An analysis of pupil concerns regarding transition into higher education.

Transitioning to higher education is often a stressful experience, with incoming students facing similar issues year after year. This chapter presents two years of data collection regarding the concerns of Computing secondary school pupils when considering their upcoming transition into the first year of higher education. Over the two-year period, it can be seen that pupils continue to demonstrate concerns regarding topics related to money, jobs and course achievement as opposed to those related to environment or social issues. The consistency between relative areas of concern over the two years is striking, further suggesting that an understanding of these issues might help higher education institutions to better support their incoming students

What makes a successful transition from primary to secondary school?

This report presents the findings of a sub-study on transitions undertaken as part of the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education 3-14 (EPPSE 3-14 project) a major longitudinal study investigating the influence of pre-school, primary and secondary school on children’s cognitive and social/behavioural development in England. The transitions sub-study of more than 500 children and families sheds light on current transition practices and highlights what helps and hinders a successful transition. It takes into account the influence of child and family background characteristics such as socio-economic status (SES) and gender. It suggests how the transition experience could be improved to enhance the smooth continuity between primary and secondary school. By adopting a mixed methods approach, the study investigated the issues related to transition for four distinctive groups: Local Authorities, children, parents and schools. Officers in six Local Authorities were asked about the way transition was dealt with in their Authority. Children in their first term at secondary school completed a questionnaire on their thoughts and experiences of transition, and the study also sought their parents’ opinions in order to illustrate the whole family’s experience. Finally, there were twelve case studies selected from the respondents of the questionnaire because of their positive experiences of transition. These involved interviews with the children and their primary and secondary teachers. This provided further details of the systems in place that support the transition processes between school phases. The sample was drawn from children and families in the wider EPPSE project. 1190 children from the EPPSE sample made a transition at the end of the 2005-06 academic year. Responses were received from 550 children (a 46% response rate) and 569 parents (a 48% response rate) from across England drawn from 6 Local Authorities (Shire County, Inner London borough, Midlands/Metropolitan region, East Anglia area, and two authorities in the North East). Children were recruited to the case studies using stratified selection to get a balanced mix by region, gender, socio-economic status (SES) and ethnicity. A wide range of data, already available from the main EPPSE study was used to complement the analyses

Curriculum architecture - a literature review

The analysis of almost 400 abstracts, articles, books from academic sources, policy documents and the educational press has been undertaken to attempt to illuminate the concept of Curriculum Architecture. The phrase itself is not current in the Scottish educational discourse. This review has attempted to look at the international research literature, available over the past ten years or so, on the sub-themes identified in the SEED specification