Changing schools - another kind of transition

Abstract

When we think of transition, we generally think of moving from home to early childhood education; from early childhood education to primary school, then to high school, and possibly on to tertiary education or training. These transitions follow the completion of one phase of schooling and the beginning of the next phase, and all children encounter these transitions in their educational lives. However, a growing number of children are encountering another kind of transition: changing schools due to mobility during the early childhood, primary and/or secondary phases of their schooling. Mobility can have positive effects on students' achievement, but can also adversely affect success rate in school, leading to lower levels of engagement and reduced chances of high school completion. It can also adversely affect pedagogy and school functioning. This paper describes a recent study of student mobility, conducted in five primary schools in Far North Queensland, where the effects of mobility on students, and current strategies to address the negative effects of mobility were examined. All names of people and schools mentioned in the following paper are pseudonyms.