Transition from primary to lower secondary school in Austria. Findings from a longitudinal study during COVID-19

Abstract Transition from the familiar environment of primary school to the larger, more complex setting of secondary school is, for most students, marked by social and academic challenges as well as a need to fit in. The aim of this contribution is to investigate the possible impact of achievement-related personal resources and social support in coping with the developmental task of transitioning from primary to lower secondary school during COVID-19. We make the assumption that a sudden shift to distance learning due to the pandemic intensified the challenges of transitioning to secondary school and led to educational disadvantage, in particular for students who were struggling with the demands of self-regulated distance learning. Data were generated from a longitudinal study carried out in a rural-alpine region of Austria in 2021 and 2022. During the time where COVID-19 was affecting education, 188 pupils were surveyed in the year prior to and after their transition from primary to lower secondary school. In order to analyse the impact of achievement-related personal resources and social support, a multivariate hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Results showed that managing the transition to lower secondary school relied heavily upon pupils’ ability to cope with self-regulatory demands of distance learning, their achievement-related personal resources and social integration in class in primary school. However, from the findings, we can conclude that social support in secondary school also plays an important role. The ability to cope with social and academic demands in secondary school is at a higher level when pupils receive school-related support from their parents, recognise their school climate as supportive and perceive their teachers’ expertise in judging academic achievements as high.