I'm your new teacher: the impact of teacher mobility on educational opportunities for marginalised students

Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2004) I'm your new teacher: the impact of teacher mobility on educational opportunities for marginalised students. Melbourne Studies in Education, 45 (2). pp. 67-82. ISSN 0076-6275

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Abstract

This article provides an alternative perspective on what it means to 'do school' in a disadvantaged community, particularly in the way that disadvantage is reproduced for marginalised students. It explores the mobility of teachers (temporarily) working in a small secondary school located in an economically depressed regional community in Australia, characterised by high levels of unemployment, high welfare dependency and a significant indigenous population. Like many disadvantaged schools, the school has difficulty attracting and retaining high ability teachers, instead relying on a high turnover of often-reluctant staff who are sent to (or feel compelled to) fill positions unable to be resourced through teacher choice procedures. Drawing on parent, student, and teacher interviews, we ask: how does teacher mobility in this context influence the educational opportunities of students who are 'on the margins' of school success and of the socio-economic structure? Specifically, we explore the ways that teacher mobility can reproduce disadvantage by limiting students’ access to the dominant cultural capital. We argue that educational policies and politics that reward teacher mobility for moving out of these communities, work to disadvantage students. What is needed is a transformation in policies governing staff placements to establish alternatives that redefine the reward system for teachers in ways that permit these students to succeed.

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Item Type:	Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Additional Information:	This is the authors' final pre-publication version. Deposited in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher of the time.
Faculty / Department / School:	Historic - Faculty of Education
Date Deposited:	11 Oct 2007 01:06
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2013 04:15
Uncontrolled Keywords:	schooling; teacher mobility; educational disadvantage
Fields of Research :	16 Studies in Human Society > 1608 Sociology > 160809 Sociology of Education 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1701 Psychology > 170113 Social and Community Psychology 16 Studies in Human Society > 1608 Sociology > 160810 Urban Sociology and Community Studies
Socio-Economic Objective:	C Society > 93 Education and Training > 9399 Other Education and Training > 939903 Equity and Access to Education
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/2430

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