Student mobility: issues and pedagogical implications for literacy educators

Abstract

Increasing numbers of students change schools every year. Some, including the children of itinerant farm workers, change residences, schools and education systems on a regular basis. Whilst teachers and parents tend to regard student mobility as having a negative effect on students’ literacy achievements, research in the field of educational itinerancy has been surprisingly limited and offers inconclusive results. Additionally, guidelines that have been designed to assist schools manage the enrolment of mobile students have focused on the organisational practices of schooling, including year level placement and curricular and certification issues. This means that limited knowledge has been available about mobility and its relationship to literacy learning, and little pedagogical advice has been on offer for literacy teachers. This paper seeks to redress these issues. It draws on data from a study that investigated mobility-related issues in a North Queensland primary school, where an annual influx of itinerant farm workers’ children during the winter harvesting season boosted the school’s population by approximately ten per cent. Using the voices of teachers and students, the paper considers the impact of mobility on school processes, explores aspects of students’ engagement with school literacy learning, and investigates how schools might facilitate literacy learning for mobile students.