Educational Transitions

"(From the Executive Summary...)
Introduction
This report presents the findings of an evidence review designed to summarise what is known about good practice concerning the content of, and access to, the school curriculum for students with special educational needs. The review focused on post-primary settings where the issue is particularly pertinent; the focus of education shifts from being student-centred at primary level to being much more subject-focused in post-primary settings.

The research team delivered two literature reviews: one national, one international. Each was designed to draw out key issues around curriculum and access to the curriculum for students with special educational needs – including gaps and trends in the evidence base – to help the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) plan its future research agenda.

The project aims to:
* deliver a narrative review of research from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to identify key issues and themes within the area of curriculum and/or curriculum access at post-primary level for students with special educational needs relevant to the Irish context
* deliver a systematic review of the international literature on these priority themes for students with special educational needs at post-primary level
* summarise key findings from the reviews to enhance understanding of curriculum issues in order to assist the NCSE to plan further empirical research as necessary, and to formulate policy advice on the matter to the Minister. "

This paper adds a different dimension to the educational borrowing, lending, and transfer literature by examining the consequences of educational reforms that are implemented under dictatorships and their lasting impacts. In using Tunisia as an example, we assess the effects of the 2008 Licence-Maitrise-Doctorat ([LMD] Bachelor-Master-PhD) reform under Tunisia's former dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (from 1987 to 2011). The use of coercive transfer and subsequent implementation of LMD reforms by Ben Ali's government were in response to the creation of the European Higher Education Area in 1999 under the Bologna Declaration, which was adopted by twenty-nine European countries. The justification for the indirect coercive transfer of the Bologna model was to ensure the quality of higher education, to encourage student and teacher mobility, to facilitate both the equivalence of diplomas and young people's integration into the labor market. In what follows, we seek to construct a typology of the consequence of wholesaling adopting a reform without tailoring it to the local needs. In this typology, we account for the processes of policy mobilization, local articulation and ownership, structural factors, and path dependency by discussing the power relations through which indirect coercive transfer occur. In doing this, methodologically, we use a comparative-historical approach to Tunisia's higher education policy discourse. Theoretically, we seek to advance the literature of indirect coercive transfer by concluding as to the different factors that should be considered in North-South policy borrowing and transfer.

This case study analysis of the one Further Education College's  Student Mentoring Scheme, prepared by the Institute for Access Studies, Staffordshire University, presents an analysis of data drawn from focus group interviews with first and second year students on academic and vocational courses during the academic years 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

This is the re-edited version of published work which allows it to be more accessible to a broader audience.

Fostering positive relationships with students and families is vital for the students’ academic lives to be fruitful, meaningful and successful. Teachers need to work on establishing these positive relationships. In the following I address to parents and staff how to produce positive relationships between teachers and students: and teachers with students’ parents. I delve into my personal engagement and feedback practices. Finally, Real-life examples and problem-solving strategies.

This paper explores challenges in ensuring effective student transition from school or college to university. It considers the significant social displacement involved in students’ creation of new learner identities. It examines the complex liaison needed for students to progress to appropriate degree courses, settle in to university life and succeed as higher education learners. Secondary data are drawn from analysis and synthesis of international literature on transition to higher education and the formation of learner identity, to identify key concepts. Primary data are taken from two studies of student transition in North-East England using student and staff surveys, student focus groups, staff interviews, and staff/student conferences which discussed selected project data sets. The analyses of secondary and primary data are used to model the process of transition and the formation of learner identity. The modelling process identifies organizational influences from school, college and university which contribute positively to learner growth. These are: personal contact, multiple opportunities, clarity of structure, apposite information, accessibility of people and curriculum, purposeful liaison, and the awareness of the individual within the process. Research into the process of student transition to university is mainly small-scale and the field is under-conceptualised. This paper synthesizes issues from a number of studies, including longitudinal and meta-studies where available, to identify key concepts and issues. These issues are then modelled in relation to current empirical data. Through this approach, the paper seeks to enhance organisational learning about student transition and provide conceptual thinking for the field.

