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Moving from the world of the known to the unknown:The transition from primary to secondary schoolPamela Green aa Lectures at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Language and Literacy Education,as well qualitative research methodologyPublished online: 26 Jan 2010.

To cite this article: Pamela Green (1997) Moving from the world of the known to the unknown: The transition from primary tosecondary school, Melbourne Studies in Education, 38:2, 67-83, DOI: 10.1080/17508489709556301

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Moving from the World of the Known to the Unknown:The Transition from Primary to Secondary School

Pamela Green

Historically, in places like Australia, North America and the United Kingdom, schoolingis divided into sections. This means that students face a number of transitions as theyproceed through their formal schooling. Goodall makes the point that such transitionscan be viewed as rites of passage in the sense that they are 'events marking a further stepin each persons growing-up process'.1 For most students transition involves a process ofadaptation to each new context and die demands incurred there. In Victoria, most studentsmake a number of transitions, namely the move from kindergarten to primary school,the transfer from primary to secondary school, and the shift from secondary school totertiary education and/or the workplace.

This article focuses on the move from primary to secondary school and draws onmy doctoral work which documents die experience of transition and the literacy-relateddemands of a group of students in an outer western suburb of Melbourne in Victoria,Australia. Ten students were tracked for two years from one primary school as they madetheir ways to their respective secondary schools (five in total). The study used primarilyqualitative mediods, including interviews (58 in all, with students, parents and teachers),field notes (observations), and document/ artefact review. At the inception of the researchit was intended that the main focus of the study would be the literacy demands involvedin the transition from primary to secondary school.2 However, as the complex nature oftransition unfolded, the focus of the study widened to include the psychological andsocial aspects of transition. These aspects of the psychosocial context include studentexpectations, peer pressure, and student attitudes to school in general. Such issues arepresented within this article. The task of the article is direefold. Firstly, the problematicnature of the transition journey is briefly highlighted. Secondly, a close-up of die experienceof one student is presented, and finally, a number of key issues pertaining to thepsychosocial context of transition are examined.

1. J. Goodall, 'Leap into the Unknown or All in their Stride? Transition — Years Six to Seven', English inAustralia, vol. 56, 1981, pp. 34.

2. Note that the term 'primary school' is adopted in this article and refers to the first seven years of formalschooling (Prep Year to Year 6) as they occur in Victoria. While this term is preferred in this context,some research, especially from the United States of America, utilises the term 'elementary school' in analmost synonymous way. Likewise, the term 'secondary school', which refers to the second phase ofschooling (Year 7 to Year 12 in Victoria), is used. However, other terms, such as high school or post-primary school, emerge from the literature and should be seen as largely interchangeable terms. Theterm 'middle school' is also found in the literature and usually refers to the last two years of primaryschool and the first two years of the 'traditional' secondary school (Year 5 to Year 8 in Victoria).

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The Problematic Nature of Transition

Levin suggests that transition can be seen as moving from the world of the known to theworld of the unknown.3 While it is apparent that there are some similarities betweenprimary and secondary school, overall, students in transition must contend with, adaptto and learn about many differences. In this sense, students in transition move from theknown (primary school) to die unknown (secondary school). Overwhelmingly die researchinto die transition from primary to secondary school highlights the problematic natureof transition. Studies from beyond Australia point to the problematic nature of thetransition journey, at least in the short-term.4 While die literature from within Australiais relatively sparse, die findings concur widi those from overseas and point to the issue ofincongruence or a lack of continuity in terms of die curriculum: organisation, content, aswell as teaching and learning processes.5 Overall, die studies on transition generally relyon quantitative data derived from large scale survey methods and attitudinal scales.Qualitative methods are not commonly used. Furthermore, few Australian studies havefocussed on the perspectives of students in transition.6 The study presented here differswidi respect to these latter points, and uses qualitative methods to provide evidence

3. D.M. Levin, Pathologies of the Modem Self. Postmodern Studies on Narcissism, Schizophrenia and Depression,New York, 1987.

4. Examples include: D.A. Blyth, R.G Simmons and S. Carlton-Ford, 'The Adjustment of Early Adolescentsto School Transitions,' Journal of Early Adolescence, vol. 3, 1983, pp. 105-120; R.L. Canady and M.D.Rettig, 'Unlocking the Lockstep High School Schedule', Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 75, no. 4, 1993, pp.310-314; L.M. Fenzel, An Ecological Study of Changes in Student Role Strains during the Transition toMiddle School Kansas City, 1989; A. Hargreaves, L.M. Earl and J. Ryan, Schooling for Change: ReinventingEducation for Early Adolescents, London, 1996; J.P. Hill, 'Early Adolescence: A Research Agenda', Journalof Early Adolescence, vol. 3, 1983, pp. 1-21; M A James and L.E. Boyles, A Teamed Approach to Makingthe Transition to a Middle School Kansas, 1985; C. McGee, 'Crossing the Divide: Transition fromPrimary to Secondary School', Set, vol. 1, 1989, pp. 1-4; C.E. Snow, W.S. Barnes, J. Chandler, I.F.Goodman and L Hemphill, Unfulfilled Expectations: Home and School Influences on Literacy, Cambridge,1991.

