Pupil school mobility describes the phenomenon of children moving school outside of standard age-based promotional transitions (e.g., from primary to secondary school). It is a complex phenomenon, influenced by a range of socio-economic and educational factors and affecting a significant proportion of children and young people in England and internationally. High levels of pupil school mobility have been associated with lower student performance, particularly in secondary school (Strand and Demie, 2007; Prior and Leckie 2022), and linked to other academic and social issues, for example in relation to drop-out and completion rates, mental health and relationships (Anderson 2017; Clemens et al., 2016; Langenkamp, 2016). Mobility has also been found to affect not only children who are mobile, but also the schools they are attending and remaining non-mobile children (Gibbons and Telhaj, 2011; Rumberger, 2003; Whitesell et al., 2016).

Despite its widespread occurrence and links to educational disadvantage, pupil school mobility has received minimal attention within educational research. When considered, mobility is mostly framed as an individual, rather than a more systemic issue. Different mobility types (e.g. in-year vs. end of year mobility, short vs. long distance mobility, mobility related to school exclusions vs. moves to secure better provision, upward/downward mobility in terms of school performance) and the way they interact with the complex experiences of different groups of mobile children (e.g., service children, migrant children, children with SEND, children in care) and context-specific policies and practices remain an under-researched area.

In March 2024, our research team at the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick received funding from the Nuffield Foundation to conduct a large scale mixed-methods research project exploring pupil school mobility in England. The overall objective of the project is to develop a rich, conceptually strong and empirically-grounded understanding of pupil school mobility, taking into consideration different mobility types and pathways and their diverse implications for different groups of children and the schools they attend. The project includes secondary data analysis of the National Pupil Database in England to understand mobility frequency, types and pathways of English school children; focus groups and interviews with school staff and local authority staff to understand the role of schools and local communities in supporting mobile pupils; and in-depth interviews with children and families to explore the many underlying reasons for mobility and their varied impact on different groups of school children. In addition, the project has included a systematic review of the literature on pupil school mobility internationally, exploring the following three questions:

• What child and school characteristics are associated with high pupil mobility?
• What are the effects of pupil school mobility on children/young people and schools?
• What practices are suggested to support mobile pupils within schools and in the wider community?

In this presentation, we outline the findings from the systematic literature review focusing on these three questions and reflecting on implications for educational practice.   

The theoretical framework of the project draws on Rumberger’s (2003: 14) distinction between strategic mobility ‘to seek a better educational placement,’ and reactive mobility ‘due to intolerable social or academic situations.’ This framework is helpful in understanding strategies and reactions relating to pupil school mobility at both family and school level. However, the influence of more macro-level influences, such as for example economic crises, natural disasters, resettlement schemes and homelessness, on pupil school mobility are not fully explained by the framework. In this paper we therefore propose an extended version of the framework, which includes more attention to the link between mobility, inequality and power, and adds a third category – imposed mobility.

The paper presents key findings from the systematic review of current literature on pupil school mobility conducted as part of the study described above. For the review, we carried out a systematic search of the literature on pupil school mobility using a broad search strategy allowing for us to get as wide an impression of the literature as possible. This strategy resulted in 23,352 identified records, of which 12,000 were identified through machine learning and sub-searching techniques for double-screening by members of the research team. At present, the team is in the process of screening the 1,346 references, which have been included for full-text screening. Eligibility criteria have been open, to include peer reviewed publications spanning a large time period (2004-2024), disciplinary and inter-disciplinary topics areas, and research methodologies. The screening process is expected to be concluded by March 2025, after which the included papers will be coded and analysed. The literature review analysis and write up will proceed in several stages, starting with literature mapping and thematic analysis, followed by in-depth analyses by topic and literature sub-strand to answer the review questions, provide novel insights into the complexity and varied experiences of pupil school mobility, and identify relevant practices at school and community level to support mobile pupils.

Our previous work on pupil school mobility (Jørgensen and Perry, 2021) and preliminary scoping work carried out in preparation for the systematic review has identified many different variables, which may all have an impact on pupil school mobility. These include individual child or family characteristics and circumstances, school level factors, and socio-economic and political influences at the macro level. The systematic mapping review, presented in this paper, will further elaborate on these variables and factors, and explore how they may affect different groups, schools and communities. By mapping findings from the literature onto our theoretical framework, we will discuss how different types of pupil school mobility may be more or less strategic, reactive and imposed, and thus require different responses. The mapping exercise will be combined with a thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006; 2019) of the literature, which we expect will provide important insights into the mobility experiences of different groups of children and any current school and local authority/community practices in place to support them.

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