Trust for the Study of Adolescence

Children’s transition from primary to secondary school is a key issue for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. A growing body of literature is now available, which demonstrates the wide range of new experiences that children face at this time. Children go from being the oldest to the youngest in their school, move around for lessons, have a number of different teachers instead of one, and start to be given increased amounts of homework. The literature also shows that, whilst for many children the transition is a smooth one, many other children find it difficult and problematic. Further, many practitioners identify the transition to secondary school as a key intervention point, with a link to later risk-taking and exclusion. Finally, the literature demonstrates that the transition to secondary school is also a key time for parents, with little information and support available to them at this time.

During the last few years, TSA has become aware of an increase in the number of projects and interventions, that are designed to support children and/or parents during the transition period. It became clear to us that many of these projects are only known about in local areas, and there is considerable ‘re-inventing of the wheel’. TSA therefore decided to undertake a UK-wide review of transitions projects. The results of this review are detailed in this summary, and in detail in the final report on the project. The aim of the review was to find out what types of projects are in existence, what their objectives are, how they are funded, and what issues they face in providing transition support to children and/or parents. The review was funded by a grant from the Tudor Trust.

The review was undertaken between September 2002 and July 2003, as follows:

First, we produced a flyer, requesting information about any projects or initiatives that aimed to support children and/or parents during the transition to secondary school. This flyer was sent to a very wide range of local and national organisations, representing schools, the youth service, social services, and a range of statutory and voluntary bodies. In total 199 flyers were returned.

Second, all of these projects were then either sent a self-completion questionnaire, or were interviewed over the telephone. The questions asked in the two methods were the same. The questionnaire asked about the history of the projects, their aim/s, type of project or activity, the numbers of children and/or parents reached, funding, longevity, staffing, and issues faced by the project providers.

Completed information was received from 125 projects. The projects represented all four countries of the UK, although the greatest number of projects were located in Scotland, the south-east, and the north-west. Further information about the projects that responded is given below.

Types of support offered
Half of the 125 projects were ‘general’ projects, which included a focus on the transition period as part of their work with families. The remaining half were focussed solely on providing support during the transition to secondary school. Over 60% of the projects provided support to children and parents, 34% to children only, and 6% to parents only.

Aims of the projects
Most of the 125 projects had a diverse range of aims. The three most common aims were to promote a smooth personal/emotional transition for children (34% of total responses), followed by a smooth curriculum/academic transition (15% of responses), and to improve children’s confidence and self-esteem around the transition (15%).

Types of activity undertaken
The types of activity provided within the projects were extremely variable, with many offering more than one type. The four main types of support provided were: information and materials (23% of responses), group work (20%), one-to-one help and support (19% of responses), and organised visits to secondary schools (15% of responses). In addition some projects offered summer camps and activities, home visits, mentoring, and peer support.

Whether projects are open to all or targeted
In total, 50% of the projects were open to any child/parent who wished to take part, and 50% were targeted at certain groups or limited to particular groups. Of those which were targeted, half of these projects were aimed at children who it was thought were at risk of finding the transition difficult. The remainder of targeted projects were mainly focussed on children with special educational needs, or on parents experiencing particular difficulties themselves or in their relationship with their children.

Longevity of projects
Most of the projects had not been in existence very long. One third had been running for five years or more, with another third only having started the year before. The projects focussing on the transition specifically (rather than those providing general support which included a transition element) were much more likely to have been recently set up.

Those running projects and collaboration with other services
A wide range of organisations were involved in running these transition projects, including schools, LEAs, educational bodies, and statutory and voluntary bodies. Two-third of the projects said that they ran their project in collaboration with other organisations. The most common collaborators were a school (18% of responses), community-based projects (13%), social services (13%), community health (13%), and the Local Education Authority (12%).

Funding of the projects
The majority of the projects (88%) had specific funding for their work. These projects were funded by a range of agencies, including the Children’s Fund, the DfES, Barnardos, and LEAs. Many of the projects received support from more than one funder. There was also a difference between the projects in terms of the longevity of their funding. In total, 39% of the projects received on-going funding, 29% had time limited or project specific funding, and 19% received occasional or one-off funding. The remaining projects received their funding in other ways.

Length of projects
There was considerable variety in the period that the projects focussed on. Just under half of the projects started in Year 6 and continued into Year 7, with 17% taking place in the summer term of Year 6 only. Other projects took place at variable times, or were one-off events.

Materials used in transition projects
The majority of the projects in the review (78%) used materials of some kind in their work. These included a specific book, programme or video (40% of responses), materials or resources produced by the project itself (38%), or materials produced by QCA or as part of the National Curriculum (7%). In terms of these materials, there were a very wide range of resources being used, and no one material was used more commonly than any other.

Monitoring and evaluation of projects
Two-thirds of the projects said that they collected information about those who used their projects, including social backgrounds, gender, and ethnicity of users. The vast majority of the projects also stated that they had monitoring or evaluation procedures in place to judge the success of their work. Just over a third of the projects (38%) said that they had developed their own system of evaluation. Others used monitoring systems such as having external evaluators, and systems developed by Ofsted and Best Value.

Hard-to-reach groups
Just under half of the respondents (45%) said that their project did have some children or parents who were hard to reach. The most commonly mentioned groups were vulnerable and disadvantaged families (23%), and Black and minority ethnic families (17%). In addition projects mentioned traveller families, families with disabled children or those with special educational needs, and non English speaking parents.

Difficulties faced by project providers
The projects were asked whether there were any aspects that made it difficult for them to provide their transition projects. Over two-thirds of the projects (69%) replied that there were things that made it difficult for them to run their projects. The main responses were getting ongoing funding for their work (36%), and providing training and support to school or project staff (24%). Additional issues raised by some projects included: a lack of awareness or appreciation of transition issues, school staff being overwhelmed, and securing parental consent for children to take part in projects.

The results of this UK-wide review have demonstrated, among other things, that there is now a burgeoning range of projects to support children and parents during the transition to secondary school. We do not claim that this survey represents all the projects taking place in the UK – clearly there are many more. However, the survey does demonstrate the growing importance of supporting children and parents through the transition to secondary school. A number of recommendations are made as a result of this survey:

• There is a clear consensus that children, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged children, need information and support at this key transitional point. It was significant that in this survey a large proportion of projects were new, and had been set up with funding from government. This is very welcome. However, it is clear that more work needs to be undertaken in this important area, in particular because of the relevance of this time for the prevention of future risk-taking and exclusion. The transition to secondary school is now recognised as a key opportunity to support children and their families, and to prepare for the adolescent period.
• The majority of transition projects that are currently available are aimed at children. In this survey only 6% of projects focussed on information and support to parents. More support need to be provided to parents at this time.
• Many long-established and successful projects struggle to secure funding for their work. Increased funding needs to be directed at this vital area.
• Whilst anecdotal and preliminary evidence suggests that many of these transition projects are effective, there is no firm evaluation data available. Rigorous and long-term research is needed to establish the effectiveness of these different types of transition support projects.
• There is insufficient information-sharing between practitioners and policy-makers in relation to the transition to secondary school. Many projects are started by organisations from scratch, with little opportunity to build on the learning from already existing projects. There is thus considerable ‘re-inventing of the wheel’ in relation to transition support. A network of practitioners and policy-makers working in this area is essential.

Julie Shepherd and Debi Roker
Trust for the Study of Adolescence
October 2003