Comparative Education Bulletin - Faculty of Education - The ...

school since Kindergarten. This is all that I have ever known and
I am comfortable. When I am home [Australia] I feel safe. I know
that I belong to something.
For TCKs, the notion of having more than one secure physical
place of residence (ie. a second, part-time home in their ‘passport
country’) posed no difficulty and did not confuse their notion of ‘home’.
Further points of convergence regarding ‘Home’, were embedded
in participant statements about mobility and transition. At some
stage and on some level, participants of both groups had dealt with
transition and mobility. Participants from both groups were able to
identify and speak of family members and friends who had moved in
and out of their lives, across countries, cities and states. Both TCKS and
non-TCKs gave the impression that mobility and transition, although
at times hard to deal with, have become an expected part of life in the
modern, global setting.
Thus, although TCK participants had been exposed to greater
levels of mobility and transition (high-mobility), when compared to
non-TCKs, this did not present itself as significant an issue to TCKs, as
the degree suggested by Pollock and Van Reken.
Interesting findings also emanated from participants’ comments
about the potential of living in other countries. Participants from both
groups felt that they would adapt quickly to living in certain Western
countries, due to the similarities in language, culture and ethnicity. At
the same time, a notable point of divergence was that while non-TCKs
persistently rejected the possibility of moving to Asian countries, TCKs
were cautiously more open to the notion.
Erren, who has no significant reservations about moving to boarding
school in England, voiced his concerns about leaving Hong Kong for
other Asian countries, saying:
I wouldn’t consider moving to China. China’s different. It has a
long way to go to become what Hong Kong is now. I’d think about
Singapore. It’s got a lot of expatriates. I’d have to look into it.
Further, participants spoke about their long-term educational prospects
and where they saw themselves studying in future.
Rebecca, a TCK said:
I wouldn’t want to study here. Not many people like to go to
university where they live, even if they love it in the country. I’d be
a little scared to leave and go to university, but I go to sleep over
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