5. Refer to: J. Elkins,' Literacy and the Transition to Secondary School', Australian Journal of Reading, vol.12, no. 4, 1989, pp. 300-305; C. Jensen, Transition from Primary to Secondary School, Stanmore, 1983;P. Hill, P. Holmes-Smith and K.J. Rowe, School and Teacher Effectiveness in Victoria, Carlton, 1993; CPower and J. Cotterell, 'The Problems of Transition from Primary to Secondary School', Set, vol. 1, pp.1980, pp. 1-4; C. Power and J. Cotterell, Changes in Students in the Transition between Primary andSecondary School No. 27, Canberra, 1981.

6. Such Australian studies include: T. Cairncy, K. Lowe and E. Sproats, Literacy in Transition: An Evaluationof Literacy Practices in Upper Primary and Junior Secondary Schools, (Summary Report No. 1), Sydney,1994a; T. Cairncy, K. Lowe and E. Sproats, Literacy in Transition: An Evaluation of Literacy Practices inUpper Primary and Junior Secondary Schools, (Research Report No. 2), Sydney, 1994b; T. Cairney, K.Lowe and E. Sproats, Literacy in Transition: An Evaluation of Literacy Practices in Upper Primary andJunior Secondary Schools, (Case Studies No. 3), Sydney, 1994c; J. Cumming,' Catering for the Needs ofAll Young Adolescents: Towards an Integrated Approach', Unicorn, vol. 20, no. 2, 1994, pp. 12-20; P.Hallinan and P. Hallinan, 'Seven into Eight will Go: Transition from Primary to Secondary School, TheAustralian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, vol. 9, no. 2,1992, pp. 30-38.

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The Transition from Primary to Secondary School

about the nature of the transition journey from the perspective of the student. With thisin mind, one such perspective is now presented.

Sonia's Story

Sonia enjoyed her final year of primary school and related particularly well to her Year 6teacher. Her end of year report indicated that her teacher regarded her achievements andefforts as outstanding for all subjects. The prospect of the move to secondary schoolmade Sonia 'very excited' because there would be 'different subjects, more than one teacherand 'there won't be any preps'. Sonia seemed ready for secondary school. Towards the lastweek of Year 6, her class teacher noted that Sonia was 'dying' to get to secondary school,and predicted that she would hate the last few days at primary school.

On the surface, Sonia adjusted to the work in Year 7 with ease. For instance, shewrote that: 'now that I have settled in, nothing is hard'. Her positive attitude to schoolwas evidenced by her statement: 'I like secondary school much better than primary schoolbecause we have different teachers every day that teach you different subjects'. Sonia'sexcitement about secondary school was obvious in a comment made to me in one of herletters: 'I love it. I diink that (my) Secondary College is the best secondary school anybodycould ever go to'.

On the social front, Sonia had difficulty adjusting. While she was 'very confident,very pleasant and seemed to be working well' at the start of the year, Sonia's behaviourchanged as the months went on. She became involved with a group of'very strong, veryopinionated' Year 7 girls. Her Year 7 co-ordinator noted that Sonia's behaviour had beena source of great concern for the teaching staff and that being a member of that particularpeer group affected her school work. The Year 7 co-ordinator noted that many of hersubject teachers had commented on the amount of time Sonia spent 'talking in class andgetting class work finished on time and the lack of concentration and the lack of focus ofwork'. The problem was 'an on-going thing and it seems to settle down and then it comesup again. Sonia's reports reflected her classroom behaviour and her lack of application tothe work. The first semester report, according to her English teacher, was poor and theresult of non-completion of work.7 The English teacher said 'It was really quite a surprisefor a person of her ability in that class to be really doing so poorly by her progress reportbecause she hadn't completed it'. While her second semester report indicated that heracademic progress was 'satisfactory', the English teacher noted that Sonia still needed tocomplete all of the work requirements. The Year 7 co-ordinator was aware of Sonia's lackof progress and remarked that she had 'not performed academically as well as what shecould have'.

7. It should be noted that data collection at Year 7 occurred with respect to the subject areas under focus,namely, English, as well as Science and/or History (now termed SOSE: Studies of Society andEnvironment). In Sonia's case English and Science were examined.

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'Other thing were more important in her life' (Sonia: The Writer)Sonia loved to write and published numerous books in Year 6. Although reluctant to doso initially, she published some of her stories on the computer at the end of the year.Sonia enjoyed writing her stories at home as well as at school. However, she preferred todo research rather than story writing. Completing 'projects' afforded her much pridebecause she said diat you feel that 'you've achieved somediing'. In her final year of primaryschool, Sonia gained a reputation for being a good speller. She was known as the walkingdictionary, a label of which she was very proud. However, she rarely wrote pieces over apage in length.

