School Transition Research Articles

In-school transition challenges among primary school learners with autism spectrum disorders in South Africa: Parents and teachers' perspectives

Successful school transition is a basis for career development and eventual overall adult educational and socio-economic outcomes. Transitioning through primary school grades is a combination of relative academic and social skills acquired in each grade and forms the basis for subsequent academic and social success at ensuing educational pursuit and adult independent life. Evidence indicates that learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families experience limiting challenges in their school transition at different levels. There is a gap in the literature as to the specific factors that constitute school transition difficulties in primary school learners with ASD in the area of study. The purpose of this study was to investigate challenges that learners with ASD face as they transition through school grades. The study adopted a phenomenological design with 12 participants (6 parents and 6 teachers). Two focus group discussions were held to collect data analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The results revealed three main themes, which included poor academic achievement and skills development, social and economic challenges as well as behavioural problems. The findings of the study suggest an increased need for home-school collaboration during the early stages and throughout the school years for the effective transition of learners with ASD. Thus, providing learners with ASD and their families with academic, emotional and behavioural intervention and support can help learners with autism to develop personal resources that will encourage their educational success.

Shyness, Parent–Child Relationships, and Peer Difficulties During the Middle School Transition

Shyness, Parent–Child Relationships, and Peer Difficulties During the Middle School Transition

Teaching methodology in students with special educational needs during their transition to secondary education

The gap between the skills of students with special educational needs (SEN) and learning requirements is widening as they move from primary to secondary education. The purpose of this research is to implement and evaluate the pedagogical tool "Targeted, Individual, Structured, and Integrated Program for Students with Special Educational Needs" (TISIPfSENs), through which a special teaching methodology is proposed for the reading support of students with SEN. The methodology applied was mixed and lasted 5 years in 5 general Greek secondary schools. The study sample consisted of students with neurodevelopmental disorders (N = 10) and adults (N = 130) who encountered them learning, therapeutically, and socially. The qualitative data were collected in the context of the action research with the utilization of observation and intervention tools, while the quantitative data were collected from an unbalanced questionnaire. The results showed that "TISIPfSENs" supports students with neurodevelopmental disorders in reading skills during their transition to secondary education. The findings showed that students can actively participate in the general learning process, provided that the intervention is governed by certain principles, such as individualization of teaching, structuring of teaching methodology in certain phases, informal pedagogical assessment, and differentiation activities for the cultivation of neurodevelopmental areas. Keywords: School transition, TISIPfSENs, neurodevelopmental disorders, reading skills, secondary school teaching methodology

The life-course of methamphetamine users in Aotearoa/New Zealand: School, friendship and work

As part of the first qualitative-based research on the life-course of methamphetamine users in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this paper analyses the life domains of school, friendship and work. Through application of interactional theory, this paper increases understanding of the situational contexts and interpersonal factors that influence drug use trajectories and the transition from one life domain to another by identifying the patterns within each domain and the influence school, friendship and work exerts on drug use and, conversely, how drug use impacts on school, friendship and work. The analysis discovered 20 commonly shared adverse experiences that hindered educational and employment success and contributed to drug use, including: negative school transitions, significant turning point events, weak commitment to school, poor school attitude and performance, low academic achievement, low school and work ambition, low parental expectations, and high levels of mental health issues, delinquency, delinquent peer involvement, bullying victimisation, work victimisation, unstable careers and illegal economic activities. Specifically, it was common for interviewees to ‘track backwards’ in high school. This study highlights the importance of the educational domain for altering drug use trajectories, especially high school.

The 3D-Transition Study: Objectives, Methods, and Implementation of an Innovative Planned Missing-Data Design.

The prevalence of mental health problems represents a significant burden on school and community health resources as early as preschool. Reducing this burden requires a better understanding of the developmental mechanisms linking children's early vulnerabilities with mental health after the transition to formal schooling. The 3D-Transition Study (2017-2021) follows 939 participants from a pregnancy cohort in the province of Québec, Canada, as they transition to kindergarten and first grade to examine these mechanisms. Biannual assessments include completed questionnaires from 2 parents as well as teachers, parent-child observations, anthropometric measurements, and age-sensitive cognitive assessments. Saliva is also collected on 11 days over a 16-month period in a subsample of 384 participants to examine possible changes in child salivary cortisol levels across the school transition and their role in difficulties observed during the transition. A combination of planned missing-data designs is being implemented to reduce participant burden, where incomplete data are collected without introducing bias after the use of multiple imputation. The 3D-Transition Study will contribute to an evidence-based developmental framework of child mental health from pregnancy to school age. In turn, this framework can help inform prevention programs delivered in health-care settings during pregnancy and in child-care centers, preschools, and schools.