This article uses a social generations approach to explore the lives of
young people transitioning to life after schooling. Drawing on
ethnographic research in England during the geopolitical
uncertainty of 2016–2017, we track the trajectories and narratives
of six individuals. The research begins with final year pupils in
schools talking about their futures, during and after their A-Level
exams. We then follow these individuals on routes to Higher
Education and employment, exploring how they are socialised into
imaginings of the future and/or struggle to inhabit these futures. A
deeply ingrained, modernist, neoliberal reckoning of future time is
normalised through experiences of schooling. However, this logic is
troubled profoundly in the transition to life after school. Young
people’s experiences in an unpredictable present run in stark
contrast to the ordered trajectory of future action they have been
socialised to expect. Amidst this uncertainty, ambivalence towards
shaping the future (‘Fuck It, Shit Happens’) can in some ways feel
like the most agentic stance to take. Furlong et al.’s (2011) social
generations approach to understanding youth transitions reveals
how we must critique the very concept of ‘the future’ if we are to
understand the reality of youth transitions in the present.

The purpose of this study was to understand how the unique social, historical, cultural, and Indigenous knowledge contexts of Aboriginal communities in British Columbia shaped high school to university transitions for Aboriginal youth. To this end, the Northwest Coast bentwood box acted as a metaphor that framed the theoretical inquiry and methodology for this study, which examined four Aboriginal Early University Promotion Initiatives (AEUPI) and three Aboriginal University Transition Programs (AUTP) in British Columbia. In addition, I utilized Archibald’s (2008) storywork and Kirkness and Barnhardt’s (1991) 4Rs of Indigenous methodologies, with an additional 5th R (relationships). The study also drew upon Martin Nakata’s (2007) concept of the cultural interface, to analyze 32 interviews conducted with Aboriginal youth, and faculty and staff from the AEUPIs and AUTPs.
Key findings from the Aboriginal youth in this study suggest that learning about university through real-life experience offered by the initiatives/programs was meaningful. Second, both the AEUPIs and AUTPs provided youth with concrete opportunities to explore future academic and career pathways. Third, ensuring that the youth were provided with opportunities to develop relationships with positive Aboriginal role models in the university was seen as a success factor. Fourth, the AEUPI youth shared stories about the important leadership skills they developed as role models and mentors to younger youth in the initiatives, which in turn assisted them with their visioning process for university. Fifth, the students’ sense of belonging at university was fostered by relationships with AEUPI and AUTP staff, Indigenous student support staff, Elders, and faculty. Sixth, the AEUPI youth overwhelmingly agreed that the experiences they had in these initiatives led them to feel wholistically successful. However, the AUTP youth had a conflicting experience. Ultimately, insights from the youths’ stories suggest that the future of AEUPIs and AUTPs is a promising one if universities take heed. To this end, all participants in the study critically detailed how Canadian universities can apply a wholistic conception of the 5 Rs to Indigenous high school to university transition programs.

Pretende-se, neste artigo, analisar as opções escolares e profissionais constitutivas dos projectos de futuro de alunos do 9.º ano de escolaridade. Considera-se que estes emergem de um campo de possibilidades onde elementos como os recursos socioeconómicos, a escola e as redes de sociabilidade formam um quadro dinâmico, específico e determinante, cuja abordagem permite ultrapassar a perspectiva individual e de livre arbítrio que se tende genericamente a atribuir às escolhas escolares, bem como aos projectos de futuro. A observação destas dimensões, nomeadamente no que mais directamente diz respeito à escola, conduz à construção de uma tipologia interpretativa dos projectos identificados.

The transition of children from preschool to primary school is considered one of the most critical periods of childhood. For this reason, in recent years, great emphasis has been given on children's successful entrance in primary education. The purpose of this paper is to record the opinions of Greek teachers on which children are more likely to experience difficulties in their transition to the next educational level. The survey was carried out on a sample of 1,602 teachers from the entire Greek educational territory. The tool that was used was a questionnaire of closed-ended questions. It was also analyzed how their responses varied according to their job position (preschool teachers, primary school teachers and school directors). Teachers believe that the most important factors that are related to the successful transition of children to primary school include the socio-emotional development and the interpersonal relationships of children in preschool, their good relations with teachers, their ability to follow the rules of school, but also parents' trust towards teachers.

