The linguistic challenge of the transition from primary school to secondary school: Interviews with school students

This archive contains files containing interview transcripts and accompanying materials from the ESRC project ‘The linguistic challenges of the transition from primary school to secondary school’, grant ref: ES/R006687/1.

Interview data
School students at five different primary schools in Yorkshire were interviewed about their perceptions of the transition to secondary school. Six students were interviewed in each group, though in some interviews, one student was absent.
The interview data folder contains 17 interview transcripts. The interviews were carried out in 4 phases. Phase 1 took place in March- April 2019, when the students were in Year 6 of their primary school and were preparing for SATs. There are five interviews in this phase. Phase 2 took place in June 2019, after students had taken SATs and were engaged in activities to prepare them for the transition. Phase 3 took place in September 2019 for four groups and November 2019 for the fifth. This interviews took place at the students’ secondary schools; the five primary schools feed three different secondary schools. At this point, the students were in different tutor groups at school, but met in their original interview groups. Phase 4 took place in early March, and only two groups were interviewed before schools closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The file names indicate the Phase, school number with p or s for primary or secondary school; in the case of secondary schools, which primary school the students had attended is indicated, and the date of the interview.
The students’ names are pseudonyms.
Informed consent was given by the students’ parents or guardians at two points, before Phase 1 and before Phase 3.

Interview schedules
The interview schedules folder contains schedules for the four interviews. There are also some associated materials, as at several points, the interviewer focussed on school tasks and materials.

Guardian information sheet and consent form
This provided information for parents or guardians of the students who participated.