Anxious Solitude, Reciprocated Friendships with Peers, and Maternal Overcontrol from Third through Seventh Grade: A Transactional Model.

Guided by a Transactional Model of anxious solitude development, we tested friend and maternal influences on continuity and change in youth anxious solitude from 3rd through 7th grade, as well as the influence of youth anxious solitude on decreased friendship participation and increased maternal overcontrol over time. Participants were 230 American youth (57% girls) selected for longitudinal study from a public-school screening sample (n = 688). Peers reported on anxious solitude, both peers and youth reported on reciprocated friendship, and youth reported on their mother’s overcontrol annually. Stability and incremental change in youth, friend, and maternal factors were tested in an autoregressive cross-lagged panel analytic model. Having few mutual friendships predicted incremental increase in youth anxious solitude in mid-elementary school, then youth anxious solitude predicted the loss of friendships after the middle school transition. Additionally, youth anxious solitude in third grade evoked increased maternal overcontrol in fourth grade, but the reverse direction of effect was not supported. Youth’s participation in few friendships also evoked mothers’ overcontrol, which exacerbated their child’s loss of friendships in elementary school. Taken together, having few mutual friends contributed to youth anxious solitude and maternal overcontrol, and subsequently these factors further exacerbated youth’s loss of friendships.

Subjective Social Status of High School Freshmen in the Transitional Period: the Impact of Extraversion

Most adolescents successfully adjust to common school transitions, but face some psychological risks. We explored the subjective social status trajectory of incoming high school freshmen and the impact of extraversion on it. Through a longitudinal design we surveyed 177 participants (using Extraversion and Subjective Social Status Questionnaires) four times: during orientation week and thereafter monthly. The status of the freshmen rapidly declined during the first month and later stabilized. Extraversion had a significant positive relationship with the initial status, and significantly mitigated its decline during the first month. Educators and parents should prioritize freshmen with low externalizing tendencies, by helping them identify their strengths and reduce the negative effects of their lower subjective social status.

School transition during adolescence: Turning crisis into opportunity

<p id="p00005">From the perspective of life course, school transition is considered a key turning point in adolescent development and may alter individual developmental trajectories. Based on the deficit view, previous studies have suggested that most adolescents are at risk, beset by many challenges, and may experience a variety of negative developmental outcomes during that transition. Drawing on the positive youth development perspective, however, the transition period may be an important opportunity for adolescents to achieve adaptive and healthy development, and it is also the period in which developmental plasticity is most fully manifested. Along this line, if adolescents' internal and external assets are well integrated, they may have a positive school transition.

Proposed Natural Science E-Instructional Systems Design (E-ISD) for the Mendiola Consortium

Proposed Natural Science E-Instructional Systems Design (E-ISD) for the Mendiola Consortium

Transição para o ensino médio: Gestão de política de correção de fluxo e trajetórias escolares

O presente estudo analisa as possíveis relações entre a gestão de uma política de correção de fluxo em uma rede pública de ensino e a transição para o ensino médio. O estudo das trajetórias escolares dos alunos constituiu-se como recurso para compreender os resultados da política e seus possíveis efeitos sobre as transições escolares para o ensino médio. Na análise foram utilizados dados do Censo Escolar, da base de matrículas da rede de ensino e os documentos oficiais disponíveis sobre a política e sua gestão. Inicialmente apresenta-se o contexto do desenho e gestão da política - estruturada no âmbito de uma parceria público/privada - e as trajetórias escolares de toda a população de alunos matriculados no 5º ano do ensino fundamental na rede de ensino estudada em 2010. Posteriormente apresenta-se as trajetórias daqueles que chegaram ao ensino médio em 2014. Os resultados sugerem que, não obstante a correção de fluxo através dos projetos de aceleração da aprendizagem ter favorecido o ingresso no ensino médio, a elevada taxa de repetência no ano subsequente - 1º ano desta nova etapa de ensino - deixa transparecer que o acesso ao ensino médio pode não ter correspondido a um processo de escolarização sustentável e bem consolidado em termos de aprendizagem, evidenciando os limites do controverso caráter compensatório da política em tela.

