School students’ confidence when answering diagnostic questions online

In this paper, we analyse a large, opportunistic dataset of responses (N = 219,826) to online, diagnostic multiple-choice mathematics questions, provided by 6–16-year-old UK school mathematics students (N = 7302). For each response, students were invited to indicate on a 5-point Likert-type scale how confident they were that their response was correct. Using demographic data available from the online platform, we examine the relationships between confidence and facility (the proportion of questions correct), as well as gender, age and socioeconomic disadvantage. We found a positive correlation between student confidence and mean facility, higher confidence for boys than for girls and lower confidence for students classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged, even after accounting for facility. We found that confidence was lower for older students, and this was particularly marked across the primary to secondary school transition. An important feature of the online platform used is that, when students answer a question incorrectly, they are presented with an analogous question about 3 weeks later. We exploited this feature to obtain the first evidence in an authentic school mathematics context for the hypercorrection effect (Butterfield & Metcalfe J EXP PSYCHOL 27:1491–1494, 2001), which is the observation that errors made with higher confidence are more likely to be corrected. These findings have implications for classroom practices that have the potential to support more effective and efficient learning of mathematics.

“Please Miss, Please!”: An observational study of young people’s social and emotional experiences post-transition to secondary school

The secondary school transition is considered a critical life event by practitioners and researchers alike, and the challenges presented by the pupils during this transition continues to be high-profile in educational, social and political contexts. This study focused on Year 7 pupils aged 11 to 12 years old in their first year of secondary school. Classroom observations of around 120 pupils using an open framework recording procedure offered real-time insights into the everyday lived experiences of these adolescents. The paper illustrates the skills and behaviours that children brought to their secondary school transition, and as such reveals how the transition should be perceived as both an event and a social and emotional learning process. The findings of this study highlight the challenges of flexibility and diversity within peer networks after the move to secondary school and the impact the transition can have on the pupils’ sense of self. The analysis is discussed in terms of implications for schools, practitioners and researchers with suggestions for further studies with this under-researched and vulnerable group.

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.

Evaluating a universal emotional-centred intervention to improve children's emotional well-being over primary-secondary school transition

The transition from primary to secondary school is a critical period for children, which, for most children involves stress and anxiety (Jindal-Snape et al., 2020). If negotiated poorly, this transition can have a significant negative impact on children’s short- and long-term well-being and mental health (White, 2020). Despite this, efforts to improve children’s emotional experiences of primary-secondary school transition are minimal in research and face challenges in practice. Very few interventions focus on supporting children’s emotional well-being and these are limited in number, sustainability, and reach. Talking about School Transition (TaST) is a universal, emotional-centred teacher-led support intervention, which was developed to fill this gap in the literature. The evaluation of TaST consisted of a longitudinal questionnaire-based design investigating the efficacy of TaST in improving 143 Year 6 (aged 10 and 11 year old) children’s coping efficacy and adjustment. It was assessed using the outcome variables: Emotional Symptoms, Peer Problems, Coping Efficacy and Transition Worries, in addition to a qualitative process evaluation. Results suggest that TaST had immediate positive implications for participating children who showed a significantly greater reduction in Transition Worries once at secondary school, compared to control group children. TaST has implications for educational practice and policy in elucidating the importance of supporting children’s emotional well-being over this period and demonstrating the viability and success of implementing emotional-centred support intervention in practice.

The power of everyday peer relatedness in predicting subjective well-being and adjustment after secondary school transition

Secondary school transition represents a challenging life event. This study examines 108 children (M=10.11 years, SD=0.44) in Germany during the first 12 weeks at the new school. Daily satisfaction and frustration of the basic need for relatedness were examined as predictors of subjective well-/ill-being and adjustment/psychopathology. Subjective well-/ill-being were assessed at weeks 3-4 and week 11 of the school year. In between, there was a 4-week period of daily assessments of perceived relatedness satisfaction and frustration. Teachers indicated each child’s psychological adjustment/psychopathology (e.g., emotional symptoms) in weeks 11-12. Daily relatedness satisfaction was associated with increases in positive affect from weeks 3-4 to week 11, while daily relatedness frustration was linked to an increase in negative affect and school anxiety. Furthermore, daily relatedness satisfaction was negatively linked to teacher-reported emotional symptoms and peer problems at weeks 11-12, and daily relatedness frustration was positively associated with teacher-reported conduct problems and hyperactivity-inattention. German AbstractDer Übergang an die weiterführende Schule stellt ein kritisches Lebensereignis für viele Kinder dar. Diese Studie untersuchte 108 Kinder (M=10.11 Jahre, SD=0.44) in Deutschland innerhalb der ersten 12 Wochen nach dem Übergang ans Gymnasium. Tägliche Erfüllung und Frustration des Bedürfnisses nach sozialer Zugehörigkeit in die Klassengemeinschaft dienten als Prädiktoren der Verläufe kindlichen Wohlbefindens sowie psychologischer Anpassung/Psychopathologie. Subjektives Wohlbefinden wurde in den Wochen 3-4 sowie in Woche 11 des Schuljahres erhoben. Dazwischen berichteten Kinder über 4 Wochen hinweg täglich ihre wahrgenommene soziale Eingebundenheit und Ausgrenzung in der Schule. Lehrkräfte berichteten die psychologische Anpassung/Psychopathologie jedes Kindes in den Wochen 11-12. Tägliche soziale Eingebundenheit ging mit einem Anstieg des positiven Affekts von Woche 3/4 zu Woche 11 einher, während tägliche soziale Ausgrenzung Anstiege des negativen Affekts und der Schulangst vorhersagte. Höhere soziale Eingebundenheit hing mit geringeren Lehrkraft-berichteten emotionalen Symptomen und Problemen mit Gleichaltrigen zusammen, während höhere soziale Ausgrenzung stärkere Verhaltensprobleme und Hyperaktivität-Unaufmerksamkeit vorhersagte.