Leading Education and Social Research - Institute of Education University of London
Pupil Mobility - Research
Key London Issues > Pupil Mobility > Research:

Here we look into research which provides insights into one reality of London schools – their unpredictable influx of new arrivals throughoutthe year:
  • Managing pupil mobility
    Ofsted Report

    This report presents the findings of a study into the effectsof pupil mobility and what schools do to mitigate those effects. The analysisof the relationship between mobility and attainment is based on the datacollected in over 3,300 primary schools and nearly 1,000 secondary schools.

  • Pupil mobility in schools: Final report
    Dr Janet M. Dobson, Kirsty Henthorne and Zoe Lynas, University College London

    The main aim of this project was to identify the nature and causesof pupil mobility in schools and the implications of high mobility forstrategies to raise achievement.

  • Breaking point: Examining the disruption caused by pupil mobility
    Based on a report by The Association of London Government

    The special quality of this study is that it presents day-to-day experiencesof teachers and children in London’s primary and secondary schools. It usesthe interview data collected in order to provide genuine insights into theexperiences of schools operating in the highly mobile context of London.

  • Pupil mobility, attainment and progress during Key Stage 1: A study in cautious interpretations
    Dr Steve Strand, NFER–NELSON

    This study questions the clear-cut negative correlations between pupil mobility and attainment.Its starting point is the critique of such views based on studies which are either small scale or failto control for a number of factors, such as socio-economic status, which are widely recognizedas relevant to attainment. Therefore, this study engages with a number of relevant factors, and its analysis is based on a sample of 6,400 inner London pupils.

  • Pupil mobility, attainment and progress in secondary school
    Dr Steve Strand, University of Warwick and Feyisa Demie, Lambeth Education

    This research provides further insights into the correlation betweenpupil mobility and attainment in national tests and examinations.In this study the focus is on mainstream secondary schools and pupilsaged 11–16.

  • Mobility and school disruption
    Dr Stephen Gibbons and Dr Shqiponja Telhaj, The Centre for the Economics of Education, London School of Economics

    Schools with high levels of pupil mobility tend to have low averagelevels of pupil attainment. This observation has led many to infer thatchanges of school are bad for those pupils who move, and that a high levelof pupil mobility is bad for other pupils and bad for schools. On this basis,understanding and tackling the consequences of pupil mobility has becomea key policy issue.

  • Learning on the go: voices of highly mobile pupils
    Dr Virginia L. Rhodes - Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, USA

    For the first time in London Digest: a summary of a study conductedoutside Britain. This research, highly relevant to the London context,provides personal insights into the experiences of changing schools. Itwas conducted in an urban high school in the American Midwest. Eightstudents aged 14–17 who changed schools from four to fourteen timeswere selected. The school was classified as high-attendance, maintaininggood academic standards and based amongst low-income communities.

  • Pupil mobility in schools and implications for raising achievement
    Feyisa Demie, Kirst in Lewis and Anne Taplin, Lambeth Education

    While the study from the USA focused on views and experiences of highly mobilestudents, this study is primarily based on a survey conducted with 54 headteachers, leading fournurseries, 43 primary schools, five secondary schools and two special schools within one innerLondon local authority. Mobility levels in this local authority were classified as high at the timeof research (2003).

  • Moving home and changing school: Widening the understanding of pupil mobility
    Dr David Ewens, Data Management and Analysis Group, Greater London Authority

    Pupil mobility is generally understood as the movement of pupilsbetween schools other than at standard times. Young people’s well-beingand educational attainment may be affected by factors associated withdomestic mobility and by their experience of it. Extending the conceptof pupil mobility to include moving home may have relevance for boththe Children’s agenda and the Standards agenda.

  • Population mobility and service provision
    Profesor Tony Travers , Dr Rebeca Tunstall , Profesor Christine White head, Segolene Pruvot , London School of Economics, London

    The last item in this issue provides a wider picture of mobility in London,by looking at mobility beyond the school population. Its findings andconclusions complement insights into mobility impacts on schools.


To read more on any of these articles above please click here to download Issue 4 of the London Digest: Mobile Pupils, Mobile Schools.