School Transition Research Articles

Transnational cultural capital in migrant youth’s school transitions: mobility trajectories between Ghana and Germany

ABSTRACT Research on migrant youth’s school transitions has focused on the country of residence, ignoring migrant youth’s pre-migration lives in the country of origin. Drawing on 14 months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork between Ghana and Germany, this paper instead analyses school transitions through migrant youth’s mobility trajectories, encompassing all geographic moves and concurrent family constellations over time and space, both before and after migration. A mobility lens shows how resources gained in the country of origin – including confidence, discipline, respect, and adaptability – help migrant youth navigate their school transitions in the country of residence, thus becoming forms of transnational cultural capital.

Ordeal or opportunity: IDPS journey through COVID-19 pandemic

Learning outcomes This case enables students to understand the nature of a typical crisis and manage a crisis drawing insights from the protagonist handling of the crisis and from the various crisis management models in the literature. The rich description of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the world in this case enables students to understand the nature of a typical external crisis. The critical appraisal of the protagonist’s plans and actions to overcome the crisis enables students to appreciate the various crisis management frameworks or models. In addition, students get perspectives about the leadership skills and competencies required during a crisis. In this way, students will not only learn about the theoretical concepts related to the crisis but also the practical know-how to effectively handle the crisis. Case overview/synopsis This case study describes the functioning of the International Delhi Public School (IDPS) Akhnoor, Jammu, and Kashmir, India, through the COVID-19 global crisis. The IDPS academic operations were disrupted because of the COVID-19 global crisis in March 2020. The protagonist, KCS Mehta, the school principal of IDPS, faced with the crisis, takes various steps to ensure the smooth transition of school’s academic operations from the physical mode to the online mode. This case explains the nature of an external crisis that completely crippled the organization’s day-to-day operations and how the organization’s leader tried to manage the crisis to revitalize the organization’s operations. The case can be used for teaching of alternate Models of Crisis Management and Change Management. Complexity academic level The case is developed to teach the courses of Executive training programs and MBA programs in business schools. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Stability of social support during school transitions: Associations with truancy and not completing upper secondary education in normative time

Not completing upper secondary education is often presignaled by truancy from school. Student-perceived social support from family, peers, and teachers can prevent truancy and the risk of not completing education. However, prior studies have not focused on the stability of social support across school transitions. This longitudinal study of 1901 Finnish students examined the extent to which social support was stable or specific to primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools. Moreover, we examined whether support was associated with not completing upper secondary education in normative time and whether truancy mediated the relationship between support and not completing education. The analyses showed that most variance in social support was context-specific; family and peer support was related to truancy and not completing education; and truancy acted as the mediator. The findings underscored the importance of stable social support over school transitions in reducing the likelihood of truancy and not completing education.

Parents' perceptions of children's emotional well-being during spring 2020 COVID-19 restrictions: A qualitative study with parents of young children in England.

BackgroundDuring COVID‐19 restrictions in England in spring 2020, early years settings for young children were closed to all but a small percentage of families, social contact was limited and play areas in parks were closed. Concerns were raised about the impact of these restrictions on young children's emotional well‐being. The aim of this study was to explore parents' perceptions of young children's emotional well‐being during these COVID‐19 restrictions.MethodsWe interviewed 20 parents of children 3–4 years due to begin school in England in September 2020. Interviews were conducted via telephone (n = 18) and video call (n = 2), audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interviews focused on childcare arrangements, children's behaviour and transition to school. A sample of transcripts were coded line by line to create a coding framework, which was subsequently applied to the remaining transcripts. Coded data were then analysed using a nurture lens to develop themes and further understanding.ResultsParticipants were predominantly mothers (n = 16), White British (n = 10) and educated to degree level (n = 13), with half the sample living in the highest deprivation quintile in England (n = 10). Five were single parents. Three themes developed from nurturing principles were identified: creating age‐appropriate explanations, understanding children's behaviour and concerns about school transition. Parents reported that their children's emotional well‐being was impacted and described attempts to support their young children while looking ahead to their transition to primary school.ConclusionsThis study is one of the first to examine in‐depth perceptions of COVID‐19 restrictions on young children's emotional well‐being. The longer term impacts are not yet understood. Although young children may be unable to understand in detail what the virus is, they undoubtedly experience the disruption it brings to their lives. The well‐being of families and children needs to be nurtured as they recover from the effects of the pandemic to allow them to thrive.

