Summary:
There is significant mobility of Northern Territory (NT) school-aged children. The movement may be within the NT, or between the NT and other states and territories. A substantial proportion of non-Aboriginal school-aged children move interstate each year. By contrast Aboriginal children have a high degree of intra-territory mobility and relatively low interstate movement. Intrastate mobility is especially common for those Aboriginal children living in remote areas. Movement of Aboriginal children between communities is commonly associated with long periods of non-attendance at school or children may drop out of school altogether.
Frequent changes of school presents a number of challenges in the delivery of education, including:
- students’ capacity to progress academically
- teachers’ capacity to teach
- disruption to the school and classroom, and
- flow on impact on other students.
An in-depth understanding of student mobility attained, through local studies, can have important implications for the efficient and equitable delivery of education services and can inform policies that support students who are mobile and respond to the impact of mobility on school attendance and academic progress. This study investigates the pattern and characteristics of mobility among children in the NT, with a focused analysis on three regions - East Arnhem, Central Australia and Big Rivers.
The specific research questions are:
- What are the patterns of mobility of NT children in the primary school years?
- What are the characteristics of clusters of children with different patterns of mobility?
Chief Investigator:
Contact information:
For further information on the project, please email.
Project Dates:
The project commenced on 19 May 2022 and will conclude in 2023.
Funders:
- Northern Territory Government, Department of Education