Optimal Pathways for Technology Integration Towards Blended Learning

This case study offers an information technology perspective of a school's transition from a traditional learning environment to a blended learning environment in a non-traditional setting. The blended learning environment changes how a school utilizes technology and aligns the school goals to meet all students' individual needs. Specifically, the paper focuses on the technology integration pathways taken by this non-traditional school. It discusses the process of strategic planning, network infrastructure evaluation, implementation, and results.

Changes in 24-hour movement behaviours during the transition from primary to secondary school among Australian children

ABSTRACT This study examined concurrent changes in all components of 24-h movement behaviours (24-h MB) (sleep, sedentary behaviour [SB] and physical activity [PA]) and compliance with the Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines over the primary to the secondary school transition period. The analytical sample included 83 children (60.2% girls) who provided valid accelerometer-measured 24-h MB data during their final year of primary school (T1) and first year of secondary school (T2). Self-reported participation in domain-specific SB and PA, socio-demographic characteristics and weight status were also assessed. Change in 24-h MB composition from T1 to T2 was analysed using a compositional multivariate linear model for repeated measures. The difference in the proportion of meeting the 24-hour integrated movement guidelines was assessed using a McNemar–Bowker test. An unfavourable change was observed in the 24-h MB composition (p < .0001), with increased time spent in SB (+58 min/day) and decreased time in sleep (−13 min/day), Iight-intensity PA (−13 min/day) and moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (−14 min/day). Domain-specific SB results indicated an increase in recreational screen time (+45 min/day) and out-of-school educational activities (+25 min/day). No significant changes were observed for domain-specific PA. The proportion of children meeting the 24-hour integrated movement guidelines also declined (20.5% vs. 3.6%; p < .0001). Change in 24-h MB was larger on weekdays than weekends (p < .0001); but this was not moderated by socio-demographic characteristics or weight status. These findings suggest that an integrated intervention approach targeting weekdays may be beneficial to promote adherence to healthy 24-h MB during the primary to the secondary school transition period. Highlights This study investigated how the 24-hour movement behaviour composition (i.e., time spent in sleep, sedentary behaviour and physical activity) changes and its impact on children's compliance with the 24-hour integrated movement guidelines during the primary to secondary school transition period. There was an unfavourable change in the accelerometer-measured 24-hour movement behaviour composition, with increased time spent in sedentary behaviour and decreased time in sleep, light-intensity physical activity and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity. The change in weekday composition was significantly more prominent than change on weekends. The observed increase in sedentary behaviour may be attributed in part to an increase in recreational screen time and out-of-school educational activities in secondary schools. These behavioural changes were reflected in decreased compliance rates with the individual and integrated 24-hour movement guidelines, with the largest decline observed in the sleep guideline. Our findings highlight the need for an integrated intervention approach to support children to develop and/or maintain healthy movement behaviour habits throughout the school transition period.

"중등 전환기 다문화 청소년의 학교적응 군집유형에 관한 연구"

본 연구는 중등 전환기 다문화 청소년을 대상으로 학교적응의 군집유형을 파악하고 한국어 능력과 이중문화 수용태도에 따라 어떠한 차이를 보이는지 탐색하였다. 그리고 학교적응 군집유형에 따라 다문화 청소년의 심리 사회적 적응(우울과 사회적 위축)의 차이를 살펴보는 데 그 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 한국청소년정책연구원의 다문화 청소년 패널조사의 중학교 1학년 1,380명의 자료를 활용하여 군집분석과 일원변량분석, 사후검증을 실시하였다. 그 결과, 첫째, 중등 전환기 다문화 청소년의 학교적응 군집유형은 규칙준수형, 관계중심형, 부적응형, 학교친화형의 4개 유형으로 분류되었다. 둘째, 다문화 청소년의 한국어 능력, 이중문화 수용태도에 따라 학교적응 군집유형에서 유의한 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 다문화 청소년의 학교적응 군집유형에 따라 우울과 사회적 위축에서 유의미한 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과를 바탕으로 본 연구의 의의 및 시사점에 대한 논의를 추가하였다.