An Exploratory Study Examining Student Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Across School Transitions

While there is evidence suggesting school-based transitions impact student mental health and academics (Lester et al., 2013), it is unknown how these transitions specifically impact the domains of social, academic, and emotional behavior, as measured via the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS). The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between school-based transitions and teacher ratings of student SAEBRS scores in a midsize, suburban school district. Using paired t-tests and McNemar’s test we examined changes in SAEBRS scores and benchmark risk levels across grade level changes and school-based transitions. SAEBRS scores decreased significantly from 8th to 9th grade (school-based transition) in the total, academic, and emotional subscales, although risk level did not increase significantly during this transition. In contrast, SAEBRS scores increased significantly in each subscale as students transitioned from 7th to 8th grade (no school-based transition). Implications for research and school psychology are discussed. Impact Statement Findings from this study confirm students transitioning to high school experience academic and emotional behavior risk, as observed by teachers. In contrast, students transitioning from the middle grade in their school to the top grade (e.g., 7th to 8th grade) experienced improvement in social, academic, and emotional behavior. Therefore, school psychologists can focus school-based mental health efforts on equipping students with the socioemotional skills and academic enablers to cope prior to the transition to high school.

Primary to secondary school transition of learners with traumatic brain injuries in the Cape metropolitan area: A learner perspective

AIM: This study explores the lived experiences of adolescent learners with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) from a low to middle-income context when they transition from primary to secondary school. An understanding of the insider perspective of this school transition process sought to illuminate the factors that facilitate or hinder learners' primary to secondary school transition. METHOD: An interpretive phenomenological research design was used. Four participants were purposively selected. The data collection method included semi-structured face to face interviews. Data were analysed inductively using Burnard's Framework. Four themes emanated from the data including: changes in functioning; personal resources; enabling external support structures and gaps in support structures. RESULTS: For learners with TBI, there are factors that facilitate a positive primary to secondary school transition including them drawing on personal resources and the support that they receive from enabling external support structures. Barriers to the school transition following a TBI, include the changes in physical, mental, and social functions that impact on adolescents' ability to fulfil their learner role as well as gaps in the provision of support within the multi systems within the learners' environment. CONCLUSION: Members of the multidisciplinary team, should adopt a learner-centred approach for interventions that seeks to prepare and support learners with TBI for their primary to secondary school transition. Planning the primary to secondary school transition should seek to prepare the learner, and those in the learner's context.

Standing on Your Own Two Feet: An Examination of Singaporean Trainee Teachers’ Perceptions of the Primary-To-Secondary School Transition

Standing on Your Own Two Feet: An Examination of Singaporean Trainee Teachers’ Perceptions of the Primary-To-Secondary School Transition

Children’s Media Use: Does It Matter for Social Adjustment during the Early School Transition?

Children’s Media Use: Does It Matter for Social Adjustment during the Early School Transition?

The UMass Chan Medical School's Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research unveils new LGBTQIA+ resource webpage

The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School's Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research unveiled a new LGBTQIA+ resource webpage featuring resources and important tips for mental health care professionals to use in providing culturally competent care for LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults. For additional information, visit https://www.umassmed.edu/TransitionsACR/resources/culturally‐competent‐mhc‐to‐LGBTQIA.

Activity Behaviors in British 6-Year-Olds: Cross-Sectional Associations and Longitudinal Change During the School Transition.

