Primary to Secondary Transition (England)

Cathy Growney

The transition from primary to secondary school is fraught with educational, sociological and psychological difficulties (Jindal‐Snape et al., 2020 and Galton and McLellan, 2016). It is a wide concern that pupils underachieve in their early stages of secondary education and some even regress (Evans, Borriello and Field, 2018). In England, most initiatives, developed to ease the process, are concerned with pupils’ social and pastoral needs, academic records, and administration. The content of academic records is usually little more than standard attainments and additional teacher assessments of writing, speaking, and listening and science.

The curriculum area of Design and Technology suffers from continuity problems between the primary and secondary stages. It is unlikely that records relating to primary pupils’ experience, capabilities and attainment are conveyed to secondary schools (Benson, 2009 and Dakers and Dow, 2004). Additionally, in D&T in secondary school, pupils experience new differences in culture, curriculum area approaches and learning styles and environments (Kimbell and Stables, 2008).

There are many barriers and pitfalls to effective transition but also effective strategies to address the short-comings and improve the flow of Design and Technology experience, achievement and attainment.

According to Growney (2023), the key strategies depend on primary-secondary partnerships that employ:

  • Joint CPD opportunities
  • Effective and meaningful liaison
  • Interphase collaborative planning and assessment

Growney (2023) discusses the requirement of Year 6 and Year 7 teachers to collaborate to ameliorate primary-secondary design and technology. Suggesting that teachers ask:

  • What transition strategies are available?
  • Can they be realistically instigated?
  • Should strategies favour the pastoral concerns of pupils or academic concerns?

References

Benson, C. (2009) Working together: primary and secondary teacher liaison. In Arien Bekker, Ilja Mottier, Marc J. de Vries (eds) Strengthening the Position of Technology Education in the Curriculum, Proceedings PATT-22 Conference Delft, the Netherlands, August 24-28, 2009

Dakers, J. and Dow, W. (2004) The Problem with Transition in Technology Education: A Scottish Perspective. Journal of Design and Technology Education. 9(2), pp.116-124. https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/JDTE/article/view/689

Evans, D., Borriello, G. and Field, A (2018) A Review of the Academic and Psychological Impact of the Transition to Secondary Education. Frontiers in Psychology. 9 p.1482. 

Galton, M. and McLellan, R., 2018. A transition Odyssey: Pupils’ experiences of transfer to secondary school across five decades. Research Papers in Education, 33(2), pp.255-277.

Growney, C., 2022. Transition between primary and secondary school. In: A. Hardy (ed) Debates in Design and Technology Education (pp. 178-193). Routledge.

Jindal‐Snape, D., Hannah, E.F., Cantali, D., Barlow, W. and MacGillivray, S., 2020. Systematic literature review of primary‒secondary transitions: International research. Review of Education, 8(2), pp.526-566.

Jindal-Snape, D., Hannah, E.F.S., Cantali, D., Barlow, W. and MacGillivray, S., 2020. Systematic literature review of primary‒secondary transitions: International research. Review of Education, 8 (2), 526-566.

Kimbell, R., and Stables, K., 2008. Researching design learning: issues and findings from two decades of research and development. London: Springer. 

OFSTED (2015) Key Stage 3: The Wasted Years. London: OFSTED

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