Preparing to transition to secondary education: perceptions of Dutch pupils with migrant backgrounds

Abstract

Background:The transition from primary school to secondary school is a crucial period of time for children and this may be especially the case for pupils with migrant backgrounds. While there has been considerable research on the transition from primary to secondary school, more needs to be known specifically about the experiences of this group of pupils during their final year of primary school, as they prepare for their transition to secondary school. Purpose: The study investigated how Dutch children with migrant backgrounds in their final year of primary school perceive the preparatory process for the transition to secondary school. In particular, we were interested in who the children felt were the important 'actors' (e.g. pupils, parents, teachers and others) in the preparatory process. Sample: We collected data from 76 primary school pupils from three schools in an urban city in the Netherlands. The sample included pupils who, according to the Dutch system, were preparing to follow an academic pathway (i.e. the tracks known in this system as 'HAVO' or 'VWO') and those who were preparing to follow a vocational pathway (i.e. the track known as 'VMBO') in secondary education. Design and methods: We used photo elicitation (N = 76) and also conducted semi-structured interviews with a subsample of the pupils (N = 25) to examine the roles of the important actors in the preparatory process. Data were analysed qualitatively; responses were coded and underwent pattern analysis in order to identify and describe repeating structures in the data. Data were grouped according to whether the pupils received school recommendations for an academic track or a vocational track. Results: Findings suggested that the pupils perceived the most important actors to be the pupil, the classroom teacher and the parents. Both teachers and parents were considered valuable resources for pupils in the preparatory process. Patterns representing the participants' perceptions of the roles of three actors -namely, (1) the child, (2) the classroom teacher and (3) the parents, were identified. Six patterns were identified with respect to the child, four with respect to the classroom teacher and two with respect to the parents. For some patterns, it was apparent that the responses of children in the vocational group and the academic group had different emphases.

Track choice, school engagement and feelings of perceived control at the transition from primary to secondary school

“…Third, the importance of teacher assessments and feelings of futility in explaining differences in behavioural and cognitive engagement according to prospective track choice suggest that the labelling of pupils by teachers as being fit or unfit for certain tracks plays an important role. This is consistent with recent qualitative research in the Netherlands inquiring into pupils' pre-transition perceptions of different relevant actors' roles in the transition to secondary education (Rodrigues et al, 2018). In fact, this study shows that one of the important roles pupils assign to teachers in the choice process is that of labelling them as fit or unfit for academic education.…”

“…The findings of this study might therefore be read as a plea for reflexivity on the part of teachers when dealing with the allocation of pupils to tracks/ streams. Indeed, teachers should be aware that the way in which they label pupils -the vocabulary they use in discussing their pupils' prospective educational career -can have consequences for pupils' outlook on education (Boone, 2017;Rodrigues et al, 2018).…”

The educational trajectory of Newly Arrived Migrant Students: Insights from a structural analysis of cultural capital

“…While vocational track pupils often also had a network of people who had been in Belgium for several years, the members of these networks often possessed less strategic knowledge to share. Here, our findings resonate with previous research on the difference in social capital of migrants and minorities (Karssen, van der Veen, and Volman 2015;Rodrigues et al 2018).…”

How to acquire and use information about pupils to improve the transition from primary to secondary school?

“…Regardless of the age at which students make the transition and the educational system of which they are part, after the transition children must adapt to a new school and a new social environment [ 33 , 36 , 55 ]. In addition to the influence of the education system, intercultural differences, for example caused by migration, ethnicity and national policy, also can influence education and therefore also the transition [ [14] , [29] , [44] ].…”