Understanding urban Indigenous student mobility: considerations for literacy educators

Mobility is a well known characteristic of Indigenous Australians’ lived experience and plays an important role in the maintenance of connections to family and country that are integral to Indigenous people’s cultural and spiritual well-being (Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Training & Department of Defence, 2002). While\ud some researchers have drawn attention to student mobility as a challenge for literacy teachers (Comber, 2003; Henderson, 2006) lesser explored are literacy practices that ‘close the gap’ for Indigenous students, particularly, mobile Indigenous students attending urban schools. This paper explores current research about the mobility of Indigenous students and contextualises the challenges faced by primary school literacy teachers working in school and community settings characterised by high mobility, Indigeneity and socio-economic disadvantage. It highlights the significant gaps in\ud research available to inform practice in literacy teaching that meets the needs of mobile Indigenous students attending urban schools. It then discusses a participatory action research project underway in regional Queensland that aims to document effective literacy teaching practices for mobile urban Indigenous students. Finally, it offers some preliminary insights as emergent in the action research project to date