Do you remember starting work at your current school? It might have been this academic year, while for others the Millenium may still have been on the horizon. Either way, do you think you can remember what your main concerns were? Here were mine (in no particular order):
- Where are the toilets? - How does the photocopier work? - What’s my classroom like? - Will people talk to me in the staff room? - Will I remember how to teach? - Seriously, where are the toilets?
My suspicion is that is some of those are not a million miles away from how pupils feel when they move to secondary school. There are lots of understandable social, emotional and logistical concerns and a great deal is done to support these aspects of the transition. However, that penultimate bullet point hints at aspects of an academic transition. What will the learning be like? Will I be able to cope with it? Will I remember anything from primary school? You might work out where the toilets are, but if the answer to that equation in Maths seems impossible, then it will have an impact on how you feel about secondary school.
The transition dip
Research across several countries has flagged up similar threats at the transition, potentially leading to academic dips and negative experiences for pupils [1].
The project collected lesson materials from eight primaries and five secondaries for years 5 – 8 across English, Maths, Science, Geography and History. Resources submitted included:
- Powerpoint presentations - Worksheets - Text books - Exams/assessments
In total this created a corpus of over 2.3 million words, so while the sample size of schools was small, the volume of words available for analysis is enough to be able to see trends emerging. The project team was also aware that you might see similar trends across other four year periods of education, but data collection was focused on the most common year groups for transition from primary to secondary.
Project findings and takeaways for teachers
1. The volume of words is greater at Key Stage 3 (KS3) than Key Stage 2 (KS2), especially for Maths and Science lessons. This suggests faster processing is required by pupils and there is perhaps a higher chance of feeling left behind by the learning in the lesson.
As well as considerations about just how much information might be packed onto a Powerpoint slide, this finding highlights the importance of selecting the right words to teach in more detail. It will be impossible to teach all new words in detail, so choosing ones which will act as a real cornerstone of the learning across a topic, and indeed a key stage, is important.
To assist the process of selection, practitioners may also find this resource a helpful starting point for discussions as it shows words that are more frequent at each key stage, in each subject area.
2. The language of Maths moves from the concrete to the abstract
Maths questions at KS2 are grounded in real world events.
Tilly has £20. She gives £5.40 to her friend. Tilly now has twice as much money as her friend. How much money did her friend have at the start?
But at KS3 might be framed more like:
Two children share £30. One child has x pounds, twice as much as her friend. How much do they each have?
The Maths is often remarkably similar, so it seems important for teachers to be aware of the barrier that the language of the question is placing on pupils and develop strategies to help support their reading of the question.
3. Polysemy (words with many meanings) is present in all subjects and stages but is most prevalent in Science at KS3.
The tricky thing with polysemy is it can lead to assumptions by pupils and teachers. They may have heard the word ‘power’ in a more everyday sense, perhaps related to Superheroes, or maybe a car. However, this understanding will likely not be enough in a Science lesson where there is a specific definition and equation to learn and understand.
4. The language of English moves from a focus on grammar to a focus on analysis
When you look at the list of words that are more frequent at each key stage, there is a notable pattern – plenty of grammar at KS2; lots of thinking about writers creating effects on readers at KS3. This does not mean secondary English lessons are devoid of grammar, and nor will primary lessons be lacking in analysis, but the frequency of these respective tasks does seem to shift. This likely reflects the curriculum and assessment demands at the respective key stages: secure knowledge and identification of grammatical terms is crucial at KS2, while at KS3 the consideration of the effects a writer creates are a nod towards the importance of these skills for GCSE. Making it clear to pupils at the transition that this shift is occurring, taking the time to unpick those concepts of ‘writer’ and ‘reader’ would therefore seem a very worthwhile endeavour.
Supporting the academic transition
Feeling a sense of belonging and happiness at school is what we want for all children, and the transition from primary to secondary is replete with challenges in that regards. Primary and secondary schools do a great deal to support the pastoral transition, but perhaps there is scope to support pupils’ academic transition through the lens of vocabulary. After all, if they feel confident in the classroom this will go a long way to making them feel content at their new school.
