SPUR Project

2011 winner (7 of 20)

Children's social and emotional wellbeing during the transition to secondary school

Supervisors: Dr Lucy Betts, Professor Jean Underwood (both Psychology)

Student: Cathryn Neesam

Children’s emotional experience and their social and emotional wellbeing can impact on both their school adjustment and their academic performance. Consequently, schools should promote not only academic performance but also children’s SEW. One mechanism frequently used by schools to promote SEW is through social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions. These research informed interventions have been developed to promote SEL competence whilst simultaneously reducing risk factors and fostering mechanisms for positive adjustment. The project worked with one secondary school and their associated feeder primary school to evaluate the effectiveness of the five bridges approach as a method of supporting children during the transition. Student tasks included a literature review, assistance with the design of a focus group schedule, data collection through focus groups and questionnaires at the secondary school and associated feeder school, data input and analysis and report writing.