Educational transitions experienced within a context of
wide and growing inequalities such as England result in
very different transition experiences to those experienced
by young people growing up in relatively equitable societies
with strong communal links. Transitions of working
class young people in England are beset with competition,
individualism and low expectations. Employing Pierre
Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, the article
argues that working class transitions to university reveal
the failure of the English educational system to
provide anything like a level playing field to support working
class young people who are seen to be educational
successes. Focusing on those working class young people
who are particularly successful by gaining access to elite
universities the paper argues that even this small select
group face discrimination, set‐backs, and a degree of social
exclusion. The paper concludes that the vast majority of
working class young people, including many of those who
are the most academically successful have very different
transitions to higher education, and experiences within it,
from their middle and upper class peers.

The collection of the preceding contributions to this volume are evidence of the multiple challenges faced by students and teachers-practitioners in South Africa’s linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. Chief amongst them is the inadequate development of many students’ literacy and academic language proficiency, manifested in dismal reading scores and matriculation results. While challenges inherent in multilingual classrooms are a staple of schools throughout the world, one uniqueness of the South African scenario resides in many students’ having to switch to new languages of instruction at successive levels of their education.
This concluding chapter commences with a succinct portrayal of the language policies in the country and its education system, and a critical synthesis both of the multiple transitions during the scholastic process and the educational challenges inherent in the system. The subjective selection of issues deemed most vital and critical in the education landscape of the Motherland will then expand into a discussion of school realities and challenges that are not exclusive to South Africa, but which are experienced by all countries and educational institutions bringing together people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Since this is by no means a given in mainstream language policies and practices, we shall subsequently present the rationale behind the maintenance, development, and principled in-class use of students’ home (and other) languages and dialects. Such considerations beg the question of an appropriate course of action. One that naturally presents itself as well-suited in this context is the theoretical stance, set of communicative practices, and pedagogical approach that have collectively been referenced under the umbrella term of translanguaging. The philosophy is explicated, followed by proposals of compatible techniques and strategies for linguistically diverse classrooms, as well as a set of additional recommendations which, whilst not pertaining to the translanguaging ideology per se, are believed to be potentially relevant to and beneficial for South African and other heteroglossic classroom contexts.
Although the concept of translanguaging has now gained world recognition and popularity in the scholarly literature and among teachers ‘on the ground’, its interpretation and implementation are by no means without problems and limitations. The chapter concludes with recommendations of critical, reflective plurilingual pedagogies that always take into account the circumstances and ecologies of the classroom and the subjectivities of the students.

This paper focuses on what a lesson study cycle revealed about students’ understanding of what it is to ‘do mathematics’ within the curriculum content strand of shape and space in both primary and post-primary school settings. The process of lesson study allows teachers augment their mathematical and pedagogical skills for teaching the mathematics curriculum by refining their goals throughout the process and focussing on what and how children learn mathematics. This paper explores changes in geometric task properties as implemented by the students in both a primary and post-primary school. The capacity for building mathematical thinking and reasoning, when focussing on geometric tasks as set up by teachers, is considered. The first part of the paper provides evidence for the rationale behind electing to study the mathematical content strand of shape and space. The second section addresses the task features and cognitive demands as the lesson passed through the lesson cycle from post-primary to primary students. Finally, factors that facilitated or impeded the effectiveness of the task in question and implications of these for future teaching of mathematics across transitions are considered.

Progression and continuity are cornerstones of the National Curriculum for England and yet it seems these slip after pupils transfer to secondary school, causing pupils to regress in science. Part of the solution is to provide continuity with challenge without repeating what has already been experienced and achieved. This article describes bridging work in science and how it was received by pupils, with some suggestions on how to get the most out of these approaches.

This ex post facto, nonexperimental quantitative study is set within a midwestern PK-16 school-to-work context.  Partners create school to career planning and the mechanisms that allow opportunities for students to move efficiently across educational levels.  In partnership NTC  in Wausau, Wisconsin and area K-12 schools have awarded to high school students in the north-central region of Wisconsin, with thousands of hours of transcripted college credits. 
This study analyzed the impact of dual enrollment through longitudinal data.  The objective of this study was to facilitate better understanding of the utilization and delivery of dual credit courses and degree completion rates at Northcentral Technical College.  Findings are summarized concerning credits earned per student and their enrollment in post-secondary education at NTC.  Additionally, the study highlights degree completion comparison between students who received transcripted credit and those entering the college without having earned transcripted credit.

