Race and education: Hidden links between media and Indigenous academic self-concept

The aim of this paper is to locate ideological constructions of racism in relation to the Australian education system that are imbricated within the structure of newspaper reporting. The study focuses on reports concerning the poor and rapidly declining Aboriginal student academic standards as presented in The Australian and the resultant socio-psychological implications held and enforced by, firstly, Australian society, and then, more significantly, adopted by the students themselves. The analysis of these reports follows the analytic paradigm of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and is undertaken in two stages. Firstly, giving a general depiction of media techniques and structures, which highlight discursive practices of ‘othering’ of ethnic minority, and secondly, the effects of these stereotypes upon indigenous students’ academic self-concept.