Overseas research has found a correlation between parental schooling and child and individual health, and between literacy levels and population health. Research in Australian Indigenous contexts points to a less straightforward connection.
This paper extrapolates to the Indigenous schooling context from correlational studies that implicate lack of control over destiny and social exclusion in poor health outcomes, with stress hormones being the plausible biological pathway. Instead, the paper suggests building a relationship between school-based Aboriginal leadership and community development programs with the health of the whole family and that of the student.
