Self-concept a game changer for academic success for high-achieving Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous students: Reciprocal effects between self-concept and achievement

Abstract

Indigenous Australians are highly disadvantaged educationally and on all socioeconomic indicators, but graduating from university largely closes this gap. However, despite clear examples of Indigenous success, little research has focused on the drivers of success of high-achieving Indigenous students to emulate their success. Thus, the explicit purpose of our study is to identify psychological drivers of Indigenous academic success for high-achieving students and compare these to those of high-achieving nonIndigenous students. To accomplish this purpose, we test the reciprocal effects model (REM) of self-concept and achievement for high-achieving Indigenous students (N = 493) and matched nonIndigenous students (N = 586) in primary and secondary schools. Academic achievement and self-concept were reciprocally related over three annual time waves, supporting the REM for high-achieving Indigenous and nonIndigenous students. Furthermore, results were invariant over two within-person facets (time and content-domain—math vs. English) and two between-person facets (Indigenous vs. nonIndigenous, and primary vs. secondary students). The results have important policy/practice implications for the drivers of success for high-achieving Indigenous students, education of high-achieving students more generally, and self-concept theory and research.