The previous section utilised the model of TPB to exemplify ways that schools can provide an educational environment that is conducive towards positive behavioural engagement, with the aim of improving education engagement of all students. When students leave the school environment, it would be ideal that they have internalised positive education behaviours in such a way that they are intrinsically motivated to pursue further study and training endeavours.
SDT provides a more complex understanding of motivation than does TPB. According to SDT, behaviours which are required for successful social functioning, but which are not intrinsically interesting or motivating, require self-regulation (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick & Leone, Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994). School attendance and routines could be considered to be ‘uninteresting but important’ tasks in the eyes of most students. According to SDT, as students learn to reproduce these behaviours, they will internalise the regulation of such tasks, either through introjection, or integration.
In introjection, an individual will take on the regulatory task, but feel internally conflicted and at odds with the task. Hence, introjection results in compliant behaviour. Introjection can result in anxiety and tension within the individual, is antagonistic to self-determination, and can undermine intrinsic motivation (Deci et al., Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994). In integration, the regulation is assimilated in to one's sense of self. Integration is the most optimal type of internalisation, resulting in self-determined behaviour. There is no internal conflict because the behaviour is in line with the individual's sense of self, and personal goals (Deci et al., Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994).
Ryan and Connell (Reference Ryan and Connell1989) found that when comparing students who have introjected the reasons for completing schoolwork (e.g. they will feel guilty if they don't, they are expected to, etc.) versus those who have integrated the reasons (e.g. it's important for me to learn this), there were striking similarities and differences. Both sets of students had the appearance of being highly motivated, and applied themselves with perceived equal effort. Yet, those who introjected were less likely to enjoy school, and less resilient when facing failure.
In order to close the gap in educational disadvantage between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, schools need to focus on producing students who are not just compliant to school routines, but who are intrinsically motivated to engage with education. The examples cited earlier in this paper demonstrate that such is not always the case. The next section suggests ways in which schools could support more students to integrate the behaviours that are likely to lead to educational success over the long-term.
Creating a School Context that Promotes Integration
Deci et al. (Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994) found that there are three ‘contextual factors’ that promote internalisation of new behaviours. The authors found that if at least two of the three factors are present, integration is more likely to occur. If only one or none of the three factors are present, introjection is more likely to occur. The three contextual factors the authors identified were: provision of a meaningful rationale, acknowledgement of feelings and conveying autonomy. In later discussion, Deci & Ryan (Reference Deci, Ryan, Van Lange, Kruglanski and Higgins2005) identified perceived competence as another factor that determined behavioural change. These four factors will be discussed in relation to Australian classrooms.
Provision of a Meaningful Rationale
A meaningful rationale is one that has meaning to the target individual, and to their goals. Where behaviour expectations are unfamiliar to a student's cultural or social context, and not provided alongside a meaningful rationale, disciplinary incidents can quickly escalate. Such was the case for the student mentioned earlier who was required to remove his hat when in class (Partington et al., Reference Partington, Waugh and Forrest2001).
Teachers and schools have no choice but to decide on their own ‘social norm’ of behavioural routines to provide students, which may differ between learning environments according to the cultural expectations in that setting. One way to face this challenge might be for educators to ensure that school norms are elucidated to students in a manner that allows them to code-switch successfully between the school and home environments. This might involve discussions where teachers explain the rationale behind classroom norms and occasionally negotiate agreed norms, allowing students to make informed choices and to maintain autonomy in their decisions (e.g. we take turns and put our hands up in class so that when you speak, you know your voice will be heard; we don't swear because the ability to control our language makes us more employable). Such an approach is not new in education (cf. Glasser, Reference Glasser1986) but could prove particularly advantageous in a crosscultural classroom. Those teachers who show the least awareness that norms are culturally subjective are likely to have the least success in teaching students to follow new cultural norms in the classroom environment.