Invandrarnas yrkesutbildning och sysselsättning i Finland

In Finland, immigration has increased in recent decades. An equal quality of life and position for immigrants is a vocational and social challenge. In our article, we examine the challenges adult immigrants face in Finland regarding the recognition of professional qualifications, skills and employment and their children's access to education. As a result, we have two different points of view: adults in working life and young people in school transitions. The research materials were collected through interviews and surveys. The results suggest that adult immigrants usually have their skills recognised in the labour market only when the person obtains an overlapping or supplementary vocational training in Finland. Adolescents’ school transitions are tied to at least three types of factors: the young people themselves, issues related to the community, and services offered by society. The authorities reiterated the importance of language skills, the motivation, and community services, while the young people promoted the social community: the importance of friends and families. The results highlight the importance of cooperation between the authorities, homes and young people so that young people can receive support at special stages in their lives.

Patterns and Pathways of Peer Victimization Across the Transition to Middle School

Peer victimization is a widespread and heterogeneous phenomenon, especially during the transition to middle school, and is associated with numerous negative consequences. However, previous research is limited by variable-centric analyses and data manipulations that either fail to capture or mask the complexity of peer victimization many students experience. We used person-centered analyses with continuous variables to detect patterns of peer victimization in a longitudinal sample from Grades 4 (n = 1,349), 5 (n = 1,352), and 6 (n = 1,098). We found five distinct profiles varying by victimization severity (i.e., none, some, pervasive) and form (i.e., relational, verbal, and physical) in each grade level. Female students and Black/African American students experience greater relational victimization during the middle school transition than their male or White peers, respectively, while students with disabilities experience all forms of victimization at greater levels than their non-disabled peers. Study limitations, future research, and practice implications are discussed, including the need for culturally responsive and victimization form-specific prevention and intervention strategies. Impact Statement Within a longitudinal sample of students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, peer victimization experiences varied by both severity level and form (i.e., relational, verbal, and physical victimization). Female, Black/African American, and students with disabilities were most vulnerable to report victimization during this transition from late elementary to middle school. These results identify the need to improve prevention and intervention efforts for peer victimization as students transition to middle school, including strategies that are more culturally responsive, inclusive, and specific to relational and verbal forms of victimization.

Conceptualising Primary-Secondary School Transitions: A Systematic Mapping Review of Worldviews, Theories and Frameworks

There is continued interest internationally in primary-secondary school transitions. Fourteen literature reviews of primary-secondary transitions have been published over the last 20 years, however none of them have systematically analysed primary-secondary school transition ontology, i.e., researchers’ worldviews, theories/models and frameworks. This is a major gap in these reviews and the papers published in this area; this is of concern as it is difficult to trust the robustness of a study if its foundation, such as researchers’ conceptualisation of transitions, is not visible. Therefore, using the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) approach, we undertook a systematic mapping review, of empirical studies published internationally between 2008 and 2018. Our objectives were to explore researchers’ and research participants’ conceptualisation of transitions, the conceptual framework used by the researchers and their discourse about transitions. Of the 96 studies included in this systematic mapping review, most had not clearly defined transition, and even when conceptualisation was explicit, it did not underline the research design or frame the findings. Most researchers adopted previously used theoretical frameworks.These theoretical frameworks can be beneficial; however, as the researchers did not adapt or develop them in the context of transitions research, it limits a meta-theoretical understanding of transitions. Further, the majority did not report study participants’conceptualisation of transitions. Similarly, a large number of researchers adopted a negative discourse about primary-secondary school transitions, with some using a mixed discourse and only two papers had a primarily positive discourse. This systematic mapping review is original and significant as it is the first study to provide a review of school transitions ontology and offers unique insights into the conceptual and methodological gaps that international transitions researchers should address.

Both parents matter. Family-based educational inequality in Italy over the second half of the 20th century

