Examining remote Australian First Nations boarding through capital theory lenses

ABSTRACT

In Australia, boarding schools and residential facilities for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) students have long been part of the educational landscape. Policy settings are paying considerable attention to boarding schools and residential colleges as secondary schooling options for First Nations students, particularly for those from remote areas. Further, First Nations education is seeing increased investment in scholarship programmes, transition support services and establishment of national boarding standards.

There is an emerging body of qualitative evidence about the experiences and outcomes of boarding for remote First Nations students. However, in Australia there are no publicly available evaluations showing quantitative impacts of boarding.

In this paper, the authors critically examine boarding using three capital theory lenses: social/cultural capital (based on Bourdieu), human capital (based on Becker), and identity capital (based on Erikson). Using these lenses we intend to go beyond an understanding of impact on individuals towards a more nuanced consideration of the social, cultural, health and well-being consequences of pursuing boarding as strategic policy for First Nations students in Australia.

KEYWORDS:

• Boarding schools
• First Nations education
• Human Capital Theory
• social capital
• identity capital

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We use the term ‘First Nations’ in this paper to describe people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage in Australia, recognising that there is considerable diversity across communities and Nations. They are not an homogenous ‘Indigenous’ group. Our use of the term should not be confused with its use in other parts of the world, for example in North America.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Guenther

John Guenther is currently the Research Leader – Education and Training for Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, based in Darwin. His work focuses on learning contexts, theory and practice and policies as they connect with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Bill Fogarty

Bill Fogarty is currently the A/C Deputy Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the ANU in Canberra. He has a long history of research and work in Indigenous Education and is currently a Chief Investigator on a number of large research projects including the Australian Research Council funded ‘Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Education’ project.