Motivational behaviors and cognitions of indigenous Australian secondary students

Research utilizing the Student Motivation and Engagement Scale (SMES - Martin, 2003) has continuously supported the importance of a vast range of motivational behaviours and cognitions with regard to key academic outcomes for secondary students. With the potential utility of these findings for the majority of secondary students, it is surprising that only minimal research has sort to understand the motivational tendencies of Indigenous secondary students and their relations with important academic outcomes. As a result, this paper sought to determine if the factor structure of the SMES held true for Indigenous students, and also examined what relations various motivational facets held with important educational outcomes (e.g. absenteeism) and attitudes (e.g. school enjoyment and perceived instrumentality). The results support the need to more fully understand the varying motivational tendencies held by Indigenous students, and their relations with key academic variables