Volume 34 Number 2 June 2009 47 Changing schools: How policy implementation can impact on the literacy learning of mobile students Andrea Lynch James Cook University SINCE 2002 QUEENSLAND state schools have been required to document a ‘whole school literacy plan’ built around eight essential aspects. This document is to be reviewed annually and updated to reflect the current community profile and the school’s literacy curriculum (Education Queensland, 2006).This research project investigated the different ways three early years teachers (Years 1-3) from three adjacent state schools have implemented this policy and what this may mean for students who change schools – particularly the significant number of students known to move between these schools (Hill & Lynch, 2007). Previous research based on test data has shown that changing schools can disrupt learning, particularly in the early years (Strand & Demie, 2006; Temple & Reynolds, 1999) but there has been little or no research into what it might mean for students as literacy learners. Using a case study approach within a critical theory framework, the current research project found that policy is interpreted and enacted differently in different contexts, creating different ways of doing school and doing literacy. This can result in mobile students having to renegotiate what doing school and doing literacy means. Introduction QUEENSLAND STATE SCHOOLS have been part of a significant literacy teaching reform agenda with the stated intention of ‘achieving excellence in literacy education, for the benefit of all students’ (Education Queensland, 2006, p. i). These reforms appear predicated on the belief that students arrive on the first day of the school year and attend that school for at least the full school year. However, recent research undertaken in a Queensland regional city (Hill & Lynch, 2007) indicates that significant numbers of early years student movements occur throughout the school year—with some students attending multiple schools in the course of a year. While previous research has not demonstrated a causal link between mobility and achievement (see Strand & Demie, 2006), some researchers suggest that changing schools in the early years may be highly disruptive to learning and closely related to academic achievement (Heinlein & Shinn, 2000; Strand & Demie, 2006; Temple & Reynolds, 1999). Other research into literacy development has found that students who fall behind in the early years rarely ‘catch up’ (Hill, Comber, Louden, Rivalland & Reid, 2002). Background on whole school literacy planning in Queensland As part of the Queensland government’s education reform agenda, whole school literacy planning has been mandated in Queensland state schools since 2002. Whole school literacy planning is a system-wide response to the comprehensive review of literacy teaching in Queensland, Literate Futures: Report of the literacy review for Queensland state schools (Education Queensland, 2000); referred to as the Literacy Review from here on. The report recommended four key areas of priority: student diversity; whole school programs and community partnerships; the teaching of reading; and future literacies. It also identified eight essential inclusions to be considered in whole school literacy planning. These are: community profile; shared vision; standards and targets; assessment and monitoring; classroom organisation and pedagogy; intervention and special needs support; leadership, coordination and professional learning; and strategic community partnerships (Education Queensland, 2000). After the release of the Literacy Review the state government implemented the report’s recommendation