While Sonia had expected to be required to write essays of two or diree pages inYear 7, this was not the case. For instance, the writing analysis of Year 7 English indicatedthat 100% of the writing done was less dian a page. The writing analysis for Year 7 Englishrevealed that 53% of the 'writing' comprised fill-in-die-gap activities, question/answeractivities, or listing. Most of the 'writing' done in Science involved copying from theboard or from overheads. Sonia expressed concern about the boring nature of this practice.Thus, in reality, Sonia did little in terms of meaningful writing in her first year at secondaryschool. This was compounded by the fact that she did not complete work requirements.For example, Sonia did not complete die poetry writing requirements in second semester.Her English teacher explained 'other things were more important in her [Sonia's] life atthat time'. The keen attitude towards writing that she exhibited in Year 6 had gone.

7 can't be bothered picking a book (Sonia: The Reader)A keen reader, Sonia always had a book on hand in Year 6. When asked about her hobbies,she noted 'I like to read in spare time'. She read books from home or those borrowedfrom the school library and often told her mouSer about her reading. Sonia read everynight before falling asleep, and loved to read books from the Baby-sitters Club series.While she enjoyed Judy Blume's books, her favourite author was R. L. Stine because sheloved thrillers best of all. These two authors featured strongly in her reading log whichlisted nine novels for the year. Her love of reading was further evidenced by her commentthat one of the good things about primary school was that the teacher read to the class.Her Year 6 teacher noted that she loved to read, and that while she read widely, Sonialoved 'soapie' magazines. The miscue analysis revealed accurate reading of both fictionaland factual texts.8 Her retellings were general and lacked detail. Thus, Sonia could copewith, and enjoyed the reading demands she experienced in Year 6.

8. Miscue analysis: At the end of Year 6 as well as at the close of Year 7 each student was recorded readingfrom a fictional text and a factual text that were deemed 'typical' of those used at that time. The textsused were previously unsighted by the students so that they could not use prior experience of the text toaid their reading. After reading, a simple retelling occurred. The process of miscue analysis as outlinedby Johnson (1979) was then used to provide information about how the students were coping with thereading demands on them at the time.

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The Transition from Primary to Secondary School

Sonia's Year 7 English teacher noted her ability in literacy and that she 'reads fluently,she likes reading, she writes well' but that for the latter part of the year, she 'has reallycruised along and not really extended herself. For example, her reading log revealed thatshe had read only three books for the year in addition to the two class novels. One of thebooks listed in her reading log had been read to the class by die Year 6 teacher the yearbefore. Thus, Sonia's reading had not been extended. By the end of Year 7 Sonia wasdisappointed in the range of books on offer at her school. For instance, she lamented diatthere were no books by R. L Stine, who had been a favourite author in Year 6, andexplained 'That's why I can't be bothered picking a book'. Hence, her keen attitude toreading had changed and she was rather lethargic about even making a book selection.Her reading habits were partly influenced by her peer group. For instance, her Englishteacher noted that when Sonia was 'not sitting next to her friends who are not reading',she was 'really interested' in her reading. Thus, when she was free from her 'non-reading'friends, Sonia was happy to read. However, if diey were nearby, her attitude changed.Clearly the peer group notion of 'how to do school' at secondary school impacted onSonia's reading practices.

In terms of her reading habits at home, Sonia continued to read regularly beforegoing to bed and read novels that her older brother gave to her. Thus, while she continuedto enjoy reading at home for pleasure, Sonia was less interested in reading at school thanshe had been in Year 6. Her miscue analysis revealed accurate reading for both fictionaland factual texts, and her retellings were general. Hence, Sonia was coping with thereading demands of Year 7 but generally showed little interest in such reading at school.

Not 'the duck on the pond' (The Experience of Transition for Sonia: In Summary)On the surface, it seemed that Sonia had adapted well to the demands of her first year atsecondary school. However, she did experience problems in terms of getting on with herfellow students. Her attitude to her work was poor and she did not complete all that wasexpected of her. Sonia's teachers commented that she had not performed as well as theythought she might. She was doing the bare minimum amount of work required. Herinterest in writing was minimal. Sonia's reading habits and her passion for books hadsubsided. She was reticent about picking up a book. In essence, Sonia's transition tosecondary school was problematic both socially and academically. She was preoccupiedwith her social group, and this distracted her from her work. As a result, Sonia did not doas well as expected. She had not been like 'die duck on the pond' that her Year 6 teacherhad anticipated. Her transition to secondary school was anything but smooth.

Key Issues Within the Transition Journey

Sonia's experience of transition, although unique, is not untypical of die experiences ofdie odier students involved the study. The case studies clearly point to the impact of the

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psychosocial context (including student expectations: hopes and anxieties, friendships,'how to do school' or peer pressure) on student attitude to school in general, and to theliteracy demands of secondary school.

