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Enabling Voice: Aboriginal Parents, Experiences and Perceptions of Sending a Child to Boarding School in Western Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2015

David J. Mander
David J. Mander*
Affiliation:
The Health Promotion Evaluation Unit, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
*
address for correspondence: David Mander, PhD, Health Promotion Evaluation Unit, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This study explored the experience of having a child educated away from home at boarding school for Aboriginal parents living in regional and remote communities in Western Australia (WA). In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants and thematic analysis found the following major themes emerged from the data: (1) Access, Standards and Quality, and the subthemes of Declining Local Schools, Opportunity, and Worldliness; (2) Parental Agency and the subthemes of Parent-School Connection, Parenting Style, Communication, and Milestones and Siblings and; (3) Cultural Heritage and the subtheme of Maintenance and Transmission. The findings are described and then discussed in terms of practice implications relevant to boarding schools in WA. Limitations of the current study are acknowledged and directions for future research are proposed.

Keywords

Aboriginal parentsboarding schooltransitionWestern Australia
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 44 , Issue 2: Red Dirt Revisited: Examining remote learning and education experiences , December 2015 , pp. 173 - 183
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

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