Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students attend boarding for a number of reasons, such as a lack of access to secondary schooling in their home community, to take up a scholarship opportunity, access specific courses of study, avoid community unrest or domestic issues, referrals by courts, youth service providers, churches, councils, other schools or transition support services, or because of family or community historical connections with a particular boarding provider.

An independent analysis of the existing investment in support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students attending boarding. 

The purpose of this analysis is to: 

• improve the understanding of the benefits and impacts of existing investments in boarding provision
• improve the understanding of how government investment (both state and federal) in boarding provision and support services for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students can be best used by boarding providers
• inform continued benefits of the program and improved educational outcomes
• provide baseline information for future monitoring and policy development.

Twenty-seven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boarding providers, providing boarding for approximately 1,900 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students were analysed for this report. The findings were compared against 23 mainstream boarding providers

Key Findings

• Special assistance schools (SAS) play an important role in meeting the needs of students who have had a disrupted education due to disadvantage.
• There is a transition occurring in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boarding sector away from the traditional long established large boarding providers to a new model of boarding provider that caters for smaller numbers of boarders, usually from a common background or home geographical region.
• Greater numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students now have the opportunity to access leading Australian schools in state capital cities and major regional centres around the country.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boarding providers rely heavily on ABSTUDY to meet the cost of boarding. Over the last 50 years ABSTUDY has enabled many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to access a quality secondary education.