The Research Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT) was commissioned by the Student Opinion and Survey Group (SOSG) at Newcastle University to conduct a survey of all first year undergraduate students at Newcastle University in March 2010. The purpose of the survey was to gain some insight into the transition experiences of first year students at Newcastle University including their pre-arrival and induction experiences. Additionally, students were asked to assess their overall first year experiences so far and their experiences of teaching and learning and engagement.

The project addressed the following criteria:• Increased knowledge of the secondary and higher education environment and better knowledge of what student expectations are (e.g. study into pre-entry expectations; opportunities for Newcastle lecturers to meet secondary school teachers and share knowledge)• Increased knowledge of both how school students learn and what they learn (curriculum). Transition issues, with the resultant satisfaction and retention of students, are a current focus across the University; this project is designed to promote wider understanding of these issues and to enable strategies to address them. It enables synthesis and dissemination of what is already known, and identification of areas of current and potential future good practice.

Economic pressures and a challenging labor market have placed a higher value on obtaining a master's degree and increased the financial difficulty students have in earning one.  While a master's degree experience is somewhat short in tenure, typically two to three years in length, the ramifications of students' financial management decisions during this period can last a lifetime.  The financial reality students face can be difficult to cope with and can affect their academic performance, physical and mental health, and the overall stability of their future.  The researcher investigated the financial conditions that master's degree students face, the financial aspects that cause them the most concern during graduate school, and the methods universities are utilizing to address these financial circumstances.

This article provides an approach to understanding the widely acknowledged difficulties experienced by young people in the transition from pre-16 to post-16 mathematics. Most approaches to understanding the disenchantment with and drop-out from AS-level mathematics focus on curriculum and assessment. In contrast, this article looks at the role of relationships, taking a psychosocial approach. It draws on data from a three-year qualitative study into why young people choose mathematics. It argues that educational practitioners and policy makers are responding to stories of failure and drop-out by excluding more people from access to mathematics. There is less and less room for difference within our mathematics classrooms. This happens because of the ways that discourses around mathematics fix how we think of the subject, who can learn it and what kind of relationships are possible between learners and mathematics. Instead the article argues for unfixing these through policies and pedagogies of difference.

There is a growing body of literature which marks out a feminist ethics of care and it is within this framework we understand transitions from primary to secondary school education can be challenging and careless , especially for disabled children. By exploring the narratives of parents and professionals we investigate transitions and self-identity, as a meaningful transition depends on the care-full spaces pupils inhabit. These education narratives are all in the context of privileging academic attainment and a culture of testing and examinations. Parents and professionals, as well as children are also surveyed. Until there are care-full education processes, marginalisation will remain, impacting on disabled children's transition to secondary school and healthy identity construction. Moreover, if educational challenges are not addressed, their life chances are increasingly limited. Interdependent caring work enables engagement in a meaningful education and positive identity formation. In school and at home, care-full spaces are key in this process.

Die Untersuchung von schulischen Übergängen hat eine lange Tradition in der soziologischen Bildungsforschung (vgl. Maaz, Hausen, McElvany & Baumert, 2006). Zur Erklärung der von Eltern und Lehrern gemeinsam getroffenen Bildungsentscheidung wird dabei überwiegend auf die Ansätze von Boudon und Bourdieu sowie Rational-Choice-Modelle zurückgegriffen. Der vor-liegende Beitrag nimmt dagegen einen meist unberücksichtigten Akteur ins Visier, indem die Rolle des Schülers bei der Wahl der Schulform im Anschluss an die Grundschule untersucht wird (vgl. Wohlkinger, 2014). Vor dem Hintergrund von Manuela du Bois-Reymonds (1994) Theorie vom Verhandlungshaushalt wird angenommen, dass Kinder von ihren Eltern immer größe-re Mitbestimmungsrechte an familiären Entscheidungen eingeräumt bekommen. Ob und inwieweit dies auch bei der Über-gangsentscheidung am Ende der Grundschule zutrifft, wird anhand der an bayerischen und sächsischen Grundschulen durch-geführten Längsschnittuntersuchung KOALA-S überprüft. Mithilfe der Unterscheidung von Konsens und Dissens zwischen Eltern und ihren Kindern und unter Berücksichtigung von Lehrerempfehlungen, Schulleistungen, Herkunftsmerkmalen und Erziehungseinstellungen wird herausgearbeitet, dass Schüler tatsächlich einen Einfluss auf die Bildungsentscheidung ausü-ben. Für bayerische und sächsische Schüler zeigt sich dabei ein unterschiedlicher Beteiligungsgrad.