BackgroundTo explore activity behaviours at school entry, we describe temporal/demographic associations with accelerometer-measured physical activity in a population-based sample of British 6-year-olds, and examine change from age 4-6.Methods712 6-year-olds (308 at both ages) wore Actiheart accelerometers for ≥3 (mean 6.0) days. We derived minutes/day sedentary (<20cpm) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA, ≥460cpm), also segmented across mornings (06:00-09:00), school (09:00-15:00) and evenings (15:00-23:00). Using mixed-effects linear regression, we analyzed associations between temporal/demographic factors and children’s activity intensities at age 6, and change between ages 4-6.Results6-year-old children engaged in mean(SD) MVPA: 64.9(25.7) minutes/day (53% met UK guidelines). Girls did less MVPA than boys, particularly during school hours. Children were less active at weekends (vs. weekdays) and more active on spring/summer evenings (vs. winter). Longitudinally, 6-year-old children did less LPA (-44.7 [95%C.I.:-49.9,-39.6] minutes/day) but were more sedentary (30.0 [24.5,35.5]) and engaged in greater MVPA (7.6 [5.6,9.7]) compared with when aged 4.ConclusionHalf of 6-year-old children met current activity guidelines; MVPA levels were lower in girls and at weekends. UK children became more sedentary but did more MVPA as they entered formal schooling. PA promotion efforts should capitalise on these changes in MVPA, to maintain positive habits.

Children's anxiety, academic self-efficacy, and intergenerational transmission of worries regarding the transition to middle school.

Worries about school transition were related to poor academic adjustment during middle school. However, limited studies simultaneously investigated individual and contextual factors that may shape the children's reaction related to transition. The first aim of this present study was to assess how children's anxiety and academic self-efficacy, including the parents' worries about school transition, are related to children's worries regarding the transition from primary to middle school. Our second aim was to explore the moderating role of children's academic self-efficacy in the relation to children's anxiety symptoms and children's worries. A sample of 292 fourth-grade children (Mage =10.43; 53.4% girls) completed scales assessing their anxiety, academic self-efficacy and worries about the transition to middle school. Parents also filled out a scale assessing the worries regarding their children's transition from primary to middle school. The results show that children's anxiety is positively related to their worries about the transition to middle school, whereas children's academic self-efficacy is negatively related to their worries. Parents' worries regarding their children's school transition are positively related to their children's worries regarding the transition. Furthermore, academic self-efficacy moderates the relation between children's anxiety and their worries about school transition. Children with lower levels of anxiety reported lower worries for the transition when their academic self-efficacy was higher, whereas children with higher anxiety reported higher worries for school transition at every level of self-efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for successful school transition are discussed.

Patience Is a Virtue: Theory of Mind Longitudinally Predicts Children’s Delay during School Transition

ABSTRACT Four- to seven-year-old children participated in a battery of tasks assessing their theory of mind, conflict inhibition, and delay at time 1, and theory of mind and delay one year later at time 2. Cross-lagged analysis revealed that earlier theory of mind predicted later delay after controlling for earlier conflict inhibition and theory of mind, child age, and family socioeconomic status. The findings highlighted the dynamic nature of the association between theory of mind and delay during the school transition years in its strength and direction, and the increasing specificity in the structure of executive function with age.

Transitions scolaires et accès à l’université au Québec

La structure de l’enseignement supérieur varie d’une société à l’autre, ce qui affecte les parcours éducatifs. Ainsi, au sein de certaines sociétés comme le Québec, il est nécessaire de réaliser deux transitions, la première entre le secondaire et l’ordre ultérieur, le collège d’enseignement général et professionnel (cégep), et la seconde entre ce dernier et l’université. Cette structure incite à se demander comment les différents facteurs sociaux, culturels et éducatifs interviennent dans l’accès aux différents ordres d’enseignement. Ont-ils un impact similaire sur l’entrée dans les deux ordres ? Nos résultats montrent des différences dans l’influence des divers facteurs selon les types de programmes.

