Children who changed schools due to their parents' relocation for employment: Where do we go now?

Abstract

Approximately 300,000 people change provinces in Turkey every year due to relocation for employment. Among them are school‐age children who need to change schools due to the relocation of their parents. This qualitative research aims to understand what students, who have to change schools due to the relocation of their parents to another city, experience in the process of school adaptation. All participants had to change schools at least once due to relocation for the employment of their parents. As a result of the thematic analysis of the qualitative interviews with 25 participants between the ages of 11 and 18, the following five main themes were identified: “Receiving news of the employment relocation,” “Effects on academic success,” “Influences on friendships,” “Sources of support,” and “Suggestions to novices.” Within the framework of the findings obtained, practical recommendations are presented to professionals who provide psychological assistance services on this subject.

Validity practices in qualitative research in school psychology

“…In other cases, external reviewers were brought in during data analysis to help the researchers code the transcripts. For instance, Canpolat and Atli (2021), who explored how children experience changing schools due to parents’ relocation, interviewed 25 such students, tasked external reviewers with coding their transcripts, and then used this to calculate intercoder agreement. Phasha (2008) invited an independent analyst to code 15 of the transcripts and then reviewed their coding in order to modify her own coding.…”