Biographies, ontological security and the socio‐spatial politics shaping teachers' mobility in remote Australia

The global teacher shortage continues to intensify, with disparate impacts across geographic and socio‐economic communities. In Queensland, Australia, where this study originates, post‐COVID teacher shortages have intensified workforce pressures, leaving several regional, rural and remote schools as some of the ‘hardest‐to‐staff’ in the country. Despite Queensland's mobility policy and high teacher mobility potential, encouraging teachers, especially from more metropolitan areas, to relocate to these communities has proven historically difficult. This study explores teachers' spatial and social mobility to identify determinants of individual mobility behaviour that shed new light on geographically inspired aspects of the teacher shortage. Using Vincent Kaufmann's three‐part conceptualisation of motility, we analysed semi‐structured interviews from 14 school leaders and teachers from two schools located in the very remote Northwest Queensland region. Findings revealed that teacher mobility in these contexts is shaped not only by logistical access to places, but by a complex interplay of personal motivations, values and social and professional competencies. While geographical factors are influential, we suggest that teachers' biographies play an equally, if not more, significant role in their mobility‐based decisions. Drawing on Kaufmanns' concept of motility and Giddens' concept of ontological security, we argue that cultivating a sense of ‘home’ in these communities is essential to a teacher's capacity to sustain and thrive in remote teaching roles.