A case study of the issues for pupils transitioning from primary to post primary in a rural community school

The main aim of this research is to explore parents and teachers perceptions of students transition from primary school to post primary school made by students in a rural community school. This research explores the common issues faced by students, with an eye on possible supports that would aid a successful transition to post primary. From a research perspective, there is much international literature on the topic of student transition or transfer to post primary school (Galton et al. 2000, West et al. 2008, Rice et al. 2011 and Hanewald 2013). In Ireland the main writer in this area is Emer Smyth (2017) with a comprehensive paper on student transition to post primary school. This dissertation examines students transition to post primary from the perspective on the same cohort of student. However, the teachers have a more longitudinal perspective having worked with incoming first years for a considerable period of time. These teachers are members of the student support team in the school. The data was collected using nine semi-structured interviews, six with staff and three with parents. A number of salient themes emerged from this study which centred on the importance of the social transition as key to the wellbeing of students. The need for change in some practices in the case study school and a more defined role of the Guidance Counsellor, are the main recommendations of this research.