School transition is a life changing event for children - they are rarely faced with such a powerful set of personal and social changes. These underpin the immediate and longer term wellbeing of children, peer groups, teachers and schools. Understanding School Transition provides a most comprehensive, international review of this important area, complete with practical advice on what practitioners can do to support children’s wellbeing, motivation and achievement. Offering an accessible introduction to children’s psychology at transition, Understanding School Transition explores transition as a status passage, what we really mean by wellbeing, and the ways in which children adapt to new environments. Key chapters focus on: Understanding stress and anxiety Children’s hopes, fears and myths at transition Parents’ and teachers’ influence and role Children’s relationships with peers as they change schools Children’s personal and collective identities Motivation, engagement and achievement Supporting the most vulnerable children Crucially, it advises how you can help children through implementing transition interventions and evaluating their success in your own school. Illustrated by case studies of experiences in real schools, Understanding School Transition will be essential reading for all training and practising teachers, as well as transition and subject specialists, who want to better understand and influence what happens to children at this critical stage.

School refusal is a crippling condition in which children experience extreme anxiety or panic attacks when faced with everyday school life. This book aims to explore, raise awareness of the problem and provide plans and strategies for education, health and social care professionals for identifying and addressing this problem

Providing a focus on meaningful involvement and participation in communities and activities of choice, that secure benefits for all, the chapter authors examine both innovative evidence-based practices that facilitate transition, and potential barriers, supplemented by informative case studies.

With detailed examples of best practices from middle schools across the country, this book features research-based strategies and suggestions for transition programs. It covers the roles of school principals, counselors, classroom teachers, and the central office.

This book provides an important compilation and synthesis of current work in transition to school research. The book focuses strongly on the theoretical underpinnings of research in transition to school. It outlines key theoretical positions and connects those to the implications for policy and practice, thereby challenging readers to re-conceptualize their understandings, expectations and perceptions of transition to school. The exploration of this range of theoretical perspectives and the application of these to a wide range of research and research contexts makes this book an important and innovative contribution to the scholarship of transition to school research. A substantial part of the book is devoted to detailed examples of transition to school practice. These chapters provide innovative examples of evidence-based practice and contribute in turn, to practice-based evidence. The book is also devoted to considering policy issues and implications related to the transition to school. It records a genuine, collaborative effort to bring together a range of perspectives into a Transition to School Position Statement that will inform ongoing research, practice and policy. The collaborative, research, policy and practice based development of this position statement represents a world-first.

How can we make sense of change and stability through the lifespan of human development? What role does personal experience, our relationships with others, and historical and sociocultural contexts play in shaping these changes? This is the first book to offer an integrative overview of the range of developmental transitions which occur through the lifespan. Bringing together different theoretical and conceptual perspectives and a broad range of empirical research including quantitative and qualitative approaches, this book encompasses a range of complex transitional forms. Covering topics such as health transitions, transitions in friendships and romantic relationships, career transitions, and societal transitions, this book takes the reader beyond a focus on childhood and adolescence, to look at the whole lifespan. Reflecting a perspective that takes into account a sociocultural past and present, this book seeks to show how transitions can be viewed as both an experience of uncertainty and possibility. Transitions perform important functions and present psychosocial opportunities. Developmental Transitions is essential reading for all undergraduate and graduate students of developmental and cultural psychology and is also a valuable resource for academics and practitioner audiences interested in stability and change as people age.

In order to become a more effective practitioner every teacher needs to have a sound understanding of the theoretical, social and historical context in which their work takes place. Understanding Primary Physical Education goes further than any other textbook in exploring the development of physical education teaching at the primary and elementary level, drawing together important research from across the educational and sociological literature. The book goes beyond everyday teaching practice at an operational level to encourage students, trainee teachers and researchers to develop a critical understanding of policy, process and practice in primary physical education. By rooting everyday documents and everyday issues in a broader, connected educational and developmental landscape, this book challenges casual assumptions and encourages a better, more thoughtful teaching practice. It is an essential companion for any degree level course in primary physical education.

`This is a book packed with ideas and insights. It is informed by evidence from school leaders and provides a valuable overview of many important theories and research findings. A strength of the book is the way it pulls together empirical research the authors have conducted over the last 20 years. Such a long term view offers a new and needed long term perspective on school leadership and enables the authors to show how trends in leaders′ careers, thinking and practice have emerged and unfolded. Researchers and practitioners alike will find something of value in this book′ - Professor Geoff Southworth, Director of Research, National College for School Leadership ′[A]n excellent, well-written, extensively referenced, empirically based contribution to school leadership thinking... Earley and Weindling offer valuable insights for all of us: serving headteachers/principles, advisory and distinct-wide policy makers and aspiring headteachers′ - Journal of Educational Administration By giving a detailed picture of the rapidly developing field of educational leadership, this book focuses on how to become a more effective manager and on understanding the vital importance of the manager′s role in school improvement. Written in a clear and readable style, it contains an extensive exploration of leadership models and management strategies and is based on the latest research. The text is supplemented with case studies of leadership in action. Understanding School Leadership is indispensable reading for those who have a managerial role within their school and for students of educational management.