An investigation of the "Smart Moves" school transition preparation pilot programme in Ireland

Abstract

The aim of this current research project was to evaluate a school transition pilot programme called ‘Smart Moves’ (SM) which is currently being launched by the ISPCC in Ireland. The programme aims to increase pupils’ resilience and wellbeing as they prepare to make the move from primary to secondary school. A review of the current literature has identified a gap in the supports being provided to young people in Ireland making this transition. SM is a programme of evidence-based short sessions to help young people develop learnable skills. These sessions are facilitated by the class teacher, typically in 6th class, and are run with the whole class group. For the current investigation, pupils participating in the SM experimental condition (n = 41), were compared to pupils in a control condition (n = 38), on their scores on measures of resilience (Child Youth Resilience Measure) and wellbeing (Stirling Children’s Wellbeing Scale). Pupils in both conditions were assessed before beginning the SM programme, and after the SM intervention had been delivered. No significant effect was found on participants’ scores in resilience or wellbeing when compared with the control group. Qualitative data relating to pupils’ experiences of the SM programme was gathered from the SM condition (n = 49). Data from pupils indicated that they liked participating in the SM program, with an overall 70% approval rate from pupils themselves. The majority of participants liked the ‘discussion’ activities the most, and the session on friendship was their favourite. Qualitative data from the teachers who administered SM was gathered via an online semi-structured interview, in order to better understand their perceptions of the pupils’ experiences. Analysis revealed themes such as increased resilience and increased emotional literacy among pupils. In addition, fidelity checks were completed by the researcher to inform future implementation of the Smart Moves programme in schools.