Planning and support required to ease transition to second level

The need for more co-ordinated planning and support for moving to second-level schools has emerged from research with students with special needs and their parents.

While previous studies on the transition to second-level education have focused mainly on general pupil populations, the team led by NUI Maynooth psychology department head, Yvonne Barnes-Holmes, worked with 32 students with a wide range of special educational needs (SEN) to examine experiences before and after moving from primary school. They had attended 22 mainstream and eight special schools and took part in focus groups late in sixth class and early in first year.

Most of their parents took part in focus groups and three were interviewed by researchers, who carried out the work for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).