Although many Indigenous Australian students from remote Northern Territory attend boarding schools, the statistics show that few complete Year 12. It is also factual that communities are rarely engage in their children’s boarding education and boarding schools seldom engage with Elders to support a child’s cultural journey.
Two researchers from the NT have published their findings from interviews conducted with two adults from a very remote Indigenous community and six staff from a partner Western interstate boarding school community. Using a qualitative methodology with phenomenological design, their findings show how students achieve Western educational success whilst maintaining their culture, and how this model may be replicated in other communities.