Acknowledgment of Feelings
Provision of an emotionally supportive environment is crucial, because the creation of unfamiliar expectations and norms, as well as the experience of being in a minority cultural group, can create a sense of dissonance for Indigenous students (Deci et al., Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994, Xu et al., Reference Xu, Farver and Pauker2014). Geving (Reference Geving2007, p. 639) suggests that teachers need to display a positive and emotionally supportive attitude towards students, provide a participatory and academically supportive classroom encouraging academic success at all levels, and model the normative behaviour that they expect from students.
Deci et al. (Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994) found that acknowledging the individual's feelings was a key part of creating an environment that promotes self-determination. In the school environment, these findings suggest that a teacher who is trying to encourage new behavioural routines should relate by acknowledging the student's existing norms (e.g. ‘I know that it can be frustrating to wait to be heard whilst you keep your hand up’, ‘I realise that this task is difficult and sometimes boring, but let's keep our eyes on the goal’). It is important to realise that validating feelings does not require that the task is modified to account for feelings, simply that the individual is allowed to understand that they maintain control of the choice, and that feeling internal dissonance is normal (Deci et al., Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994).
Conveying autonomy
The third factor that Deci et al. (Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994) found helpful to behavioural integration was an individual's perception of autonomy. In both SDT and TBP, autonomy or locus of control, is crucial to behavioural choice, and intrinsic motivation. The relationship between autonomy and motivation is just as strong in collectivist cultures as it is in individualist cultures (Deci & Ryan, Reference Deci, Ryan, Van Lange, Kruglanski and Higgins2005). Indigenous teenagers are commonly provided with a greater autonomy at home than are Anglo-Australian youth (Behrendt & McCausland, Reference Behrendt and McCausland2008, p. 12; Schwab, Reference Schwab, Sutton and Levinson2001, p. 250). Thus, it would be expected that educational engagement for Indigenous students would improve in schools that encourage a sense of autonomy. One way that teachers might do so is by utilising language that conveys a sense of choice rather than coercion. (e.g. ‘Think about the outcomes that you can achieve by behaving in this way. I would like to see you succeed’).
Teacher feedback and language is central to motivation. Negative feedback decreases intrinsic motivation, as does feedback that externalises the locus of control (such as attempts to subjugate a student into exhibiting a particular behaviour). If student motivation to behave in accordance with teacher expectations decreases, the teacher must work harder to coerce the student into behaving in the expected manner. This can easily lead to a downward spiral of ever less-motivated students and ever more draconian management strategies. Under SDT, it would be expected that students will be intrinsically motivated to behave according to classroom norms when the locus of control remains with the individual and rewards for competence exist. Thus, positive feedback (as a reward) is crucial to align student behaviours with school-based norms. It may be that the teacher who understands their students’ cultural norms will be better able to create a locus of control that results in fewer disciplinary interactions and a more positive school culture.
Perceived Competence
When considering student engagement through the lens of SDT, it becomes necessary for schools to project an expectation of competence as students attempt to learn new normative roles, and to work at developing intrinsic motivation for students to engage with the school's cultural norms. This motivation depends on students experiencing a degree of autonomy in their behavioural choice, as well as an inherent understanding of the [positive] outcomes associated with taking on the classroom norms.
According to SDT, perceived competence is equal in importance to perceived locus of control when individuals decide on a behavioural path. From the perspective of SDT, it could be inferred that teachers who do not expect their students to become competent in classroom norms and project this perception, run the risk of demotivating their students (Deci & Ryan, Reference Deci, Ryan, Van Lange, Kruglanski and Higgins2005). Conversely, teachers who expect their students to become competent in classroom norms (and caringly guide students to learn them), will project an expectation of competence in the student, thus raising the students’ motivation (Deci & Ryan, Reference Deci, Ryan, Van Lange, Kruglanski and Higgins2005).
Conclusion
In this paper, we presented a perspective on Indigenous student engagement using the lens of psychology, which we acknowledge is a Western framing of complex issues at the cultural interface. The paper is not intended as a complete discussion on behavioural theory and crosscultural classrooms. It is a presentation of one standpoint, which provides one more facet of understanding, one more lens through which educators can view an intransigent issue.