"Those Starting Emotions (Student Expectations)By the end of Year 7 one of the students involved in the research explained the relief thathe felt because 'I've got all those starting emotions gone*. When asked to explain what hemeant he told how he was 'really scared at die start of the year'. The term starting emotions'is useful in that it reflects the fears associated with transition, but can also be seen toinclude die hopes students held for the first year of secondary school.

The expectations, bodi die hopes and the fears, that the students held aboutsecondary school generally referred to die workload, organisation, teachers, friends, andtreatment by older students. The starting emotions experienced by students were oftenquite complex, consisting of hopes for die future mingled with fear or anxiety. Suchemotions are discussed below. In addition, whedier or not such starting emotions reflectedwhat die students experienced in die reality of transition is examined.

7 thought the work would have been harder' (The Workload)In terms of expectations held by die students, most held high hopes for secondary schooland arrived ready to face a number of anticipated challenges in terms of the workload.For instance, David recalled his starting emotions in diis respect and stated diat he was a'bit nervous and scared of all die work and all diat'. Sonia looked forward to die freshchallenges of secondary school. She predicted diat 'It might be more exciting to do differentstuff for die first time' and diat you would be 'starting to learn for yourself. This wouldmean diat you've gotta study harder' and do less talking.

Alongside die anticipation of 'harder work' was a concern about doing well. Forexample, Peter stated diat 'Mum will kill you if you get an F so you know you work reallyhard'. He was also concerned about the reaction of his peers because 'If you get a hopelessmark you know everyone will be laughing at you and you know you're hopeless, you'restupid'. The expectation of having to work harder at secondary school was commonamong the students involved in diis study. Part of diis expectation was attributable to theimpact of die grading of work, which occurred in Year 7 but not in Year 6.

The students' hopes and fears relating to more demanding work were largelyunfounded in reality. Comments made by die students illustrate diis point:

I thought the work would have been harder.Its not really all that hard.English is easy. Not that much work.It's [the work] pretty easy but a lot.

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This finding reflects a number of Australian based studies which point to thegeneral expectation of students that secondary school would mean more difficult work.9

Goodall notes that while such an expectation causes some concern, the students want thechange and the challenge. Thus, when the work is not more challenging, students becomefrustrated. Indeed this was the scenario in my research.10 The lack of a challengingacademic environment can adversely affect general student attitude to school. Whenstudent expectations of an academic challenge are not realised, the potential for teachersto capitalise on such eagerness is lost. The lack of a challenging academic environment inYear 7 is confirmed by McNeil who pointed to a watered-down, unchallenging curriculumat all levels of contemporary high schools in the United States of America.11

Increased HomeworkAn aspect of the anticipated 'hard work' was increased homework. This was a source ofconcern for a number of the students. For instance, Peter predicted that 'you'll get a heapof homework and you wont have time to do it'. His prediction proved to be correct asindicated by his comment during midway into Year 7: 'I didn't think we'd get that muchhomework. You get bored out of your mind sometimes'. Indeed, homework was a recurringissue mentioned by the students throughout the period of the study in Year 7. Homeworkwas a great concern, in particular, for three of the students who were in a class that, in thewords of the Year 7 History (SOSE: Studies of Society and Environment) teacher, was'revolting' in terms of behaviour. Disruptions to the class were common so much so thatoften set work was not completed in class and became homework. This put these studentsunder additional pressure. However, some of the students in the study learned to organisethemselves to get their homework done, so that the pressures were far less even thoughthey sometimes complained about having to do homework. On the other hand, Sonia,who was capable of organising herself to complete the set homework, often chose not todo so. The impact of peer group behaviour was taking its toll in her case.

Initially, homework was a source of concern for all of the students, which bears outthe findings of studies by Evans and Richards12, and Garton.13 However, coping widi

9. For examples see: Cairney, Lowe and Sproats, (1994a, b), op. cit. A.F. Garton, 'Students' Expectation ofSecondary School: General Considerations', Education, vol. 35. no. 1, 1986, pp. 23-27. Goodall, 1981,op. cit., pp. 34-40. A.L. Mitman and M.J. Packer, 'Concerns of Seventh-Graders about their Transitionto Junior High School', Journal of Early Adolescence, vol. 2, no. 4, 1982, pp. 319-338. C. Power and J.Cotterell, Students in Transition: A Longitudinal Study of StudentBehaviour and Development in DifferentPrimary and Secondary Schools, Canberra, 1979. G.R. Trebilco, E.P. Atkinson and J.M. Atkinson, 'TheTransition of Students from Primary to Secondary School, in Proceedings of the Annual Conference of theAustralian. Association fir Research in Education, Canberra, 1977, pp. 1-15.

