“Don’t let them go”: how student migration (re)shapes teachers’ work in rural Honduras

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study highlights educators’ experiences in two rural community schools in Northern Honduras experiencing high rates of outward migration and “return” of children and youth. Based on observations and interviews spanning 2019–2021, we explore how educators both enact and challenge a national government campaign that positions schools as partners in curbing migration. While illustrating how the migration of young people has fundamentally reshaped schools and teachers’ work in this context, we document the ways that educators adapted their assigned roles to meet students’ and families’ needs. We analyze the ways in which states leverage the geographically anchored nature of schooling in an effort to keep young people in place. In the process, we raise critical questions about how educators are positioned as disciplining actors for individualized intervention and prevention in the context of transborder im/migration and restrictive border policies.