This paper uses anecdotes from Australian classrooms to illustrate the manner in which dissonant normative beliefs contribute to educational disenfranchisement. The research discussed suggests that many teachers have not been adequately trained to properly understand their students’ social, economic and cultural norms. As a result, they are at times inclined to make overly simplistic judgments, which inflame behaviour management situations, decrease student engagement and culturally ostracise minority students. For many Indigenous Australians, this is one of the factors behind the troubling gap in school attendance and Year 12 completion (Biddle, Reference Biddle2007; COAG, 2013; Craven & Parente, Reference Craven and Parente2003; Munns, Martin & Craven, Reference Munns, Martin and Craven2008).
This paper applied two theories which have garnered respect in Western science, but not yet been tested with Indigenous Australian secondary students. We have applied these theories, TBP, and SDT, to experiences of educational disengagement amongst Australian Indigenous students. The theories elucidate the factors that motivate behavioural decisions and provide educators with an evidence-based approach to creating positive education experiences for all students.
According to the TPB, belief about normative behaviour is one of the key factors affecting behavioural intention. Teachers are often loathe to recognise the impact of cultural and socioeconomic identity on behavioural norms, although recent improvements in preservice training are beginning to address this. Armitage and Conner's (Reference Armitage and Conner2001, pp. 471–499) discussion of TPB provides teachers with guidance as to nonconfrontational and effective ways to establish new norms and behaviours in the classroom. Changing the perceived social norm, involves clearly elucidating school norms and their rationale, in the context of open and reflective discussion about cultural practices. Changing a student's attitude towards a given behaviour, involves creating expectation that a positive outcome will follow a particular behaviour. Indigenous communities have experienced negative outcomes when engaging with educational institutions, both in the past and present. Effective schools will recognise this, and act with integrity, regard and respect in order to engage students and the community in positive ways.
Discussions of closing the gap in Indigenous education outcomes should consider efficacy of strategies over a student's entire life span. Effective schooling should create an environment where students are intrinsically motivated to engage with school, enjoy school and are resilient in the face of failure. SDT explains the environmental factors that increase the likelihood of students developing such motivation. Students can be encouraged to integrate positive educational behaviours when teachers acknowledge feelings of disharmony, provide a meaningful rationale for behaviour, project a perception of competence and allow the student to experience autonomy.
The above factors form a critical element of any classroom management or school behaviour policy. Schools (and teachers) that hold a positive (success-laden) normative belief about Indigenous students may be able to affect the normative belief such students have of themselves, thus measurably impacting engagement and achievement. From the discussion in this paper, it could be expected that all members of the school community stand to benefit from a shared understanding of cultural norms and their impact on the classroom environment. Teachers will experience less stress when dealing with student behaviour from an empathetic position, whilst students and parents can expect greater support and academic engagement when their norms are validated at school. Effective schools empathetically bridge the gap of social and cultural norms and give their staff the skills to engage parents as effectively as they do students.
Culturally appropriate classrooms also engender teachers’ wellbeing as a result of positive relationships with students. If for no other reason than their own peace of mind, teachers should begin the process of engaging in high quality self-analysis as a means of improving classroom outcomes. School leaders can assist teachers in this change process by implementing policies that provide teachers with the training, resources and structures to safely explore a new mode of classroom relationship.
Thoughts for Moving Forward
The discussion of cultural and socioeconomic prejudice in the classroom has been grounded firmly in behavioural theories, and now closes with practical strategies. Schools that are looking to improve attendance, achievement and long-term outcomes for Indigenous students may consider implementing the following steps:
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1. Schools that invest in providing a culturally appropriate curriculum, facilities and structures should invest equally in the in-service training of their teachers to recognise and remove cultural and socioeconomic prejudice within the classroom climate and expectations. Where students perceive teacher prejudice within the classroom, they are likely to disengage from school, even if outside the classroom they experience positive attitudes towards their culture. Research in Australian classrooms has shown that if non-Indigenous teachers are not trained adequately to deliver Indigenous curriculum content, then they are likely to propagate superficial understandings, which result in negative stereotypes (Booth, Reference Booth2014). This is more of a concern for teachers who trained prior to recent years (Luke, Reference Luke2013).