Research on educational inequalities, as well as social stratification research in general, has since long conceptualized and operationalized social origins using parental status, in particular their occupational position and/or educational achievement. The theoretical rationale is that an individual’s social position depends on his/her household. As a matter of fact, often in actual research practice only paternal characteristics have been used, either on theoretical grounds or using the so-called “dominance” coding. Such a practice is not tenable today, when women systematically outperform men in educational achievement and where their labour market partecipation has dramatically raised. The paper shows how father-based and single-parent codings systematically bias the estimates of inequality of educational opportunities (IEO), particularly concerning its trend over time. It studies systematically how different codings of social origins, by including or excluding relevant information, change the empirical results of models of IEO for the Italian case. It uses survey data from three waves (1998, 2003 and 2008) of the MultiPurpose Survey carried out by the Italian National Institute for Statistics (Istat), in order to compare the fit and the parameters estimates for the association between parental education and educational achievement of a set of logit models of IEO and of its trend over time, where different measurement strategies of social origin, as indexed by parental education, are used. This is done for two school transitions, namely achieving at least upper secondary and achieving tertiary, including all post-secondary titles. We also compare the magnitude of the effect of parental social class and education, confirming the latter to be stronger than the former. Results show that models where social origin is measured including information concerning both parents reproduce the data better than models relying on one parent only. The dominance approach underestimates the association between parental education and respondent's education when parents have a similar educational title, while it overestimates it when a wider education gap is found between parents. In particular, a “full interaction” coding, exploiting all available information by considering all combinations of maternal and paternal education, provides the best fit for models of the transition to upper secondary education, while concerning the transition to a tertiary title the “reduced interaction” coding, which does not consider the dominant parent in non-homogamic parental couples, is statistically equivalent to the full interaction one. Our analysis shows that including both parents significantly changes the resulting evidence concerning the trend of IEO over cohorts: models using the interacted coding of social origin, exploiting all available information, show a clearer picture of a declining IEO over time, this decrease being mostly determined by the offspring of low-educated parents and of those parental couples where the maternal educational level is dominant with respect to the paternal one.

Effortful Control and Extensive Observations of Negative Emotion as Joint Predictors of Teacher–Student Conflict in Childhood

ABSTRACT Studies with extensive observations of real-life emotions at school are rare but might be especially useful for predicting school-related outcomes. This study evaluated observations of negative emotion expressivity in lunch and recreation settings across kindergarten, first grade, and second grade (N = 301), kindergarten teachers’ reports of children’s effortful control, and kindergarten and second grade teachers’ reports of their perceived conflict with children. In latent growth curve analyses, we tested whether individual trajectories of negative expressivity from kindergarten to second grade, based on estimated slopes, predicted teacher–student conflict in second grade, and whether effortful control in kindergarten moderated this association. Research findings: Negative expressivity levels in kindergarten significantly predicted higher levels of teacher–student conflict in second grade, controlling prior teacher–student conflict. Furthermore, greater increases in negative expressivity from kindergarten to second grade were associated with higher teacher–student conflict in second grade especially for children who had difficulties with effortful control in kindergarten. Practice or Policy: Results from this study have the potential to inform programs focused on reducing teacher–student conflict. The findings highlight the possibility of targeting both effortful control and negative emotion in the early elementary school transition as a means to improve teacher–student relationships.

Understanding the Needs of Ontario Educators in Supporting Students With Acquired Brain Injury in the Classroom.

When a child sustains an acquired brain injury (ABI), the impact extends to significant environments in their life, including school. Educator knowledge of ABI can influence a child's success with academic and social reintegration. An assessment of educator ABI knowledge was conducted to determine what information they require to support school reintegration. A mixed-methods approach included a sampling of educators in a needs assessment survey and workshop. The survey determined levels of educator knowledge regarding ABI in the classroom, and the workshop scoped educator views in the development of a user-driven ABI learning program to enrich their expertise. Our sample reported being somewhat knowledgeable about ABI and the impact on students. There were no differences based on respondents' educational role. Teachers reported having minimal and inadequate supports for students following ABI during school transitions, feeling unprepared to assist students during these transitions, and that families also appeared unprepared for school reintegration following ABI. The workshop identified the need for a 2-part educational course. Supportive school environments are essential for the reintegration of students following ABI. This study identified educators' needs for ABI knowledge and resources to support their existing expertise.

Communities Speak Up: Supporting the K-12 School Transitions of Students with Autism

Abstract Few studies use a strengths-based perspective to identify strategies that support K-12 school transitions for historically minoritized families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the present study, university researchers partnered with community stakeholders (e.g., disability advocates, community health organizations, etc.) in minoritized communities to examine the school transitions of children with ASD. We sought the experiential knowledge of racially, linguistically, economically, and geographically minoritized parents in the United States (n = 45) and the providers servicing these communities (n = 75) using dialogue groups and individual interviews about school transitions for children and adolescents with ASD. Applying a framework of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), we identified the transition practices these families describe as supportive, and the types of community capital families engaged during the transition process. Supportive transition strategies included school tours and visits, meetings and workshops, transition tools, and skills development. Social and support networks in school and community also bolstered transition success. Implications for school practice include developing formal structures for information sharing across the transition and developing partnerships with community-based organizations that already serve these communities.