How do you design a valid comparative study of an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community across two social justice topics?
Plan and structure the comparative study by selecting an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community and comparing them across two social justice topics
A practical answer on how to plan the HSC Aboriginal Studies Comparative Study. Explains choosing an Aboriginal and an international Indigenous community, selecting two of the six topics, building valid comparison points, and centring self-determination and Indigenous data sovereignty.
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What this dot point is asking
NESA wants you to design a structured comparison between an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community and an international Indigenous community, examined across two of the six course topics. This is Part 2 of the course, the Comparative Study, and in the HSC examination it is worth 45 marks. The skill being assessed is not just knowledge of two communities but the ability to compare them rigorously through the lens of social justice, human rights and self-determination.
The answer
The structure of the comparative study
The Comparative Study requires you to study one Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community and one international Indigenous community, and to compare them in relation to two of six topics: Health, Education, Housing, Employment, Criminal Justice, and Economics. The point of the comparison is to understand how each community experiences, and responds to, social justice and human rights issues, and to identify both shared patterns of colonisation and the distinctive strategies of self-determination each community pursues.
Choosing the communities
Choose communities you can research deeply and respectfully. The Aboriginal community might be a specific group such as the Yolngu of north-east Arnhem Land or an urban community in this state, rather than a vague reference to all Aboriginal people. The international Indigenous community might be the Maori of Aotearoa New Zealand, the First Nations or Inuit of Canada, the Sami of northern Scandinavia, or Native American nations in the United States. Specificity matters: examiners reward responses that name the community, its Country or territory and its governance.
Selecting your two topics
The two topics you choose should let you make meaningful comparisons. For example, pairing Health and Education works well because both reveal the legacy of colonisation and the rise of community-controlled services. Pairing Criminal Justice and Economics lets you compare over-representation in justice systems with strategies for economic independence. Choose topics where both your communities have documented, contemporary evidence so the comparison is balanced rather than lopsided.
Building valid comparison points
A strong comparative study is built around explicit points of comparison rather than two separate descriptions. For each topic, identify a small number of comparison criteria, for example the role of community-controlled organisations, the impact of government policy, the use of traditional knowledge, and measurable outcomes. Then examine both communities against each criterion. This structure prevents the common error of writing everything about community A and then everything about community B with no genuine comparison.
Centring self-determination and data sovereignty
Throughout, frame both communities as active agents. Compare their self-determination strategies: Maori control of health and education through kaupapa Maori services and the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process, set against Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations and Land Councils. Respect Indigenous data sovereignty by using sources produced by or with the communities themselves, and by acknowledging the limits of official statistics that were not designed by Indigenous peoples.
Writing for the examination
In the HSC, you answer on one of your two studied topics. Prepare both so you can respond to whichever the paper offers. Practise integrated comparison paragraphs that move between the two communities within a single point, and keep a bank of specific, current evidence for each. Sustained, balanced comparison framed by social justice is what separates a top response from a descriptive one.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of NESA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
2022 HSC15 marksWhat changes are necessary to improve the social justice outcomes for Aboriginal and other Indigenous peoples? In your answer, compare ONE Australian Aboriginal community and ONE international Indigenous community. Address TWO topics (health, education, housing, employment, criminal justice, economic independence).Show worked answer →
This 15-mark Part C question is the comparative study in exam form: compare two communities across two chosen topics and argue what changes are needed.
- Structure
- Pick two topics (for example health and education) and one Australian Aboriginal community plus one international Indigenous community (such as Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand). Run the comparison topic by topic so the two communities are genuinely compared, not described separately.
- Argue the changes
- For each topic, identify the change needed and support it with each community's experience. For health: greater funding and control of community-controlled health organisations and culturally safe care. For education: community-led, culturally responsive schooling and language programs. Show where Maori models (Te Reo schooling, Maori health providers, Treaty-based policy) suggest changes Australia could adopt.
- Self-determination as the thread
- The central change is genuine self-determination - communities driving and owning solutions.
Conclude that the necessary changes converge on self-determination and adequate resourcing across both communities. Markers reward sustained comparison across both topics and communities.
2023 HSC15 marksEvaluate initiatives that aim to improve the lives of Aboriginal and other Indigenous peoples. In your answer, compare ONE Australian Aboriginal community and ONE international Indigenous community. Address TWO topics.Show worked answer →
For 15 marks, "evaluate" requires a judgement on how effective the initiatives are, sustained across two communities and two topics.
- Structure
- Choose two topics and one Aboriginal and one international Indigenous community. Compare the initiatives topic by topic.
- Evaluate each initiative
- For example, in health compare an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation with a Maori health provider, judging each on access, cultural safety and measurable outcomes. In criminal justice, compare Bourke's Maranguka Justice Reinvestment project (which produced measurable reductions in offending) with a Maori-led court program.
- Make the judgement
- Argue that the most effective initiatives are community-led and self-determined, while government-only programs (such as some Closing the Gap measures) often under-deliver because they lack genuine community control.
Conclude with a clear evaluation: community-controlled, self-determined initiatives are the most successful in both contexts, though all remain constrained by funding and the scale of disadvantage. Markers reward a sustained, evidence-based judgement across both communities and topics.