What, who, and when? How social networking achieves online digital engagement in an architectural design studio

Engagement is integral to design education; thus, the purpose of this work is to examine how engagement can be maintained digitally, using prevalent social networking tools, to support architectural education in the post-pandemic narrative. This study utilizes a quantitative methodology using inferential statistics to analyze observable online digital engagement on a social networking platform, used as part of a hybrid architectural design studio. The platform’s purpose was to overcome time and distance limitations impinged onto traditional studio set-ups. This research aimed at deciphering the intricacies of “how” digital engagement manifested on the platform, by analyzing engagement from the “what,” “who,” and “when” dimensions, throughout a 16-week semester. Digital engagement manifested in two forms: pro-active and re-active. Pro-actively creating posts evoking emotions or soliciting responses was likely to garner re-active engagement. Attachment inclusion was likely to yield engagement in the form of likes, particularly when the attachment was an image. Increased instructor involvement was associated with greater digital engagement. Findings also illustrate how the platform extended the studio’s temporal boundaries, while aligning with its design activities. Results underline best practices to be adopted in design studio teaching as architecture school transition to online and/or hybrid design education, while acclimatizing to realities of the post-pandemic era. The proposition of a 12-point classification for analyses of interactions occurring on social networking platforms in architectural contexts also adds value, as it may be adopted in future research.

Towards occupational resilience: A model to facilitate high school participation post traumatic brain injury.

This article describes the model components of a study that applied a two-phased approach towards the development of an occupational resilience model. The occupational therapy practice model that is proposed seeks to facilitate high school re-entry and school participation post traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study's first phase generated results on participants' experiences of high school re-entry and school participation post TBI. These findings contributed to the second phase of developing a practice model to improve upon school transition practice for learners post TBI. The study's first phase comprised a qualitative multi-case study of eight cases. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, participant and contextual observation, and document analysis. Data analysis was performed via an inductive process combined with cross-case synthesis. Phase 2 employed theory generation, suggesting an occupational therapy practice model for facilitating high school participation post TBI. Participant responses revealed, following the onset of the TBI, a need for adolescents to display resilience in order to re-participate in school. This was displayed by adolescents adapting through drawing upon personal and environmental resources as well as preparing for and engaging in occupation. A deeper understanding of the experiences of key role players involved in the school transition post TBI, combined with theory generation, formed the basis of developing the proposed model of occupational resilience. Occupational resilience, through a series of resilience-promoting tasks, is offered as a mechanism to increase learners' capacity to adapt to occupational challenges and meaningfully participate in school post TBI.

Exploring factors of successful transition to elementary school among children with autism spectrum disorder in Japan: a focus group study

Introduction: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face numerous challenges in transitioning to elementary school, which can cause confusion for the children and concern among their parents. Aims: This study aimed to identify the process of school transition from kindergarten to elementary school for children with autism spectrum disorder in Japan, by evaluating the effectiveness of a school transition program. Methods: A focus group interview was conducted with seven parents who participated in a transition program. They were asked about communication with the teachers, support obtained from the school, and their experiences after their children entered elementary school. After the group interview was recorded and transcribed, the data were analyzed using inductive content analysis to determine the parents’ experiences of the school transition process. Findings: Six main themes emerged from the focus group interview: acquisition of prerequisite skills, adjustment in dealing with children with ASD, communication between school and home, communication between peers and children with autism spectrum disorder, collaboration with special needs education teachers, and the principal’s understanding of special needs education. Conclusion: These findings provide an overview of the challenges and possible solutions to support school transitions for children with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive educational environments.

Students’ Inattention Symptoms and Psychological Need Satisfaction During the Secondary School Transition: The Protective Role of Teachers’ Involvement

Objective: This study examined the prospective relationship from student inattention symptoms to changes in their psychological need satisfaction (PNS) during their transition to secondary school. In doing so, it has explored whether this temporal association was moderated by teachers’ involvement (TI). Method: A sample of 688 students (46% male; Mage = 11.82) followed in Grade 6 and Secondary 1 was selected from a stratified random list. Results: Inattention symptoms predicted a decrease in autonomy and competence need satisfaction, after adjusting for gender, anxiety, aggression, and PNS at baseline. In addition, TI in Secondary 1 attenuated the association between inattention and autonomy need satisfaction decline. TI also predicted a smaller decrease in competence need satisfaction, over and above the contribution of inattention. Conclusions: Results support the importance of TI in PNS of students who are struggling with inattention throughout a critical transition. Implications for educational practices and research are discussed.

