First Nations students lived experiences of Australian schooling: A systematic literature review

Sara Weuffen
University of New South Wales, Australia
John Guenther, Robyn Ober
Batchelor Institute, Darwin, Australia
Karen Sinclair
University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Vennessa Poelina
University of Notre Dame Australia, Broome, Australia
Aleryk Fricker
Deakin University, Australia
Samantha Schulz
The University of Adelaide, Australia
Sam Osborne
University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Sandra Wooltorton
University of Notre Dame Australia, Broome, Australia
Melanie Baak
University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

This systematic literature review explores how First Nations students have spoken about their lived experiences of middle to secondary schooling within Australia. Employing established and trustworthy systematic processes, the key findings across 57 publications for the past 15 years (early 2011 to late 2025) indicate that institutional factors, such as settler-colonial structures of power and control that enforce culturally-unsafe rules and restrictions have the biggest impact on First Nations students lived experiences. However, when First Nations students' identities are deeply connected with Country, community, and sovereignty and acknowledged via constructive and positive relationships, they are able to envision success as a First Nations person. The take-away provided by this systematic review is that several interwoven factors affect First Nations students' lived experiences in Australian schooling and that it is no longer acceptable to ignore the overwhelming evidence of what changes are needed. The experiences shared by First Nations students affirm that it is time for educational decision-makers to listen, and for policies and processes of schooling to change to meet the needs and aspirations of First Nations students.
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Authors: Dr Sara Weuffen is a non-Indigenous scholar of German, Scottish, and Welsh descent. She is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Culturally Nourishing Schooling project at the University of New South Wales. As a specialist in cross-cultural education, she has a proven track record of strategically leading multi-disciplinary teams to critique current practices and envision transformational possibilities of more culturally-respectful and responsive pedagogies, organisations, and societies. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4845-1711 Email: s.weuffen@unsw.edu.au Dr John Guenther is a non-Indigenous researcher whose work in education intersects with early years, primary, secondary and tertiary sectors, working with First Nations people in remote communities. He is the research leader for education and training at Batchelor Institute, based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Web: https://www.batchelor.edu.au/research/research-and-partnerships/dr-john-guenther/ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0080-1698 Email: john.guenther@batchelor.edu.au Dr Robyn Ober is a Mamu-Bagirgabara woman from North Queensland and the longest serving staff member, teacher, and researcher at the Bachelor Institute. She is particularly interested in how technology can be used to support teaching and leads a major investigation into teaching Indigenous schoolchildren in English. Web: https://www.batchelor.edu.au/research/research-and-partnerships/dr-robyn-ober/ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7043-7019 Email: robyn.ober@batchelor.edu.au Associate Professor Karen Sinclair is a Ngarrindjeri educator and the Program Director for the Postgraduate suite of Aboriginal Studies programs at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia. Her teaching-research interests focus on Aboriginal research methodologies, Aboriginal nation building and governance and Aboriginal education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5391-4506 Email: karen.sinclair@unisa.edu.au Vennessa Poelina is an Aboriginal woman from the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Born and raised in Broome, her ancestry is Nyikina, Warrwa and Timorese through her father. She is a community development practitioner who has only recently set out on a research career, becoming a part time researcher with the Nulungu Research Institute [https://www.notredame.edu.au/research/institutes-and-initiatives/nulungu], at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Broome. Her research has involved leading the face-to-face components of social research. Email: vennessa.poelina@nd.edu.au Dr Aleryk (Al) Fricker is a proud and sovereign Dja Dja Wurrung Early Career Scholar. He is a lecturer in the NIKERI Institute at Deakin University and teaches the Indigenous Education unit across all the undergraduate Education programs at Deakin. His research focus is on decolonising education in Australia so all students can benefit from engaging with the oldest teaching techniques and knowledges in the world. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5258-9174 Email: al.fricker@deakin.edu.au Dr Samantha Schulz (she/her) is a settler Australian living and working on unceded Kaurna land. She is a sociologist of education at The University of Adelaide with key research-teaching interests in race critical theorising, First Nations educational sovereignty, culturally responsive becoming, gender, and affect studies in education. Sam is committed to disrupting habits of inattention to structural injustice that make our worlds less liveable. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3458-3617 Email: samantha.schulz@adelaide.edu.au Dr Sam Osborne is the Associate Director for Regional Engagement (APY Lands) and coordinates the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Language and Culture courses at UniSA. He has worked in Aboriginal languages and education for 30 years and continues a focus on the role of first language and first language educators in remote schools, culturally responsive pedagogies, and remote education systems and policy. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0158-0292 Email: samuel.osborne@unisa.edu.au Professor Sandra Wooltorton is a multi-generational Australian of mainly Anglo-Celtic ancestry. She is a professor and Senior Research Fellow at Nulungu Research Institute, University of Notre Dame Australia Broome Campus [https://www.notredame.edu.au/research/institutes-and-initiatives/nulungu] where she leads and collaborates in a wide range of trans-and interdisciplinary projects including intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer, climate change adaptation, environmental ethics, environmental education and Aboriginal education within diverse settings and age ranges. She specialises in transformative research with a focus on worldview and ways of knowing, being and doing. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8677-870X Email: sandra.wooltorton@nd.edu.au Dr Melanie Baak is an associate professor at the University of South Australia, in UniSA Education Futures. She co-convenes the Migration and Refugee Research Network (MARRNet) and the Race, Coloniality, and Education Collective. Her research and teaching are underpinned by understandings of how systems and structures work to marginalise sections of the population, particularly culturally and linguistically diverse groups. Through her current ARC DECRA Fellowship, she is examining Afro-diasporic youth's experiences of un/belonging in Australian schools alongside nine youth co-researchers. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0745-1352 Email: melanie.baak@unisa.edu.au Please cite as: Weuffen, S., Guenther, J., Ober, R., Sinclair, K., Poelina, V., Fricker, A., Schulz, S., Osborne, S., Wooltorton, S. & Baak, M. (2025). First Nations students lived experiences of Australian schooling: A systematic literature review. Issues in Educational Research, 35(4), 1727-1761. http://www.iier.org.au/iier35/weuffen.pdf