Academic transitions occur at regular intervals throughout an individual’s educational career and represent changes that are often presented as disruptive. The challenges of these changes have been well documented: the move from primary education to secondary at age 11, for example, encompasses a number of significant factors linked to the new environment, including (very often) a much larger building, more teachers, the need to move from classroom to classroom, new rules and different academic and behavioural expectations.
These challenges have been compounded in the past two years by the pandemic, with the majority of students missing substantial amounts of time in the classroom with their teachers and peers. Students who moved into year 7 in the academic year 2021-22, for example, would not have had a “normal” school year since year 4; for learners who transitioned to year 12 in college or sixth-form, year 9 was their last uninterrupted year.
