Life Outside the Classroom: Everyday Mobility of School Students

Abstract

A number of studies have emphasized the importance of the educational potential of cities and revealed that home district characteristics influence children’s educational identity and access to educational resources. However, little attention is paid to the conditions and limits of children’s access to the city environment as well as the geographies of their outdoor activities, i. e. how far from home they travel when hanging out, how this distance can change as a child grows up, how often children attend specific places, and how the geographies of their mobility depend on their personal characteristics. A survey of Moscow school students of grades 5–10 is used to explore the basic characteristics of children’s independent mobility, including their everyday mobility, i. e. frequented places and the distance to them. It is shown that children normally travel within a radius of 1 km from home; the central part of  the city and the neighboring districts are visited less often than places within the home district. A comparison of everyday mobility of high- and low-performing students has proved that the proportion of children whose most frequented place is centers for after-school education is higher among high- erformers. Yet, no correlation was found between the size of the “habitat” and academic performance. Moreover, places for leisure, including leisure education, of families have been described based on a survey of over 700 mothers of school students. Families with high levels of cultural capital and  ood financial standing have demonstrated greater diversity of shared leisure activities and comprise a higher proportion of those attending family courses, public lectures, or other urban events. Such families exploit the educational leisure opportunities provided by the city more actively than others.