Introduction

This introductory chapter provides a compelling case for examining migrant children’s experiences as a global issue as it directly speaks to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on education, gender, inequality, and the increasing rates and diversity of migration. The chapter outlines a child-centred approach, stemming from the sociology of childhood and child rights charter, and the barriers to achieving global aims in relation to migrant children in light of the vision of education for all, and the quest to ‘leave no one behind’. For this, the chapter offers an overview of some of the patterns in migration and diversity of children’s experiences in schools, examining barriers through an intersectional lens of race, gender, age, and geography, the impact of the pandemic on migrant children, drawing on research from both the Global North and the Global South. The conclusion points to the need to decolonise migration studies to make meaningful changes to our young and equal futures within a global context.