10. Goodall, op. cit., p. 34-40.

11. LM. McNeil, Contradictions of Control: School Structure and School Knowledge, New York, 1986.

12. M.J. Evans and N.J. Richards, A Study of the Satisfaction and Confidence of Students in Transition,Melbourne, 1980.

13. Garton, op. cit., pp. 23-27.

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homework was an on-going pressure for three of the students, as mentioned above, forwhom the homework demanded was greater than expected. This was largely a disciplinematter. In general, the pressure of homework in the first year of secondary school was anissue often discussed by the students. The pressure was felt, not in terms of the difficultyof the work, but in the sheer volume involved. However, the constancy of homeworkvaried from school to school.

Getting OrganisedApart from the need to be organised to keep up with the workload and the homework, amajor part of getting organised at secondary school is learning how to be in 'the rightplace at the right time with the right things'. This requirement caused some concernamong the students at the beginning of the transition process. Anxieties about gettinglost were voiced by the students prior to orientation day. For instance, Sandra wasconcerned that it would be 'hard going everywhere all of the time and you'll get lost andyou'll get into trouble'. Orientation day, when the students visited their prospectivesecondary schools, played an important role in relieving such concerns. As Mark stated'from my orientation day I knew where most of the things were'.

The students generally worried about having the necessary books and otherrequirements with them for each class at secondary school. One of the students highlightedthis concern at the end of Year 6:

You need to bring in everything that you think you will need, everything in.. Like say in highschool you bring something in and then you realise that you're going to use something and you'rein the middle of a class and want to go out back to your locker [and you cannot].

The student were still concerned with such matters at the beginning of secondary school.The same students explained what was required:

You have to bring all of your books and things for the whole 2 periods so you don't go to yourlocker in between.

However, these kinds of concerns were short-lived, and were not raised later in thefirst year of secondary school, which concurs with the previous research such as that byCotterell14, and Power and Cotterell.15 Furthermore, Garton's study revealed how studentanxieties about secondary school were reduced by the provision of information about the

14. J.L. Cotterell, 'In Transit: What Pupils Say About Beginning Secondary School', Administrators Bulletin,vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1-4, 1978. J.L. Corterell, 'Three Faces of Transition from Primary to SecondarySchooling', Queensland Institute for Educational Research Journal, vol. 20, 1981, pp. 3-9.

15. Power and Cotterell, 1980, op. cit., pp. 1-4. Power and Cotterell, 1981, op. cit.

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school.16 This lends support to the finding of my research that orientation day served torelieve much of the student anxiety relating to finding their way around an unfamiliarsecondary school.

'Now teachers only know me for half an hour' (The Teachers)The students predicted an increased number of teachers at secondary school. Some thoughtthat it would be exciting to have new teachers, while others were concerned that it wouldmean that teachers would face difficulties in learning the names of all of the students,and that the teachers would, therefore, know little about the students in their care.

The reality of secondary school was that the number of teachers faced by the studentswas much greater than in primary school. In some cases, students faced as many as twelvedifferent teachers in Year 7. Initially Lisa, as an example, found this more interesting thanprimary school. However, later in the year her interest had turned into a concern. Shestated 'Sometimes I think the teachers don't remember who I am*. Lisa based thisobservation on her school report in which 'They [the teachers] just write the same thing'.Lisa's comments reveal a feeling of anonymity at secondary school, which had not been a'concern previously. Peter also mentioned this problem. He contrasted the situation withthat experienced in primary school and lamented 'Now teachers only know me for halfan hour'. Furthermore, he explained that 'There's too many students and they teachabout 100 students in a day. They haven't got time to be interested'. While teaching alarge number of students cannot be equated with a lack of interest on the part of theteacher, Peter's comment does indicate that, like Lisa, he felt more anonymous at secondaryschool than he had done at primary school. The constraint of timetabling and the limited47 minute period seemed to contribute to this problem. In addition, such time constraintscontributed to the shift in focus from individual student to content matter which wasevident in the transition from primary to secondary school.

As the previous discussion of the issue of workload indicates, the students anticipatedthat the teachers at secondary school would expect more of them academically. Suchexpectations were short-lived. Indeed, teacher expectations were minimal. A number ofpossible reasons for this scenario exist. One reason may well be that secondary teachersfocus more on the group than the individual. For instance, one of the English teachers inthe study viewed the range of students in her Year 7 class as problematic, and stated that'it is difficult because you've got the range of abilities in the class, it's difficult as a teacherto know where to gear it and how to pace it'. Consequently, set tasks aimed at what theteacher perceived the majority of students to be able to cope with. Minimal teacherexpectations were evident when students were perceived as young children and thereforeincapable of pursuing a range of intellectual tasks. Martin terms this view as 'childism'

16. Garton, op. cit., pp. 23-27.

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which refers to 'a set of rather patronizing and romantic attitudes to children'.17 Forexample, the Science teacher at one secondary school stated that the emphasis for Year 7students was on gaining 'a certain amount of skills, and if they can order themselves, keepa record of what they're doing then I'm quite happy. And I think there is plenty of time inYear 8, 9, 10 to actually learn some sciences'. Thus, the teachers expectations aboutstudent learning of Science was minimal as he saw students as being young in that theyhad plenty of time to learn. Making the most of the first year of secondary school was notthe focus. Such low teacher expectations have serious ramifications for the transitionfrom primary to secondary school.

