Angela Hill and Leanne Dalley-Trim James Cook University School of Education, Townsville

1. Let's Stay Put for Literacy and Numeracy Learning pilot: Refocussing educational delivery to support mobile students through a whole school and community approach Angela Hill and Leanne Dalley-Trim James Cook University School of Education, Townsville

2. The pilot project: Aims • Develop innovative student centredapproaches and interventions to address issues of mobility • Lift teacher capacity by building professional development networks and resources • Implement whole of school strategies which can be used and applied across the schools • Building the evidence base on mobility and its impact on student learning

3. Long term objectives • Improve student literacy/numeracy data for mobile students • Increase teacher, school and system knowledge and skills of the needs of mobile students • Reduce rates of student mobility

4. The process: Collaborative action research Action research • Plan • Act • Review • 4 Clusters = 11 schools • Logan • Rockhampton • Townsville • Cairns • Action research group in each cluster • Community members • Indigenous Education Workers • ISSU staff • School leaders • School staff • Teachers • Admin staff • Mobility Support Teachers

5. Overview of presentation • Measuring mobility – the importance of making the extent of mobility ‘visible’ • Developing whole school community awareness around issues of mobility – understanding the ‘push and pull’ factors • School ‘readiness’ of/for mobile students – engaging with new ideas about what is needed • Linking mobility, attendance, engagement and learning achievement – a critical nexus

6. Defining student mobility • Mobility is “students making non-promotional school change” (Rumberger, 2003) • Movement of students “into and out of schools at times other than the usual ones for joining and leaving” (McAndrew&Power, 2003) • After day 8

7. Previous research: Impact of mobility on students • More than 3 schools combined with other risk factors such as low socio-economic status increases possibility of reduced schooling outcomes • Mobility within the school year is most disruptive to learning, particularly in the early years

8. A focus on the mobility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students • Overdue • Very little research has examined the nature of Indigenous temporary mobility in and through urban environments (Prout & Yap, 2010, p.i) • Underestimated and until now invisible • ‘Census snapshots’ do not capture frequency or duration of movements • Movement across education sectors and systems has not been well captured • Inconsistent notions of student mobility • Inconsistent measures of mobility. Lack of comparability across schools, systems and jurisdictions (Prout, 2008)

9. A focus on the mobility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students • Requires innovative responses • It is […] unproductive to generate prescriptive and generic policy responses. • These responses may range from simple administrative adjustments — such as improving intra-departmental communication and record transferring systems — to radical restructuring of the style and methods of service delivery (Prout, 2008, p.23)

10. Methods of measurement Census Snapshots Micro-level Analysis Count every transaction Who has enrolled (joiners) Who has left (leavers) Profile of both joiners and leavers • Queensland state schools • School Enrolment Continuity: snapshot of enrolments – February, July, November • Fails to account for ‘multiple movers’ • Is an ‘arbitrary’ measure with no connection to transactions

11. Micro level measurement • The JPL formula (Dobson, Henthorne & Lynas, 2000) Students joining + students leaving x 100 total school roll at census date • Measures every student transaction • High mobility ≥ 20 % • Very high mobility ≥ 35%

12. The extent of mobility: One cluster

13. Making mobility visible: Numbers of ‘joiners’ (JPL) vs ‘new at school’ (School Enrolment Continuity)

14. Increasing the visibility: New enrolments

15. Making mobility visible: Numbers of ‘leavers’ (JPL) vs ‘left school’(School Enrolment Continuity)

16. Increasing the visibility: Leavers

17. Movement patterns: Capturing length of stay

18. Addressing mobility through whole school community awareness School Leadership Community Engagement Ensure community leaders engagement with project Develop partnerships/ dialogue with key feeder schools Inter-agency collaboration – housing/family/child safety – to promote stability message Target the development of relationships with mobile Indigenous families • Lead a culture of ‘high expectations’ for mobile Indigenous students • Instigate standardised enrolment procedure(s) • Build a culture of belonging • Promote deprivatisation of teacher practice – enable work of the Mobility Support Teacher

19. Teacher Professional Development Addressing mobility through whole school community awareness • Ensure ‘high expectations’ for mobile Indigenous students • Engage with ‘explicit pedagogies’ for planning • Develop curriculum planning that considers potential new arrivals/gaps in learning • Engage with family: ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors • Encourage sense of belonging: build relationships

20. Addressing mobility through an additional resource Mobility Support Teacher • Teacher • Position description loosely based on UK Mobility Induction Worker • Employed as 0.5 or fulltime • Must have flexibility in timetable

21. Mobility Support Teacher: A successful model

22. The work of MSTs:A 3 Domain Framework • The MSTs have developed innovative student centred approaches to address issues of mobility • In mapping the tasks completed by the MST, it is increasingly possible to ‘frame’ the tasks completed to support Indigenous student in three domains: • Developing the ‘readiness’ of students to learn • Supporting engagement in learning, with a focus on literacy and numeracy learning • Improving learning achievement, with a focus on literacy and numeracy

23. Indicative tasks of MST in three domains – Domain 1

24. Indicative tasks of MST in three domains – Domain 2

25. Indicative tasks of MST in three domains – Domain 3

26. Mobility, attendance, engagement, learning achievement • There exists a critical nexus – that of the interrelationship between mobility, attendance, engagement and learning achievement.

27. An example: ‘Jessica’

28. Indicative literacy learning needs of mobile students: Diagnostic indicators 336 students across project tested and had results recorded (191 Indigenous, 145 Non-Indigenous)

30. (MCEEDYA, 2010, p. 3) Figure 1: Conceptual overview of Indigenous Education Action Plan .

31. References • Dobson, J., Henthorne, K., &Lynas, Z. (2000). Pupil Mobility in Schools: Final Report: Migration Research Unit, University College. • McAndrew, E., & Power, C. (2003). The role of the induction mentor: An evaluation. London: Department for Education and Skills,. • Prout, S. (2008). On the move? Indigenous temporary mobility practices (CAEPR WORKING PAPER No. 48/2008), • Prout, S., & Yap, M. (2010). Indigenous Temporary Mobilities and Service Delivery in Regional Service Centres: A West Kimberley Case Study. Canberra: CAEPR. • Rumberger, R. (2003). The causes and consequences of student mobility. Journal of Negro Education, 72(1), 6-21.