Call for Articles: Primary-secondary school transitions

Guest Editors: Dr Charlotte Bagnall, Dr William Barlow, Professor Divya Jindal-Snape and Dr Jennifer Symonds

Abstract deadline: 30th April 2022
Submission deadline: 30th June 2022

Young people experience a number of normative transitions, including school transitions, such as primary to secondary school transitions. Primary-secondary school transitions have received significant empirical attention over the years, and in recent years have been the subject of increasing attention in policy and the media. This is unsurprising, as coupled with primary-secondary school transitions often being the first transition that the young person will make alone, as young people move from one school to another they develop socially, emotionally, behaviourally, and academically, as they adjust to changes in the school environment, social contexts, in addition to negotiating developmental transition and systemic transition. These encounters can include making new friends, getting to know new teachers, learning about new pedagogies and assessment ethos, and discovering new buildings and grounds, which can be both exciting and worrying, which can vary across time, and are susceptible to individual differences. Furthermore, group transitions such as primary-secondary school transitions, are also experienced by other people in the young person’s ecosystem including teachers and families, who undergo transition related changes of their own, which can interact with young people’s experiences.

Given the importance of primary-secondary transition experiences for young people’s short- and long-term well-being and adjustment, this special collection will aim to address key gaps in the literature, leading to international and interdisciplinary perspectives and the identification of recommendations for future research, policy, and practice. The focus is on different theoretical and conceptual perspectives, thus offering new insights into the expectations, experiences, impact and outcomes for individuals and significant others such as families, peers, and teachers.

Key questions which articles could address include:

• How has primary-secondary school transition been conceptualized and theorized?
• What is the evidence base for factors contributing to a positive or negative primary-secondary school transition?
• What is the evidence base for the outcomes of a positive or negative primary-secondary school transition?
• What is the relationship between educational, social, psychological and/or cultural transitions related to the move to secondary school?
• What are the links between transitions of the young person and significant others (e.g., families, professionals, peers)?
• What is the evidence base for primary-secondary school transitions support interventions?

We welcome contributions from authors from different disciplines and sectors. We are especially interested in collaborative research involving young people and families, academics, professionals, and policy makers. Articles could be based on literature reviews, empirical studies, analysis of key policies/legislation, or secondary data analysis, using qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method designs.

Submitted articles should comply with the journal author guidelines and submission procedures. The articles can take various forms, for example, texts, multi-media.

Please submit your abstracts to IJELT_P-S@dundee.ac.uk by 30th April. Should your abstract be selected you will be asked to submit the full article by 30th June, where it will undergo peer review.