This chapter explores the inter-related themes of transition and lifelong learning. Overall, it argues that in effect, the status of adulthood has undergone a re-structuring and fragmentation as a result of the idea of lifelong learning, as well as the policies and practices associated with it.  I start by considering policy approaches to lifelong learning and transitions. I then summarize certain selected ways in which social science has sought to understand transitions, and in particular how researchers have tried to understand transitions in our fluid and mobile society. I then try to draw out some implications for our appreciation of the part that learning – formal and informal – can play and might play in supporting individuals facing transitions. The chapter concludes with a few suggestions on possibilities and prospects for the future.

En aquest article es pretén dibuixar els perfils i les trajectòries sociolingüístiques dels canvis en les tries lingüístiques dels adolescents en la transició de l'educació primària a la secundària. Amb l'objectiu d'identificar les principals trajectòries i els lligams amb els factors sociodemogràfics i sociolingüístics que els acompanyen. Les dades es presenten a partir d'una anàlisi clúster que agrupa els individus segons els canvis en les seves trajectòries individuals.

Abstract: This article aims to draw the profiles and sociolinguistic trajectories of the changes in adolescents' language choices in the transition from primary to secondary education. The aim is to identify the main trajectories and the links with sociodemographic and sociolinguistic factors that accompany them. The data will be presented from a cluster analysis that groups individuals according to the changes in their individual trajectories.

This exploratory paper considers the concept of generation in the context of learning across the life course. Although researchers have often found considerable inequalities in participation by age, as well as strongly articulated attitudinal differences, there have so far been only a handful of studies that have explored these patterns through the perspective of generational formations. The paper is primarily conceptual, exploratory and reflective, setting out a number of approaches to the concept of generations, most of which derive largely from debates with the ghost of Karl Mannheim; it then considers how these concepts of generation have been applied to understandings of educational inequalities in recent research in Germany and the Nordic nations. It then examines the dynamics of inter-generational relations in learning, drawing on research undertaken as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. The paper argues that although inter-generational dynamics are a relatively neglected dimension of Anglophone research on life chances and learning, there is a strong case for understanding their dual roles in both inequality and cohesion. It concludes by outlining some themes and areas for further investigation in the future.

Las transiciones a la educación postobligatoria son un elemento clave para comprender las desigualdades educativas y sociales. La elección de los estudios postobligatorios por parte de los y las jóvenes está mediada por patrones de desigualdad social, así como por sus trayectorias y experiencias escolares previas. Partiendo de este marco, este artículo responde al objetivo de comprender de qué forma las trayectorias escolares de los y las jóvenes en la etapa de la educación obligatoria contribuyen a explicar sus elecciones acerca del itinerario postobligatorio. Más allá de un análisis que incorpore los factores descriptivos de las trayectorias escolares-como la repetición de curso o el rendimiento académico-el análisis incorpora también las experiencias de los y las jóvenes en su paso por la escuela. Para ello se utilizan los datos de un cuestionario reali-zado durante el curso 2018-2019 a N=1318 jóvenes en su primer curso de educación postobligatoria. Se ha realizado un análisis factorial y un posterior análisis de conglomerados-clúster-, que resultan en la construcción de cuatro tipos de trayectorias escolares: los/as «buenos/as», los/ as «esforzados/as», los/as «liantes/as», y los/as «desplazados/as». Los resultados muestran cómo estas trayectorias escolares, mediadas por el origen social, influyen en las elecciones postobligatorias. En definitiva, el artículo pone de relieve la importancia ejercida por la trayectoria escolar y aporta una nueva evidencia a la desmitificación de la retórica existente sobre la «libre elección» en la transición a los estudios postobligatorios. Palabras clave Transición educativa, trayectoria escolar, experiencia escolar, educación postobligatoria, elección postobligatoria.

Upper Sixths and Higher Education is the latest contribution by the HMC/GSA Universities Committee to solving the university transition quandary: how to close the gap between student expectations and experience. What are our students’ intentions? What do they expect from the university experience? And where do these expectations come from?

