Uso de insecticidas químicos comerciales

Howe, Brandon, Hinings and Schofield (1999) state; "School life with its rich environment of new relationships and tasks, presents children with occasions to identify, develop and establish fresh, more robust and socially valued aspects of the self" (Howe et al 1990, p.260).

6.6.1 Perceptions

The findings of this study highlighted that perceptions held by participants proved important to their experiences of transition. Many participants expressed a desire to be “liked” and viewed in a positive light by others within their school context. For Maria, Anna and Zack being “liked” by adults in their new schools helped them to feel better able to forge important relationships with key staff members. Asif, Maria and Amina expressed the

importance of adults within their new schools knowing about their challenges. For

participants, it seemed important that adult’s perceptions of them were positive whilst still acknowledging and responding to their needs and challenges. Having adults who “knew” about their needs was also deemed helpful to participants and helped them to shape more positive perceptions of adults. Participants demonstrated a shift in help-seeking

behaviours post-transition. This was catapulted by participants’ shifts in their perceptions of adults seeing adults as more responsive and supportive and understanding.

Participants may have found it helpful to feel that adult’s perceptions of them included an understanding of their difficulties and needs in ways which acknowledged, accepted, responded to and supported their difficulties, challenges and needs.

Children with SEMH needs are often cited as presenting with low self-esteem (Jelessma et al. 2015). Low self-esteem is linked to holding negative perceptions of the self.

Concerns with how adults perceived them may have shaped participant’s self-perceptions leading to more positive self-concepts. Perceptions of adults and peers, therefore, seemed to come hand in hand. This demonstrated an interconnection between participants;

perceptions of themselves; their perceptions of adults and their participant’s levels of trust in adults. For example, the importance of how pupils perceive and are perceived by school staff and the possible impact of this upon pupils’ transition experiences has also been stipulated as an essential aspect related to the facilitation of the development of positive learning relationships between pupils and staff (Vygotsky, Tobbell, 2003). Tobbell (2003) found that through positive shifts in perceptions of staff, pupils developed an

increased interest in learning and engaged in more positive engagements with teachers. The current study suggests that positive shifts in perceptions of adults in school also encouraged participants to become more engaged in help-seeking behaviours; developed and improved their levels of trust in adults and supported a sense of safety and trust.

As stipulated in previous studies; Tobbell (2003), this study suggests that relationships and the quality of these within the school context proved significant to shaping participants

Studies also suggest a correlation between SEMH population's capacities to make strong social, emotional and behavioural adjustments with more positive and higher quality interrelations between pupils and staff (Breeman, Wubbels, Van Lier, Vershult, Van Der Ende, Maras, Hopman & Tick, 2015).

Shifts in their perceptions were understood as facilitating participants’ levels of readiness to engage with others in ways which helped facilitate the development of positive

relationships in their new school contexts.

Tobbell (2003) found that through positive shifts in perceptions of staff, pupils developed an increased interest in learning and engaged in more positive engagements with

teachers. The current study suggests that positive shifts in perceptions of adults in school also encouraged participants to become more engaged in help-seeking behaviours;

developed and improved their levels of trust in adults and supported a sense of safety and trust.

In order facilitate this establishment of a new beginning; it may have been helpful for participants to disassociate themselves from experiences of schooling which did not fit with the new beginnings that they endeavoured to carve out for themselves. The polar opposite views of primary and secondary school experiences, which was a common emergence within all interviews, highlighted participants need to locate all of their negative experiences in their primary school settings and contexts whilst attributing more positive experiences to their current secondary school contexts.

Joe described teachers in his primary school setting as "not teaching him properly"; he also described his primary school as a place he experienced as "hell" which he "had to live through". Maria, expressed feelings of being misunderstood. This was compounded by her perception that she had developed a "bad reputation" which, from her perspective resulted in staff members in her primary school treating her unjustly. Similarly, Zack and Asif both expressed regularly feeling that staff in their primary schools did not listen to them and were unfair to them due to their past behaviours. Amina and Anna also rated their secondary school experiences as vastly higher than their collective time in primary school. Both citied having more friends and feeling listened to in their secondary schools as key reasons for these more positive ratings for secondary school.

The idea of perceptions and how these shape experiences and relationships within the school context have been highlighted within this study. Previous studies suggest that pupil's levels of well-being are significantly more impacted by pupil's perceptions of the level and quality of support given than the actual level of support provided (Wethington & Kessler 1986; Ruscinski; Brown & Downer 2018; Jellesma; Zee & Koomen, 2015).

From a psychodynamic perspective, Klein proposed the defence mechanism of splitting which C&YP use to manage anxiety and stress. Coherent splitting entails psychologically and emotionally splitting the objects, i.e. events/people associated with good experiences from ones which they have associated with bad experiences. This can help to understand participants need to locate all of the "bad" into the primary school. Through splitting, children can preserve the "good" aspects and experiences while preserving the self as according to Klein during such times the “self" is dependent upon the split-off "good". Klein makes the link between perception and experiences as Kleinian perspectives on self-defences propose that such defence mechanism were based upon children's

perceptions of threat and their perceived threat of annihilation (Spillus, Garvey, Couve, & Steiner 2011).

Splitting their current from their primary school experiences may have hugely facilitated participants to action and conceptualise their narratives of new beginnings by

psychologically defending themselves from their past difficulties and allowing them to start anew.