'Until students get their friendships sorted out the work's not really important'(Making Friends)Although some students were less anxious than others about making friends at secondaryschool, all students expressed concern about this important issue. The security of havingfriends was vital for many reasons. The Year 7 literacy co-ordinator at one of the secondarycolleges discussed such reasons. Having friends was important for the:

security of walking into the different rooms that they've ... got to walk into

as well as:

who to sit next to.

She noted that a lack of friends can 'affect whatever they do' and that:

You find them sort of sitting through lessons looking very sad and just really thinking about that,not about whatever is going on.

Indeed, this was the case for Mark. The same teacher commented how some students:

get in a group of friends that you know they try out all sorts of different personalities ... thatbecomes a priority rather than the work.

This was the dilemma faced by Sonia, who according to her English teacher, waspreoccupied with 'meeting new people'. For Sonia 'the friendships were all important',and she did a lot of talking and then needed help with work that she 'could have pickedup herself.

Some students spent much of dieir time worrying about making and/or maintainingfriends. For example, David even talked about the need to 'catch friends'. The word

17. J. Martin, 'Literacy in Science: Learning to Handle Text as Technology', in F. Christie (ed.). Literacy fora Changing World, Hawthorn, 1990, pp. 79-117.

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'catch' is telling as it reveals the problems that he had in this area. All of the case studies,like that of Sonias presented here, show the impact of the friendship issue on the workdone at school. Indeed, when David and Ryan's friendship group suffered a disagreement,the students were distracted from their work. Their History (SOSE) teacher commenteddiat until die students get all of their friendships 'sorted out the work's not really important'.Similarly, Mark was so unhappy when he lost his only friend that he did not complete thework requirements. Such behaviour was in stark contrast to his usual conscientiousapproach to his work.

When a student moves on to secondary school with some known friends, knowsolder students at the school, or has a sibling at the school, some of the anxiety aboutmaking friends is alleviated. For instance, Peter stated that 'Most of my friends have goneto that school so you know I'm not worried'. Indeed, Peter explained diat knowing a lotof friends at the school had been one of the reasons why he selected to go to his particularsecondary school. Lisa commented 'I know a lot of people there because my brother goesdiere so I won't have no friends next year'. Sonia was not overly worried about makingfriends as she had a few friends who were moving on to the same school. However, someof the other students who did not know many students were nervous about making newfriends. Sandra was worried about making friends. In her own words: 'It was a worry atthe start 'cause I didn't know anyone'. However, she was fortunate enough to make afriend on orientation day which relieved much of her anxiety. In addition, she also hadan older sister at the school which, according to her father, meant that she was less anxiousthan 'if she went there [secondary school] on her own. Sandra also noted that this was asource of comfort initially, as 'I was allowed to stay with her [her sister] until I foundsome friends'.

Making friends, therefore, was a source of concern for the students in the study.This finding corresponds with the results of previous studies from the United States suchas Arowosafe and Irvin,18 and Berndt and Hawkins19, as well as Australian research suchas that by Goodall20, and Power and Cotterell21, all of which pointed to die formation offriendships and becoming part of social groups as a source of student anxiety. Furthermore,the research presented in this article reveals diat die degree of concern varies from individualto individual. Indeed, having a friend or sibling at the secondary school can make adifference to the degree of concern shown. In addition, orientation day can facilitatestudents in meeting new friends, and thus can act as a source of relief for nervous students.

18. D.S. Arowosafe and J.L Irvin,' Transition to a Middle School Level: What Kids Say,' Middle SchoolJournal, vol. 4, no. 2, 1992, pp. 15-19.

19. T.J. Berndt and J.A. Hawkins, The Effects of Friendships on Students' Adjustment after the Transition toJunior High School, Chicago, 1985.

20. Goodall, op. cit., p. 34-40.

21. Power and Cotterell, 1981, op. cit.

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The importance of making friends is evident in the disruptions to school work that canoccur when problems arise in this area. This last point finds support in the study byBerndt and Hawkins, who stated that 'friendships can serve as social support for childrenmaking the transition to a new school'.22 It follows, therefore, that when studentsexperience difficulties in the area of establishing and/or maintaining friendships thatproblems in making the transition to secondary school may arise. Indeed, this was thecase in this research.

Getting your head 'flushed down the dunny (Treatment By Older Students)In general, the students were concerned about the ways in which the older students atsecondary school might treat them. Anxieties about being bullied plagued some of thestudents. For instance, David was most anxious about getting his head 'flushed down thedunny, while Sandra was worried about being teased. Such fears were based on rumoursspread by older students, and in reality such bullying did not occur. The students' concernsabout treatment by older students is reflected in numerous studies from within Australiaand beyond, all of which indicate student apprehension about getting on with olderstudents.23 My study indicates that such apprehensions were often unfounded, a pointwhich is made in many of the above-mentioned studies.

