Transitions of Children with Additional Support Needs across Stages

Abstract

Educational transition is a dynamic and ongoing process of adaptation due to a move from one educational context and set of interpersonal relationships to another (Jindal-Snape, 2010). The educational context can involve a change in educational systems or moving across different stages of education, such as moving from one class to another, moving from primary school to secondary school, or from a special school to a mainstream primary or secondary school. The changes in interpersonal relationships involve leaving old peers and staff behind and forming relationships with the people in the new environment. Further, transition also involves a change in identity, for example from a primary to a secondary school student, with subtle and hidden changes in expectations and rules in the new educational context (Bronfenbrenner, 2009). Transitions trigger fundamental changes in personal circumstances and can be a period of intensive learning, with the individual experiencing multiple, and in some cases, simultaneous phases of accelerated change (Griebel & Niesel, 2004; Mays, 2014). The child’s educational transitions are therefore embedded in other simultaneous, multiple transitions. Their transitions trigger transitions for significant others, such as their family and professionals, and vice versa. Therefore, transitions are multiple and multi-dimensional (see Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions Theory, Jindal-Snape, 2016).