Abstract

The study described here explored the perceptions of eight Year 5 and Year 6 students of their Australian identity in an independent Western Australian metropolitan school. The epistemological approach for this research was constructivism with an interpretivist theoretical perspective. We aimed to understand the perspectives of the eight student participants by use of a phenomenological methodology. Semi-structured interviews and student drawn pictures provided the data. Results revealed common values, citizenship, and a strong sense of belonging as important attributes of the participants’ perceptions of their own Australian national identity. The results provide insights into how students perceive their sense of Australian national identity. This research is significant as it suggests a contemporary pluralistic interpretation of students’ national identity may lead to a more active and integrative Australian national identity.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2025

Volume

35

Issue

4

Publication Title

Issues in Educational Research

Publisher

Western Australian Institute for Educational Research

School

School of Education

RAS ID

88756

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Comments

Nahajski, R., Chambers, D. & Lavery, S. (2025). The perceptions of Australian identity by Year 5 and Year 6 students in an Australian independent school. Issues in Educational Research, 35(4), 1605-1624. https://www.iier.org.au/iier35/nahajski-abs.html

First Page

1605

Last Page

1624

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