Abstract
This chapter investigates how schools might develop innovative pedagogical approaches for working with mobile or transient students who are often marginalized and disenfranchised within school systems. Formal education as offered by schools has been predicated on residentially stable populations, with most schools drawing their students from nearby areas. Traditionally, it has not been unusual for students from occupationally mobile families - such as fairground and circus families and itinerant farm workers - to experience marginalization and failure in school contexts. In today's world, however, mobility has become a widespread and varied sociocultural phenomenon, with some families choosing to be mobile (e.g. those with professional aspirations) and others being forced to relocate because of social, economic, or political necessity. It is time, therefore, to reconceptualize pedagogical approaches so that schooling affords opportunities for all students to be successful, regardless of their residential status - mobile, sedentary, or a combination of both. Drawing on research into a range of mobile communities, this chapter considers innovative pedagogies that have been used to provide better educational opportunities for mobile students. It also theorizes other possibilities for new and productive pedagogical approaches that take residential diversity into consideration.