The transition from primary to secondary school of female students : a parental perspective

Abstract

This research investigates the impacts of the transition from primary to secondary school on female students from a parental perspective. Moreover, it explores the aspect of parental participation in schools during the period of transition. In order to examine the above issues, a questionnaire was devised and distributed to Form 1 female students at three different schools on the island: St. Philip's Church School, St. Anne's Independent School and St. Peter's State School. The students were instructed to forward the questionnaire to their parents for them to complete. This enabled the researcher to compare the effects of the transition on female students enrolled in three different educational institutions. The survey aims to highlight the students' pre-transitional worries as well as challenges, if any, that they encountered during their first year in secondary school. Furthermore, the issue of parental involvement was given considerable attention. The results obtained from this study shed light on the reality that the transition from primary to secondary school presents to Form 1 female students. Additionally, it offers some recommendations for diminishing students' fears and anxieties aroused by the transition as well as propositions for improving parental involvement in schools with the aim of facilitating a more coherent and less fractured transfer from primary to secondary school.