'How To Do School'

This aspect of the psychosocial context is termed 'how to do school' and refers to whatthe culture of school is taken to mean. As the students in this study generally referred toways of doing school in terms of the peer group, 'how to do school' is taken to refer to thebehaviours that are deemed appropriate or cool' by the peer group. 'How to do school'in the primary school setting was seen by the students as being different to 'how to doschool' in the secondary school setting.

The students were particularly concerned about the ways in which their behaviourat secondary school was perceived by their peers. They did not want to be seen as a 'nerd'or a 'dork' but rather aimed to be seen as being 'cool'. Examples include the pressures to'hang around' the yard rather than play games at lunchtimes, relinquish the marble bag,avoid going to the library for the purposes of reading, read only when your peers do so,

22. Berndt and Hawkins, op. cit., p. 14.

23. For examples refer to: J. Allan and J. McKean, J. 'Transition to Junior High School: Strategies forChange,' The School Counselor, vol. 32, no. 1, 1984, pp. 43-48. Arowosafe and Irvin, op. cit., pp. 15-19.Blyth, Simmons and Carlton-Ford, op. cit., pp. 105-120. Cotterell, op. cit., pp. 3-9. Garton, op. cit.,pp. 23-27. P. Mertin, E. Haebich and J. Lokan, 'Everybody Will Be Bigger Than Me: Children'sPerceptions of the Transition to High School', The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist,vol. 6, no. 2, 1989, pp. 2-5. A.L. Mitman and M.J. Packer, 'Concerns of Seventh-Graders about theirTransition to Junior High School', Journal of Early Adolescence, vol. 2, no. 4, 1982, pp. 319-338. Powerand Cotterell, 1980, op. cit., pp. 1-4. Power and Cotterell, 1981, op. cit,.

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and conceal your academic achievements from other students. The impact of the peergroup on student behaviour is most apparent.

An important part of 'how to do school' in die first year of secondary school,according to students, was to avoid engaging in behaviours or activities that could bedeemed 'babyish' by peers. The students often used the term 'babyish' to describe somebehaviour or activity that no longer seemed appropriate given the move to secondaryschool. For instance, Sonia explained how she would no longer write 'babyish' storiessuch as the one she wrote about a bird at McDonalds in Year 6. When asked why not, shereplied 'I'd be humiliated ... it's too babyish'. David, for example, was also aware of theneed to avoid playing die 'baby games like the games you play in primary school'. If not,he said 'you get teased'. Thus, acting more grown-up or more mature by avoiding such'babyish' diings was a vital part of 'doing school' in Year 7.

The students resented being treated like 'babies'. They had expected that theywould be treated in a more adult fashion when diey arrived at secondary school, andwere most annoyed when this was not die case. Lisa, for instance, complained abouthaving to write about a favourite fairy tale, which was not the type of work she hadanticipated at secondary school. As a result, she did not complete die set task. The studentsat one secondary school in which die RIBIT (Read in bed, it's terrific) reading programwas used, complained about the reading folders as diey felt diat the illustrations of frogswere decidedly 'babyish'.24 Such 'babyish' activities were annoying to the students whofelt diat it was time to do difficult work, and to be treated as mature people.

At the end of Year 7, I asked die students what suggestions diey would give astudent making the move to Year 7. Peter specified die following:

try to act cool and do die right things.

When I inquired as to what it meant to act cool, the students supplied a number ofrecommendations. These included:

Don't call people names or otherwise you get your head bashed in.Be kind.Be outgoing.Don't get your lunch order in the morning... Get it at lunchcime.

Bodi Peter and Lisa commented on the need to avoid being seen as being too smart. Peterstated:

Like my friends are really smart but diey're not dorks. They don't act it.

24. RIBIT denotes a system of reading in which students borrow from a range of novels from six categories.The system includes a range of activity sheets dut students complete once they have read the selectednovel. This system was used at two out of me five secondary schools involved in the study.

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Consequently, part of doing school was to down play academic achievements inorder to avoid derogatory labels which serve to single out those students whose behaviouris deemed inappropriate by die peer group.

Thus, a major part of the adjustment to secondary school involves students workingout what the peer culture of the secondary school entails or 'how to do school'. Litde isfound in the literature on transition and literacy in diis respect. However, the study byCotterell emphasises the power of the peer group at secondary school, and my researchconcurs with this finding.25 Aldiough the study by Grant and Sleeter refers to a differentlevel of transition, they found that students making the move from junior high to highschool (8th to 10th grade) expected to be treated as more grown up.26 This is akin to theexpectations held by the students in my study. To summarise the aspect of 'how to doschool', the students quickly worked out what this entailed in terms of the peer group atsecondary school, and a major aspect of this was being seen as grown up. The studentsanticipated that they would be treated as such and, therefore, resented being treated inwhat they perceived as a 'babyish' manner.

