Support from parents and teachers is important during educational transitions (Jaruseviciute)
During the comprehensive school, students face at least three educational transitions. Many kindergarten children are eager to start Grade 1 and learn new subjects. Adolescents may be excited about entering a new school level due to the higher independence or the ability to choose their career path. However, some students find these choices and changes challenging which may reflect on how they behave or adapt to transitions. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze what individual and environmental factors may predict student adaptation across educational transitions.
In her dissertation Vilija Jaruseviciute aims to unravel the role of students’ temperament and their relationships with parents and teachers on student adaptation across multiple educational transitions: from kindergarten to Grade 1 (Study I in Lithuania), from primary school to lower secondary school (Study II in Finland), and from lower secondary school to upper secondary education (Study III in Finland).
Study I showed that how children behaved at the beginning of Grade 1 predicted their relationships with parents and teachers later in Grade 1. Children’s high prosocial behavior (i.e., helping, sharing) predicted close relationships with their teachers, whereas children's high externalizing problems (i.e., disruptive behavior, hyperactivity) predicted conflicts with both parents and teachers.
Study II showed that in general prosocial behavior decreased and externalizing and internalizing problems (i.e., anxiety, depressive symptoms) increased across the transition to lower secondary school. The results showed how adolescents’ temperament and their relationships with parents and teachers predicted adolescents’ adaptation during transition. For instance, when adolescents were able to control their behavior and emotions, they had closer relationships with their mothers and then were more prosocial. In addition, when adolescents with higher difficulty in dealing with their emotions also had conflicts with their mothers and teachers, they had more externalizing problems.
Study III focused on different groups of adolescents in terms of their adaptation during the transition to upper secondary education. Results showed that most adolescents adapted well (64.9%), however, three other groups had adaptation challenges either across (25.8%), before (7.4%), or after the transition (1.9%).
Overall, the dissertation makes a novel contribution by investigating how student adaptation changes across educational transition, and how it differs between individuals. The findings support the importance of close relationships with parents and teachers for the successful adaptation of students with different temperament.
The dissertation is based on ”Get involved! Transition to grade 1” and STAIRWAY studies which were funded by the Academy of Finland. Vilija Jaruseviciute was funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Department of Psychology of the University of Jyväskylä.
MA (Education) Vilija Jaruseviciute defends her doctoral dissertation in psychology "Children’s and Adolescents’ Adaptation During the Educational Transitions: The Role of Temperament and Relationships with Parents and Teachers". The opponent is Professor Julia Jäkel (University of Oulu) and the custos is Professor Noona Kiuru (University of Jyväskylä). The event is held in English and it can be followed via this link.
