Indigenous health and education: exploring the connections

The study which is the subject of this report was initiated to provide a greater opportunity for Indigenous people themselves to develop and articulate their own theories about the relationship between their education and health. This was to provide the basis from which practical strategies could be generated to achieve community-determined goals, through a process that recognised the critical importance of community participation in, and control over, the research. The research was conducted in two sites - one rural town and one remote community - in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. This report is concerned primarily with the research process and outcomes for the remote site in North-East Arnhem Land. The Aboriginal perspectives on the relationship between health and education challenge many of the assumptions implicit in the debate about the relevance of the health transition research findings to Indigenous Australians.