| Summary: | Although education is by no means a cure all for Indigenous disadvantage it is a very important part of ongoing efforts to 'close the gap'. In this context Indigenous engagement in formal education attracts a lot of interest as it appears crucial to closing the gap in education outcomes between Indigenous and non- Indigenous students. This report investigates the extent of Indigenous student disengagement from formal schooling in the Northern Territory and identifies the underlying factors. To achieve these stated aims an analysis of available data was conducted, academic perspective was canvassed through a literature review and an email questionnaire was circulated to practitioners in Australia and Canada in order to value-add to, and identify any oversights in, the data and literature. The main conclusion of this report is that in Australia, Indigenous student engagement has much unrealised potential. The conclusion drawn is supported by the main findings; these are: 1. The extent of Indigenous student engagement is very difficult to ascertain. This is as a result of the concept of engagement being complex, that only one aspect of engagement if officially measured and there is no complete, comparable and robust data set to underpinning the debate or decision making 2. Although not easily quantified, the determinants of engagement identified in literature, such as socio-economic disadvantage, cultural inclusion, school relevance and parental engagement, are reinforced by the responses of surveyed practitioners in the Northern Territory and the Northwest Territories 3. The way in which Northwest Territories educator perspectives and policies add value to Australian experience is that NWT educator responses have supported the perspective and approach of NT educators and that NWT experience informs Australian and NT policy by challenging the approach taken on cultural inclusion and the curriculum. In light of these findings , this report recommends: 1. For everyday purposes a simplified version of the engagement concept be developed; this would have important practical benefits as streamlining the concept will promote greater understanding within the community and provide a strong foundation for collective action. 2. That other data sources are cultivated to so that there is greater understanding of all aspects of student engagement and that data on attendance, enrollment and retention be made publicly available in a single location so that academic research and policy debate can benefit from a uniform data set.
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