Purdy, N., Walsh, G., Orr, K., Rowan, A., Symington, E., and Winter, F. (2024) Transfer Talks

Abstract

During the 2020-2021 academic year, the transfer tests used by grammar schools to select admissions to year 8 were first postponed and then cancelled as a result of ongoing public health concerns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Consequently, admission to grammar schools for September 2021 was instead determined by alternative criteria set by individual schools, all but three of which adopted non-academic criteria. The ‘non-testing’ cohort of children who began their post-primary education in September 2021 (and are currently in year 10) therefore represent a unique cohort of children within post-primary schools since they transferred using very different admissions criteria (on the part of the grammar schools) from previous or subsequent years.

This original research project, funded by the Office of the Mental Health Champion of Northern Ireland, aimed to explore pupils’, parents’/carers’ and teachers’ lived experiences of that non-testing year of post-primary transfer in Northern Ireland, including the perceived impact on children’s emotional health and wellbeing. The study adopted a mixed methodological approach involving two online surveys, the first completed by the 2020-2021 P7 cohort who are now in year 10 (n = 135) and the second by their parents/carers (n = 159); followed by a range of semi-structured interviews with a variety of adult and child participant groups including grammar and non-grammar school leaders (n=12), primary school leaders (n=6), parents/carers (n=23) and, most importantly, the young people themselves in both grammar and non-grammar settings (n=41). The research was conducted between May and November 2023.