Transition to post-primary school in Ireland: exploring the voices of children with mild intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Background: The transition from primary to post-primary school is one of the key junctions in education for young people. With school playing a key role in the lives of students, the shift from a familiar to novel environment brings a unique set of challenges. This transition can present greater challenges for students with special educational needs (SEN). Yet the experiences of students with SEN from their perspective has received little attention in the literature. This research explored the experience of transitioning to post-primary school in Ireland for students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities (MID) and utilised Lundy’s Model of Participation as it’s theoretical framework. Methods: Three participants from different schools engaged in three semi-structured individual interviews. The interviews were completed with each student pre-, mid-, and post-transition. Universal Design for Learning approaches were employed to support the students’ participation in and comprehension of the research. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilised to analyse the data. Findings: Apprehension for a new social environment and enthusiasm and anxiety in relation to making friends were key features of the students’ pre-transitional experiences. The sustained positive impact of transitional supports characterised the mid-transition experience. Post-transition, students emphasised the positive impact of support they received in post-primary school, specifically the impact co-teaching had on developing their sense of belonging with their class. Conclusions: The results indicated that transitioning to post-primary school for students with MID is an entirely individual experience, which is impacted by social, contextual, and personal factors. The utility of Lundy’s Model of Participation as a framework to inform and support the participation of students with MID in research was evident. Implications for both policy and practice in terms of addressing existing tensions within inclusive education and integration of student perspective in policy development are discussed. Directions for future research involves conducting follow-up research at later stage following the transition and conducting more in-depth qualitative research with students with SEN.