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2. In-service teacher training should provide teachers with the opportunity to explicitly learn about the social, economic and cultural norms within families and sections of their school community, and apply the theoretical background of Standpoint Theory and Cultural Relativism (Ardill, Reference Ardill2013). Such training should engage teachers in a critical analysis of the manner in which their own normative beliefs affect their interactions with student and parents who come from different cultural or socioeconomic backgrounds. It should also include frank discussion of the way that economic, social and cultural identity influence education behaviours (Castro, Reference Castro2010; Santoro Reference Santoro2009; Santoro et al., Reference Santoro, Reid, Crawford and Simpson2011). This would allow teachers to leave behind the ‘deficit model’ of understanding cultural differences that has prevailed in teaching of Aboriginal curriculum content (Booth, Reference Booth2014). Preservice training has moved in this direction, but the most effective learning will occur once teachers are ‘in the field’. Each school, with its own cultural diversity and socioeconomic surroundings, will present a new set of norms with which a teacher must engage effectively.
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3. Teaching students to follow school expectations that do not coincide with home routines will require appropriate scaffolding and resourcing for students to learn the new behaviour. Students require opportunities for feedback and success, assistance with goal setting to enhance their motivation to learn new normative behaviours and the opportunity to experience autonomy in their decision-making. Teachers can use the principles of SDT by creating a classroom environment that provides emotional support, a meaningful rationale, conveys autonomy and projects a perception of competence (Deci et al., Reference Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone1994).
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4. When working with Indigenous students, teachers should create opportunities for open and frank discussions of cultural norms and worldviews. Teachers will be in the best position to do this if they have personally engaged with the local Indigenous community in a manner that creates authentic learning (Booth, Reference Booth2014; Luke et al., Reference Luke, Shield, Theroux, Tones and Villegas2012).
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5. Schools need to build trust amongst their staff, parents and students, especially when conflict situations have been exacerbated by diverse opinions and norms. Administrators should research attitudes by listening to members of the community, develop and sustain action-based solutions, support other school members and establish respectful relationships (Bryk & Schneider, Reference Bryk and Schneider2003; Hayes et al., Reference Hayes, Johnston, Morris, Power and Roberts2009.) School staff should be trained in effective ways of engaging with parents and the wider school community, who are, after all, those most deeply invested in the long-term education outcomes of students. Schools can demonstrate regard for parents by utilising workshops, home visits and face-to-face interactions to build collaborative partnerships (Behrendt & McCausland, Reference Behrendt and McCausland2008; Epstein, Reference Epstein2008).
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6. School leaders should conduct an audit of discrimination experienced by Indigenous students within their school. Importantly, school leaders should consider whether individual classroom environments and teacher–student relationships, are negatively impacting whole-school programmes aimed at multiculturation or alleviation of disadvantage (Bodkin-Andrews et al., Reference Bodkin-Andrews, Denson and Bansel2012).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr Graeme Gower, Senior Lecturer at Koorongkurl Katitjin, Edith Cowan University and also Simon Forrest, Associate Professor and Elder in Residence at Curtin University, who provided insight into the current state of cultural competency education for undergraduate teachers in Western Australia.
About the Authors
Maryanne Macdonald has worked in remote and urban Australia as well as internationally, in both public and private schools. This career path has allowed her to examine the way in which ethnicity, culture and socioeconomic status influence the meanings made by teachers and students alike as they travel along their education journey. In applying her analysis to Australian Indigenous contexts, the author utilises both the terms Aboriginal and Indigenous to reflect the preferences of various communities around Australia.
Dr Eyal Gringart is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Arts and Humanities at Edith Cowan University. He holds a PhD in Psychology and has a special interest in education as well as welfare among the First People. His main area of expertise is Social Psychology with a particular interest in Human Rights.
Jan Gray is an Associate Professor of Education at Edith Cowan University. She has a strong theoretical and practical understanding of two key areas: The factors impacting on development of a school culture conducive to student engagement; and the framework within which school leaders can implement changes in policies and practices to support the sustained development of such a school culture. Her recent research outcomes include international and national publications, and she has a special interest in educational attainment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
