Positive educational responses to Indigenous student mobility

Engaging positively with the mobility of Indigenous students has been the centre of a 5-year action research project in Queensland, Australia. Drawing on responses developed for other marginalised mobile populations, and with consideration for the extent of mobility amongst many Indigenous people in Australia, this paper focuses on the professional development of teachers to understand the needs of highly mobile Indigenous students. The paper outlines the introduction of a key support role within the school, a Mobility Support Teacher (MST). The role and the programme are reviewed in the context of a recent renewed commitment to ‘needs based funding’ in schools in Australia. Taking a critical view of the funding arrangements for Australian schools, it is argued that mobile Indigenous students, as an underserved population, require significant ongoing support.

► The provision of education to mobile Indigenous students is a significant issue.
► A range of programmes have been utilised but they are often short term projects that act to ‘fix’ mobile families.
► This action research trialled a range of proactive strategies that served to transform teachers’ practice.
► Transformed practice enables sustainability.
► Policy responses to the mobility of Indigenous students should be grounded in practical knowledge.