2.5 Problems that Impoverished Learners Face at Schools
2.5.6 High Mobility
Learner mobility refers to the practice of learners changing schools other than for reasons of grade promotion (Hartman, 2002). Schools with high rates of learner mobility generally have one or more of the following characteristics: a large population of children of migrant workers, a large population of homeless children and a large population of low-income families (Rumberger, 2002). High mobility is a symptom of poverty and its associated social factors, for example, economic and demographic factors such as deindustrialization, residential segregation and migration of residents from outlying areas, constrain economic
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opportunities and choices across generations, isolating poor children (Du Plessis & Conley, 2007). Children may move from area to area and live in different places since property ownership is elusive. Learners who habitually transfer between schools during the school year are at greater risk of academic and behavioural problems such as lower achievement levels due to discontinuities in the curriculum between schools, difficulty in developing peer relationships, and a greater risk of dropping out (Rumberger, 2002). Research by Kerbow (1996) indicates that changing schools has a negative effect on learners' achievements and can place them as much as a year behind their peers. Highly mobile learners face the psychological challenge of coping with a new school environment as well as adjustment to new peers and social expectations (Rumberger & Larson, 1999). Mobility compounds the difficulties of making friends, and may lead to hostile behaviour, confrontations and violence, or children might become more withdrawn, etc. (Edwards, 1997).
Mobility not only impacts learners who change schools; it impacts classrooms and schools who must deal with mobile learners. It can also adversely impact non-mobile learners.
Hartman (2002) found that schools with high mobility rates reported that test scores for non- mobile learners were considerably lower than those of learners in schools with lower mobility rates. A study of mobility by Rumberger (1999) revealed that school personnel characterized the overall affects of learner mobility as a "chaos" factor that affects classroom learning activities, teacher morale, and administrative burdens–all of which can influence the learning and achievement of all learners in the school. Teachers were adamant that it was disruptive and difficult to teach in classrooms with a constant learner turnover. Similarly, a study by Smyth and Shacklock (1998) found that the pace of instruction was slower in schools with high rates of learner mobility. For learners in a highly mobile school, even though some don’t move, the instruction and content is approximately a year behind that of learners in more secure schools (Crespar, 1996). Crespar (1996) postulates that, high levels of learner instability in classrooms tend to augment re-evaluation of materials, which hampers the curricular pace and decreases the prospect of all learners learning, not only those who are changing schools. By reducing the school’s curricular pace, mobility lessens the achievement of all learners in a school. Some schools have endeavoured to lessen these effects by keeping highly mobile learners separated from other classes, so that the continual influx and departure of mobile learners do not disrupt the education of other non-mobile learners (Hartman, 2002).
Kirkpatrick and Lash (1990) note that each time a learner changes schools, he/she suffers a one month decline in reading achievement.
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Research conducted by Rumberger (2002) suggests that differences in learner achievement between non-mobile and mobile learners can also be attributed to learners’ background characteristics. The gloominess and lack of achievement associated with mobility is compounded by other related factors such as limited English proficiency, violence, poor housing and a single-parent home. Poverty was also found to be a significant predictor of low reading achievement. According to Haveman & Wolfe (1994) learners from lower income families and lower socio-economic strata were more mobile than learners from higher income families and higher socio-economic strata. Children living with one parent move twice as often and have lower achievement levels than those from two-parent families (Newman, 1988). Not only is learner mobility widespread; it can be detrimental to educational achievement at all levels. Mobile learners experience both social and academic adjustment problems that impact on their academic achievement (Tucker, Marx & Long, 1998).
According to Rumberger and Larson (1998), learners who change schools experience lower academic achievement than learners who do not change schools. This results in irregular school attendance and difficulty in establishing and maintaining relationships with teachers and peers. Mobile learners face a number of challenges in adjusting to a new school settings, including the psychological challenge of coping with a new school environment (Payne, 2005), social adjustment to new peers and social expectations (Lee, 2002) and adjustment to new academic standards and expected classroom behaviours (Jason, 1992). Mobile learners are less likely to complete high school than those who remain at one school (Astone &
McLanahan, 1994).
Newman (1988) observes that children from poverty-stricken backgrounds may move from one town to another as their parents search for employment or run away from problems such as debt, a violent spouse or a criminal record. They may live in temporary or homeless shelters that only allow short stays. They may even live on the streets. The circumstances they live in and their daily life experiences can have considerable consequences for their education. Moving is a very disturbing event for children. According to Rumberger (2002) adolescence is a time of stress and mobility; moving increases that stress. He adds that when mobile learners enroll in a new school they are faced with the challenge of establishing, from a host of choices, what type of peer group they want to associate with and ways to meet and make the types of friends they want. Combined with a host of other problems faced by homeless and mobile children, the impact on their emotional, social and cognitive development can be overwhelming (Chafel, 1997).
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