Transition

The language we use is always evolving with new words entering our vocabulary from a variety of sources. From the derivatives of youth culture, such as the recently popularised ‘rizz’, or names arising from technology like ‘clickbait’ and made up composites like ‘brexit’, it is easily recognised that we use words today that would not have featured even just a few years ago.

Another less conscious factor of our changing language is how already established words suddenly become more in vogue. I think everyone is aware that language is fashionable even though we don’t generally tend to give it much thought. Like everything else that makes up our lives, words can become on trend in exactly the same way as music, clothes, furniture or holiday destinations.

One such word currently featuring heavily in our lexicon is ‘transition’. Change simply doesn’t do the job anymore. Nothing of any relevance just changes, it has to transition! The word somehow has more weight, it attracts attention, and makes simpler words like alter, move, switch, and shift mostly redundant. You find examples of how frequently we use this word everywhere. Transitions in phases of your life. Transition in films. Transition in sport, and of course we find it in education, particularly at this time of year when everyone appears to be transitioning.

There is undoubtedly a strong argument for putting in place activities to support the switch to high school. For many years this has been a cause of anxiety for 11 year old boys and girls with their fears often fueled by embellished stories, pedaled by older siblings, of ‘pyscho’ teachers or fictitious accounts that appear out of the ether of bullies unceremoniously flushing the heads of Year 7 boys down the toilet. Nobody wants pupils approaching their new schools with fear and trepidation, so the implementation of induction days makes perfect sense. It provides experience of walking the building, it removes the element of initial fright and can offer valuable reassurance. It is humane, makes sense and is far removed from the challenging first day experience that my generation suffered. We turned up with little or no prior knowledge and intimidated by the size and scale of our new surroundings and traumatized by urban myths circulated amongst our communities to deliberately cause apprehension and fear. That didn’t do anyone any good at all.

Today we are more caring and quite rightly so. Where it becomes more of a problem for me is the apparent need to provide opportunities for pupils to spend whole days with their next teacher in a primary school. Is it really necessary? It is the same building, same journey to school, same uniform. In some cases I have even seen pupils having these ‘special days’ when they aren’t even changing classrooms. Why do pupils need to spend a whole day with a teacher who works 20 metres down the corridor and who they regularly see on playground duty. I think it may be possible that schools introduce them because they don’t want to be accused by parents of not being sensitive to the needs of their child, even though in reality it is often the needs of the parents that are mainly being catered for here.

One of the best qualities of young children is their resilience, they very quickly adapt to change. When they do find difficulties in adjusting they have usually been heavily influenced by the anxiety of adults. All the best teachers can reassure, cajole and settle children in a matter of moments. They build trusting relationships and they best achieve this over a short sustained period of time. Not in a single day.

I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I was opposed to attempts at making the change from one year group to another smooth and painless for pupils and staff. What I do feel however is that we now place too much emphasis upon moving ‘up a year’ when really it is just normal practice. It is almost like we are alerting the pupils to it being some big thing that may be an issue for them. The transition ‘bandwagon’ is now speeding through schools at great pace and with schools desperate to show they are thinking about the child’s needs and trying to find innovative ways to demonstrate they are more caring than the school down the road.  I wonder where it will end. It can only be a matter of time before opportunities to take your new teacher home for tea is suggested.

I believe that good schools always put their pupils first. It is what they do. We should not feel pressurised to implement processes and procedures because they are in fashion and have been assigned some important sounding word or catch phrase that trendy leaders band about to give them credence and status. Let the children spend a few minutes with their new teacher if possible, show them the new entrance they will use if applicable. Just don’t make it a huge thing. In many cases the children will have forgotten it all in the 7 or 8 weeks between these days and the start of the new year and I really love the start of the academic year. It is full of optimism, and full of energy. It’s a fresh beginning, not some simple isolated event lacking real purpose and meaning. It is the new year that matters.