The intertwined evolution of sexual harassment victimization and emotional problems among young people

AbstractAssociations between sexual‐harassment victimization and emotional problems are well‐established. Still, the nature of this association, including the temporal order of the construct as well as whether it plays out on the between‐ or within‐individual level is far from being understood. The aim of this study was to examine reciprocal links between sexual harassment victimization and emotional problems over time in early and mid‐adolescence by separating between‐individual from within‐individual effects and by testing the moderating effect of ethnicity and gender. In the study, we made use of three waves of data with 1515 Swedish adolescents (50.6% girls, age 12.59 years at T1). Cross‐lagged within‐individual analyses showed that sexual harassment and emotional problems were related in a transactional manner. Gender, but not ethnicity, moderated the associations. The associations differed in early and mid‐adolescence, perhaps because of normative school transitions. The findings have high theoretical value as it is on the within‐individual level that the causal processes between being sexually harassed and experiencing emotional problems unfold. The study makes a unique contribution to the literature on sexual harassment and mental health among young people by revealing transactional associations on the within‐individual level during a critical period for psychological and sexual development.

Making all the right moves: Clinician-led development and pilot of an evaluative toolkit for a community-based school readiness group program

Introduction Children often present to occupational therapy with delays in pre-school occupations, with underlying skill deficits. If unaddressed, deficits may affect adjustment to school, jeopardising educational progress. Although evidence supports group-based interventions, evaluation can be time-intensive and expensive. We developed and piloted an evaluative toolkit to measure and report outcomes for short school readiness groups. Method We sought measures that were inexpensive, reliable and responsive to change in key domains. Skills and pre-school occupations were measured in children [ n = 58; mean = 5 years] before and after our school starters group program. Parents rated their children’s skills, school readiness and level of school-related anxiety. Results Our resource-efficient, multi-measure, skills-based evaluative toolkit reliably recorded changes in children’s performance in our school readiness program. Measures were adapted for groups. Children demonstrated improvements in skills important for successful school transition pre-post program; including static and dynamic balance, pencil grasp/control, pre-writing/drawing skills and name writing. Parents’ confidence in their child’s readiness for school increased, while school-related-anxiety decreased. Conclusion The evaluative toolkit proved responsive to change and showed excellent inter-rater reliability. Measures were practicable for groups, easy to administer and score, and engaged parents in their child’s progress. In our six-session School Starters group, important pre-school skills were improved in participating children.

Changes in 24-Hour Domain-Specific Movement Behaviors and Their Associations With Children's Psychosocial Health During the Transition From Primary to Secondary School: A Compositional Data Analysis.

Little is known about the influence of 24-hour movement behaviors on children's psychosocial health when transitioning from primary to secondary school. This study described changes in 24-hour domain-specific movement behavior composition and explored their associations with changes in psychosocial health during this transition. Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The analytical sample (n = 909) included children who were enrolled in primary school at baseline (2010) and in secondary school at follow-up (2012). Time spent in 8 domains of movement behaviors was derived from the child-completed time-use diaries. Psychosocial health was examined using the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires. Analyses included repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance and compositional regression. Children reported engaging in more social activities and sleeping less over the transition period. Increased time spent in social activities (βilr = -0.06, P = .014) and recreational screen use (βilr = -0.17, P = .003) (relative to other domains) were associated with decreased prosocial behavior in boys. Changes in movement behavior composition were not associated with changes in girls' psychosocial health. This study found considerable changes in children's 24-hour movement behavior composition, but a lack of consistent association with changes in psychosocial health during the primary to secondary school transition.