The case study school was approached firstly by email and then in a face-to-face meeting with the school principal to discuss the research project and to provide further information about the project commitment for the school. Once in-principle agreement for participation had been reached with the school, applications for both the Edith Cowan University Human Research Ethics Committee and the Catholic Education Office were submitted and subsequently approved. Written consent was then obtained from the case study school (Appendix 1).
In the 2014 Year 7 cohort, there were six classes of up to 35 students, resulting in a convenience sample of 204 students. All in-coming Year 7 students as at 31st December 2013 were eligible
to participate in the study. Any student enrolled after the 1st January 2014 was excluded from
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previously enrolled students had participated in prior to commencing Year 7 (Arthur, et al., 2010). In this cohort, no students were enrolled after the 1st January 2014. Eligible students
from the case study school were recruited in early 2014 prior to the start of the school year via mail out from the school’s completed list of Year 7 enrolments for 2014. A mailing list was provided by the school and families were sent an information letter (Appendix 2), opt-out consent form (Appendix 2) and reply-paid envelope for return of the consent form should they choose not to participate in this research. The one-stage opt-out consent process was requested by the school principal and approved by the Edith Cowan University Human Research Ethics Committee and Catholic Education Office to facilitate a high participation rate, as this research was considered of importance to the case study school. Of the 204 students in the 2014 Year 7 cohort, 16 (8%) families withdrew their consent for their adolescent to participate in the research, with the most commonly cited reason being that they did not want information from their child’s school records file being accessed for any reason other than for school purposes.
3.5 Theoretical model
The theoretical model for this research has been adapted from Schlossberg’s (1984) model and informed by the literature reviewed for this work. For this thesis, the domains of ‘situation’, ‘supports’ and ‘self’ were measured, with academic results included as the literature supports their use as a key indicator of transition success. The strategies that students employ to adapt to secondary school were not measured, as this required distinctly time intensive qualitative techniques outside the scope of this thesis. The proposed theoretical model for this thesis is presented in Figure 3.3.
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Figure 3.2. Master’s thesis theoretical model for analysis
3.6
MeasuresSelf-report surveys were used to collect data from the Year 7 cohort in Week 3 of Term 1, 2014, and in Week 2 of Term 3, 2014. Additional data was collected through the extraction of Year 6 pre-transition and Year 7 first semester post-transition academic results (Mathematics and English) from report copies held in participating student record files. Artefacts in the form of policy documents, maps, and transition information resources were also collected from the school to document evidence relating to transition preparation, school environment and student attendance over the transition period.
3.6.1 Survey development
There is currently no one valid and reliable instrument available to measure primary to
secondary transition. Therefore, using the literature reviewed for this project and Schlossberg’s model, surveys were developed by selecting previously published and validated scales
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conducted by the Child Health Promotion Research Centre (CHPRC), based at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. The elements of each dimension of Schlossberg’s model (1981) were matched to well-known and validated measures (Appendix 3) including the
‘Kessler Psychological Distress Scale’ (K-10) (Kessler et al., 2002), ‘Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire’ (Cassidy & Asher, 1992), ‘Perception of Peer Support Scale’ (Ladd, Kochenderfer, & Coleman, 1996), ‘Self-Description Questionnaire’ (Marsh, 1990) and the ‘Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire’ (Olweus, 1996). Several questions were also extracted from surveys used in the CHPRC’s Supportive Schools Project (2005-2007) which were based on the work of Akos (Akos, 2002; Akos & Galassi, 2004) that included questions about primary to secondary school transition. Finally, new questions were written to address any remaining elements in the model. The baseline and final surveys were written to
specifically measure each of the elements in the dimensions of Schlossberg’s model (Figure 4.3).
3.7 Dependent variables
There were two dependent variables measured as part of this research. These variables were ‘transition experience’ measured at baseline which was within three weeks of commencing at the new secondary school, and ‘actual transition experience’ measured at six months post- transition being six months after moving to the new secondary school. This researcher
acknowledges the collection of baseline data in the last term of Year 6 would provide the most accurate results for this cohort. The privacy and ethical requirements of the differing school systems that WA primary schools operate in, the project timeline, and the most amenable window for baseline data collection occurring only in the first part of the school year meant much of the baseline data would be retrospectively collectedfor this project.
The dependent variable ‘transition experience’ was measured by one question posed in the baseline survey, and based on the previous work of Akos and Galassi (2002; 2004). To assess ‘transition experience’, students were asked, ‘how was the move from primary school for you?’ to which students could choose from response options of ‘difficult’, ‘somewhat difficult’, ‘somewhat easy’ and ‘easy’. The purpose of this variable was to measure students’ subjective perception of their transition experience soon after commencing at secondary school. Similarly, the dependent variable ‘actual transition experience’ was measured by this same question posed in the post-transition survey administered in Year 7, Term 3 at the case study school. The purpose of this question was to gauge students’ subjective perceptions of their transition experience six months post-transition into secondary school.
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3.8 Independent variables
The survey questions for this research were matched to the elements of each domain of Schossberg’s model (1981) as shown in Figure 3.3 in order to capture the complexity of the transition experience. The academic progress of participants was measured by separate
questions and review of each student’s record file. Any domain elements that were homogenous for all participants, e.g. the timing of transition, were removed from the model. Demographic variables of sex and socio-economic status were also removed, as they were conditions of the research questions