Aboriginal, angle, and immigrant Australian students' motivational beliefsabout personal academic success: Are there cultural differences?

Does being successful at school mean the same thing for all children? In Au stralia, research posits that Aboriginal Australian, Angle Australian, and immigrant Australian children embrace different learning goals (i.e., maste ry, performance, or social) according to their culture. In this study, a 38 -item inventory was used to measure similarities and differences between Ab original (n = 496), Angle (n = 1,173), and immigrant (n = 487) Australian s tudents' learning goal orientations. In contrast to existing conceptions, t hese findings indicate that the profiles of Aboriginal, Angle, and immigran t students were remarkably similar, with students embracing a mastery orien tation of academic success. Nevertheless, there were significant (albeit sm all) differences among the groups, and these differences indicated that Abo riginal students are more influenced by social goals.