Transition is a bridge between the security and structure offered by the school and the risks of life. (Will, 1984, p. 2) Transition issues, with the resultant satisfaction and retention of students, are not necessarily limited to what schools and Local Authorities can do, however, and there is an emerging body of evidence which explores transition process, to support and encourage students going into higher education, e.g. Yorke and Longden (2007) and Harvey and Drew (2006). Some research places itself within the Widening Participation agenda and explores the experiences of working class students (Crozier et al., 2008). Transition (and successful transition at that) is a current focus across Newcastle University, which has recently funded several projects through strategic funds to explore what it is that Universities need to do and what it is that students need and want. This paper brings together the findings from three research projects which focus on transition and induction from school to University.

In psychologischen Kreisen wird nicht selten offen bezweifelt, dass die universitäre Psychologie dem heutigen Menschen überhaupt etwas zu sagen hat, und daher gefragt, ob sie insgesamt noch brauchbar ist (vgl. Bačová 2000). Es wird auf die mit Staub bedeckten Regale der Psychologie-Literatur vieler Universitätsbibliotheken hingewiesen, während andererseits das Interesse für Philosophie, Anthropologie, Literatur und Kunst anhaltend lebendig scheint (vgl. Kvale 1992). Die Infragestellung nicht nur der Hauptströmungen der psychologischen Forschung, sondern auch der psychologischen Fundamentalbegriffe und -kategorien wird dabei von Psychologen als ein Problem der traditionellen ontologischen Bestimmung der psychischen Realität wahrgenommen.

In recent years, extensive research has been carried out concerning the transition of children from preschool to primary school. However, little has been done in Greece. The purpose of this paper is to record the opinions of Greek teachers regarding which children are to experience difficulties in their transition to the next educational level. The survey was carried out on a sample of 1,602 teachers from the entire Greek educational domain. The tool used was a questionnaire consisted of closed-ended questions. It was also analyzed how their responses varied according to their gender and job position. Teachers believe that children with behavioral problems, learning difficulties, low self-esteem and discipline problems in the classroom, are at greater risk of experiencing a difficult transition. On the contrary, they do not consider that the gender of the children, their age and the area they live in, have a significant impact on their transition from preschool to primary school.

This article examines the post-school pathways of Russian-speaking students in Ireland after completing secondary education; the importance of personal and institutional factors in shaping their transition process, and the role of parents and schools in achieving the post-school goals. The article draws on the qualitative exploratory study of 14 Russian-speaking migrant-origin students, to see how this group progresses beyond secondary schooling in the Irish education system. The study found that all participants had high educational aspirations. Most students achieved their desired first-choice post-school pathway, despite coming from a different linguistic and cultural background. The article points to a range of factors, which affect the post-school transition of migrant young people. The findings are discussed in light of Ireland's liberal welfare state model with neo-liberal tendencies where those in positions of power can buy into the advantages of the more neo-liberal side of the regime.

The transition of children from Preschool to Primary School is considered as one of the most critical periods of childhood and it is a dynamic and evolving process, which lays the foundations of the subsequent school years. However, this smooth transition aims not only at the academic success of children / students, but also at their socio-emotional development, which is part of the complex path of learning that contributes to the process of educational and personal development. In this study we have looked into the views of 1602 preschool and primary school teachers about the importance of children's social skills development for the smooth transition from Preschool to Primary School. The teachers give priority to the development of the students' social skills, related to behavior and good communication, while they evaluate the acquisition of academic knowledge by children as a minor factor. From the individual social skills of the children given, they are all marked as important during their transition from Preschool to Primary School. Teachers hierarchize as the most important, knowledge, respect for the rules and for the play or work of others, the ability to wait for their turn, and share and follow instructions from adults.

Using merged data from three databases, this study makes a statistical analysis of the impact of social origin (SO) on educational achievement and occupational attainment of higher education graduates in Colombia (n=16 899). The families' socioeconomic status and schooling level are distinguished as two separate mechanisms through which the SO determines the following interrelated factors: (1) academic achievement; (2) the type of educational institution; and (3) the individual's income in the formal labor market. Results suggest that SO has a significant impact on educational outcomes during secondary school but also at higher educational levels and in the later transition into the world of work. They point out that SO operates directly through the socioeconomic status and parental education, whose effects are particularly strong on the academic achievement at secondary education. SO also operates indirectly, through the segmentation of educational paths, on the academic achievement during university studies and on income.

