Why is a child’s transition from one school to another such an important factor in the child’s academic learning? Why should we be concerned?

By Marcia Banks

According to John Hattie’s research, in Visible Learning, mobility negatively affects learning. However, could it be that unmanaged mobility be what is detrimental to learning? Could we flip that script? Could a well-managed mobility add significant value to a life and to the learning journey?  

If we could teach students to manage transitions well, we may be teaching them life skills that outweigh academic skills. A child who is unable to manage mobility well, will be challenged to learn to the best of their ability. Yet, when students feel safe, supported, and seen, they can create strong attachments within the school community, which is such an important factor in safeguarding against the rising levels of anxiety and depression we are seeing.

Mobility transitions affect us whether arriving, leaving or being the one left behind. Safe Passage Across Networks (SPAN) aims to equip schools to support and to empower their community members to effectively navigate cross-cultural transitions. These acquired skills of managing mobility well provide steppingstones for navigating all of life’s transitions.

Social researchers predict that our current students, Generation Z, could have up to 18 jobs across 6 different careers and live in 16 different homes across their lifetime. With predictions such as these, proactively engaging in the process of transition is becoming a vital skill for success in this century.

Some schools offer some fabulous transition-care programs, helping students develop attachments, feel quickly supported, and a contributing member of the new community. Yet, there are still too many teams who work in silos. If schools and teams work together to help create well-managed mobility programs, we are then able to do so much more in helping students.

Schools could be extending their resources, monetary and human, to fostering sustainable programs that can endure. Schools could coordinate and strengthen the transitions care within schools such as going from Primary to Secondary, but also between schools, so that students feel supported in their wellbeing, and avoid potential gaps in their academic learning.

Mobility provides an excellent opportunity to teach young children and adolescents the skills and tools to address different sorts of transition in life. Addressing life’s challenges of loss and grief, such as what might happen if a child moves from one country to another, if unresolved or unaddressed, can easily surface later in one’s life.

To hear more about mobility transitions from Valérie Besanceney, I invite you to listen to the recording.