Student Attitudes To School In General

The move from primary to secondary school reveals changes in student attitudes to schoolin general. Overall die students displayed positive attitudes to school in Year 6 but suchattitudes soured, to varying degrees, in the move to secondary school. For example, David,Ryan and Peter showed a major shift in attitude. They were frustrated at being in adisruptive class. Problems with friends also contributed to the attitude shift for Davidand Ryan. Frustration with the work was a major issue for all students. The work, ingeneral, was not challenging, and die students were disillusioned by the boring nature ofmindless activities, such as copying from the board. All students showed a decline interms of dieir attitudes to, and habits in, reading and writing practices, in the transitionfrom primary to secondary school.

The major shift in student attitude to secondary school echoes other Australianstudies diat indicate that some students show a decline in positive attitude in their firstyear of secondary school.27 Cotterell argues that such a change in attitude is due to theassumption by secondary teachers diat students should be independent enough to organisethemselves to complete die required homework and class work.28 While this assumption

25. Cotterell, op. cit., pp. 3-9.

26. C.A. Grant and C.E. Sleeter, 'Race, Class and Gender and Abandoned Dreams', Teachers College Record,vol. 90, no. 1, 1988, pp. 19-40.

27. Examples include: Evans and Richards, op. cit; Hill, Holmes-Smith and Rowe, op. cit; Power andCotterell, 1980, op. cit., pp. 1-4; Power and Cotterell, 1981, op. cit.

28. Cotterell, op. cit., pp. 3-9.

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perhaps contributed to the problems faced by David and Peter who had difficulty inorganising themselves, this is not evident for the other students. Cotterell also points tothe lack of challenge in terms of the work set, and that many students were bored. Thesereasons arc clearly evident in the case studies of all students. The students were rarelyfaced with the challenges that they had anticipated. In general the expectations thatsecondary teachers held for Year 7 students were low and so the academic demands madewere minimal. This had much impact on student attitude to school. In general, thestudents expressed disappointment with the kind of work demanded, boredom withcopying and/or the available reading material, and frustration with being treated as 'babies'.In addition, other aspects contributing to the change in student attitude include friendshipconcerns, peer pressure, and frustration with disruptive class members.

A Final Comment

The transition from primary to secondary school is by no means problem-free. Theconstraints of time, discipline, peer pressure and minimal teacher expectations have lefttheir mark, and have emerged as vital aspects for further consideration. The complexityof schooling means that there are no simple solutions to the problems incurred in transition.However, avenues for action remain, some of which are being confronted in schoolswithin Victoria through networks, such as the Northcote Network of Schools; andprofessional development input by associations like VATE (Victorian Association of theTeaching of English), and the Victorian Board of Studies. Such avenues might include:

• An ongoing review of the strategies/ organisational elements that facilitate transitionis vital. Elements include: orientation day(s), feeder school visits by teachers andYear 6 students; teacher exchanges; communication to parents of how they canprovide support with respect to homework and the like; the consideration offriendship groups when formulating class lists; the provision of camps, clubs andso on to facilitate the development of friendship groups; the use of double ratherthan single periods; and teaching in teams to reduce the number of teachers facedin the first year of secondary school.

• The provision of a challenging curriculum, rather than a watered down one, interms of content as well as the processes involved would relieve the serious stressesresulting from student boredom and frustration with school.

• An ongoing information exchange between primary and secondary teachers isneeded to facilitate the transition process and to reduce any unnecessarydiscontinuity.

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Further research into transition within various contexts (geographical location,school size and structure, socioeconomic aspects) in all of the Key Learning Areas.Issues such as those pertaining to gender, ethnicity, parental involvement, the natureof teachers' work (demands, stresses, challenges), and teacher education warrantdose examination. Longitudinal studies, beyond the transition period, are neededto provide further information upon which all educators, at all levels (primary,secondary and tertiary), could act.

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Betndt, T.J. and Hawkins, J.A., The Effects of Friendships on Students' Adjustment after the Transition to JuniorHigh School, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Associates,Chicago, 1985.

Blyth, D.A., Simmons, R.G. and Carlton-Ford, S., 'The Adjustment of Early Adolescents to SchoolTransitions,' Journal of Early Adolescence, vol.3, 1983, pp. 105-120.

Cairney, T., Lowe, K. and Sproats, E., Literacy in Transition: An Evaluation of Literacy Practices in UpperPrimary and Junior Secondary Schools, (Summary Report No. 1), University of Western Sydney, Sydney,1994a.

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Cairney, T., Lowe, K. and Sproats, E., Literacy in Transition: An Evaluation of Literacy Practices in UpperPrimary and Junior Secondary Schools, (Case Studies No. 3), University of Western Sydney, Sydney, 1994c.

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Mitman, A.L. and Packer, M.J., 'Concerns of Seventh-Graders about theirTransition to Junior High School',Journal of Early Adolescence, vol. 2, no. 4, 1982, pp. 319-338.

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