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The Structure of Pupils' Worries During Transition from Junior to Secondary School
Author(s) -
Brown Jennifer M.,
Armstrong R.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/0141192820080202
Subject(s) - guttman scale , psychology , interpersonal communication , perception , multidimensional scaling , space (punctuation) , interpersonal relationship , social psychology , mathematics education , developmental psychology , mathematics , statistics , computer science , neuroscience , operating system
Transfer from junior to secondary school is not necessarily accomplished painlessly by children. There has been a general failure to monitor the child's own perception of transition. Worries, as experienced by pupils themselves, may be uncovered by collecting accounts from children ( N = 173). Problems in analysing qualitative date are overcome by using a non‐metric multidimensional scaling analysis (the Guttman‐Lingoes Smallest Space Analysis). This procedure intercorrelates items (worries) and represents them as points in a spatial array. Three distinct regions are identifiable in the multidimensional space concerning worries about interpersonal and social relationships, school work and discipline. The structure of these three sources of worries is demonstrated by means of another Guttman procedure, partial order scalogram analysis (POSA). Worries are shown to be qualitatively and quantitatively different over time. Teachers' perception of worries are demonstrated to be different from those of the children. Findings are discussed in relation to pastoral care .