(How) Does Information Provided by Children Affect the Transition from Primary to Secondary School?

The transition from primary to secondary school comes with changes in both the social- and the school context. This study focuses on assessing the concerns, expectations and experiences of 371 Dutch children making the transition. Data have been collected during four years. Also the effect of information to the mentor at secondary school on the transition is assessed through a blinded experiment. Results show that some children are more vulnerable for a poor transition such as children at special education schools, anxious children, and to a lesser extent, girls. However the results do not show that children who informed their mentor made a better transition. The intervention only has a small effect on the social context.