Primary School Students’ Perspective on Transition to Lower Secondary School. Expectations, Educational Needs, Peer Influences

This study focuses on the perspective of fourth grade students concerning the specific experiences of starting lower secondary school. We chose an inductive approach, the study relying on a qualitative analysis of the written answers of 94 fourth grade students from a school in Cluj county. Participants answered a questionnaire with 5 open-ended questions about their expectations and needs regarding the future school transition, as well as the sources of information they generally refer to. The aim of the investigation was to identify the actual educational needs of the students during the transition from one educational cycle to another, directly starting from their perspective, opinions and expectations. After classifying the responses according to the positive or negative nature of the expectations, as well as the aspects referred to by the pupils, we observed that the same features of the transition to lower secondary school were considered by some as positive and desirable, and by others as negative and undesirable, fears. For example, changing classmates is perceived by some as an opportunity to make new friends (positive emotions), while for others it causes negative emotions because of separation from old classmates or fear of being rejected by new classmates. Therefore, the challenge felt by students is not the change itself, but is the meaning the student attaches to the changes they perceive during their transition to lower secondary school, thus the influence of older peers becomes more significant.