This article addresses educational transitions under conditions of multiple insecurities. By analyzing empirical data of two research projects with youths in Afghanistan and refugee students in Austria, we show how young people make sense of the social and educational inequalities they encounter on their educational pathways within different national, socio-political, and institutional contexts. We present in-depth analyses of two cases to elaborate how young people in different parts of the world conceive of their futures when basic security needs are not met, and how they make sense of the social and educational inequalities they face during their transition processes. After living through repeatedly fractured perspectives, young people have to make sense of their biographical experiences and continuously (re)design their plans while facing uncertain futures. In the Afghan Youth Project, we reconstructed a collective-and morally charged-biographical orientation of future plans. This orientation can also be understood as a critical response to persistent fragility and inequality and suggests an imagined generational hold and sense of belonging. In the Austrian project Translating Wor(l)ds, we reconstructed continuing experiences of educational exclusion, marginalization, and devaluation in different migration societies throughout refugee routes. Educational transitions, which can be challenging for all young people, take on special relevance under these conditions. Combining biographical and socio-psychological research perspectives allows us to reconstruct educational processes as cumulative, non-linear processes and to reveal the ambiguities, contradictions, and ruptures woven into them, as well as the subjects' constructions of sense and agency.

Secondary schools in Italy are highly segregated by social and migratory background: immigrant students, especially of first generation, are over-represented in technical and vocational schools. Previous studies found that immigrant/native differentials in track choice persist after controlling for social background and school grades. The Italian case seems therefore to contradict the pattern of ‘positive secondary effects’ documented in other European countries with a longer history of immigration. Our paper asks whether this anomaly is confirmed when considering recent student cohorts and adopting a more comprehensive measure of student achievement. We focus on the case study of Turin, a large northern city that has undergone substantial international immigration flows since the 1980s. Our analyses rely on a dataset collected by the school-guidance service of Turin municipality (COSP-Arianna), which covers the whole population of 8th graders for the school year 2017/18 (N=6,046) and contains rich information on students’ background, school performance, cognitive skills, motivations, and attitudes. By linking this dataset with school administrative records, we are able to reconstruct student trajectories from the spring of 7th grade to the fall of 10th grade, matching initial track intentions, track recommendations, enrollment decisions, and outcomes in the first year of secondary schooling. While we lack direct information on immigrant generation, we use the extremely poor command of Italian language as a proxy of recent arrival.
Our findings indicate that native students of privileged social background are by far the most ambitious group. Once accounting for compositional differences, especially in terms of previous achievement, secondary effects to the disadvantage of lower-cultural capital natives persist, while second-generation immigrants stand out as more ambitious than native peers with similar social background, in line with the international literature. Interestingly, between-group differences do not seem to result from biased school guidance, but rather from different compliance behaviors with respect to the recommendations, which in our context are provided by public school-guidance professionals in accordance with teachers. This is in contrast with previous findings on teacher-assigned recommendations and warrants future research on the role of professional guidance to reduce inequality. In our next step of analyses, we will investigate whether the ambitious choices taken by immigrant students place them in a more precarious situation in terms of school failure during secondary schooling or whether, in contrast, their higher aspirations are able to protect them from such risks.

Objectives: To understand the social construction of the starting school transition within England.

Method: Ethnographically followed a group of 12 British primary school children, through their first year of formal education whilst simultaneously interviewing parents to understand how the transition was being constructed from the families’ perspectives.

Findings: Emerging themes showed that the transition was socially constructed with many events being categorised using Gore’s (1998) discursive power categories.  Furthermore, the power imbalances found were entrenched in the developmentalism discourse that has plagued the notion of childhood for many years.

Conclusions: Practitioners need to be more aware of how the transition is discursively constructed as this will allow a better understanding to develop that will be of benefit to all children and families.

A recent surge in private companies offering “skill and drill” school-readiness programs has been likened to “kindy bootcamps” by the media.

These programs typically run for one hour a week (with fees in the range of A$40 an hour) for small groups of around five children aged between two and five.

The programs are often housed within companies that also offer tutoring to school-age children. They are not regulated or accredited, as child care, preschool and kindergarten full-time programs are.

Parents with disposable incomes seem to be seeking out these add-on programs to ease their anxieties about their child’s future academic achievement and competitive entry into elite schools.