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“Everybody will be bigger than me”: Children's Perceptions of the Transition to High School

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Peter Mertin ,
Elizabeth Haebich  and
Judy Lokan
Peter Mertin*
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, S.A.
Elizabeth Haebich
Affiliation:
Underdale College of Advanced Education, S.A.
Judy Lokan
Affiliation:
Family Planning Association, S.A.
*
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Mitchell House, 18 Fitzroy Terrace, Prospect, SA 5082
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Abstract

Grade 7 children's attitudes to high school were assessed through their drawings of how they perceived high school prior to making the transition from primary school. Seven categories were used to analyse the drawings. The results revealed a preponderance of negative features in the drawings, especially amongst the boys. Anxieties such as vulnerability in the new school environment were suggested. A follow-up, once the adolescents had been in high school for six months, revealed more positive features in the drawings indicative of adjustment to the new school environment, and no sex difference in the ratio of positive to negative features was recorded.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , November 1989 , pp. 2 - 5
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 1989

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