School transitions has been the subject of discussion nationally in recent years. In Wales, the government recently introduced statutory guidance (Wales Government, 2022) for schools, to produce and share transitions plans. In Northern Ireland the Department of Education have initiated a Transitions of Children into Education project (Department of Education NI, 2023) which aims to increase multidisciplinary working across early school transitions; and in England the Department for Education noted the impact of Covid-19 on children and young people’s transitions (Department for Education, 2022). In Scotland, a review of current policies reveals a notable increase in guidance on transitions in recent years. There are several key directives which include legislation, policy guidance and position statements which have been generated by the Scottish Government. The Education Additional Support for Learning Act (2004) and the supplementary Additional Support for Learning Statutory Guidance (2017) place duties on local authorities to prepare children for transitions and ensure that transitions arrangements are effective. The statutory guidance notes the need for strong collaboration to support transitions. The Act identifies appropriate timescales for planning processes as, not being less than six months at the early years stage and 12 months at secondary and post school stages. Transitions planning should be embedded in the LA policies and procedures for ASN, and the following principles of good practice noted:

Furthermore, while principles of good practice are identified, the underlying evidence base to which they relate has not been clearly outlined.

Research has indicated that the Covid pandemic has impacted significantly on school transitions (Bagnall et al., 2022) in that many pupils experienced little or no transitions support. Within Scotland, alongside two extended closures of schools and early learning centres, pupils experienced little/no; formal in-person transitions work, access to pupils from other schools also transitioning, home school liaison, contact with new staff, exposure to their current educational setting, as well as a reduction within the curriculum. This in turn led to less opportunities for learning, socialising, emotional developments and physical activity. Furthermore, children and young people experienced further transitions from home learning back to school and early years centres.

This research was undertaken during the Covid pandemic, and it offers the opportunity to re-focus on the importance and nature of effective transitions with a view to improving practice. It is important that school practitioners have timely access to the most EPs, as noted within the academic literature, to inform both planning and practice. This allows schools to maximise the opportunities for students to experience positive transitions. These appear to offer the greatest potential for positive outcomes in that children are then equipped with the tools they need to flourish in an ever-changing environment. The combination of empirical insights and practical guidance offer the opportunity for growth and development of our education system combining both elements of research and practice.

Research investigating the impact of school-based transitions for autistic children and children with other ASN’s has identified several helpful strategies that can be utilised in the planning of support. Fontil et al. (2020) undertook a systematic review of the literature and from 1,452 initial citations, included a total of 39 studies in the review. The review was based on transitions to kindergarten and included the views of people associated with the child. The central findings of the review highlighted the importance of collaborative practices, multi-disciplinary transitions meetings, the exchange of information across stakeholders, parental, and child visits prior to starting, transitions workshops, parent support groups and regular parent contact. The review concluded that teachers were lacking support and training in the facilitation of successful school transitions.

Other researchers have undertaken combined studies of pre-school and school transitions for autistic children. Nuske et al., (2019) undertook a systematic review of the transitions literature for students with ASD, looking particularly at areas of concern and strategies for success. The review considered data from 443 children. The study identified numerous strategies for pupils, parents and teachers that supported positive transitions. For students, the strongest evidence was identified for the use of tailored transitions supports, increasing exposure and predictability, social support, and coping strategies. For parents the strongest evidence was for clarifying and clearly communicating the transitions processes and for teachers the strongest evidence was found for inter-school and home communication, a transition facilitator and for student-centred planning. As in other reviews within this subject area the reviewers themselves noted difficulties with limited studies investigating transitions for autistic children and limitations around the studies including small sample sizes. As the authors note:

Cantali (2019) undertook a systematic review of the international literature investigating the holistic transitions experiences of children with ASN transitioning from primary to secondary school. The review aimed to identify and critique existing international literature of primary to secondary school transitions, as well as identify good practice and gaps within the literature. The review acknowledged there was limited literature focusing on good practice in school transitions for pupils with ASN. The review found that over a 15-year period, 52 texts were identified of which only 22 included empirical studies. The author concluded that supported transitions were essential for children with ASN and echoed other researchers in stressing the importance that transitions are tailored to children’s needs.

Further, Hoy et al., (2018) noted the shortage of research investigating EPs with autistic children. They utilised a case study approach using semi-structured interviews with 5 autistic children, 6 parents and 4 teachers. Their research identified the 5 key themes of transitions as: inclusion, child centred approach, familiarisation, visual supports and communication and consistency. The authors noted the limitations of the small-scale research in terms of generalisability.

It appears pertinent that practitioners designing school transitions policies and practices show awareness and understanding of research findings regarding effective transitions practices as well as the nature and impact of multiple transitions experienced by children, young people and families undertaking school-based transitions.

Theoretical frameworks can further the understanding of school-based transitions and Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions theory (Jindal-Snape, 2016) is particularly relevant for practitioners working in this area. Within this theoretical framework, transitions are conceptualised as an ongoing process of social, psychological and educational adaptations, which are sought to be understood in terms of multiple transitions for both the individual and significant others. The theory considers other accompanying, or triggered transitions that happen because of the transitions. Indeed, the transitions itself may have been triggered by another transition. It highlights the multiple layers of transitions and crucially their interactions. The theory emphasises that children experience many transitions at the same time across several domains when changing school (e.g., social, academic, pedagogical, psychological, contextual). These multiple transitions impact on each other as well as the environments of others, for example, friends, parents, and teachers. The theory draws upon Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner 1979, Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) whereby an individual’s development is influenced by the environment around them and their interaction with it, at both micro and macro levels. The theory also incorporates understandings from complexity theory (Zimmerman et al., 2008), which further acknowledges the complex and dynamic nature of transitions. Within this system, transitions are not viewed as linear but as continually evolving. In utilising this theory, researchers and practitioners can consider the holistic nature of school transitions and the complexity of the changes experienced by pupils as well as others around them. It also supports those looking to intervene effectively in school transitions away from a ‘one shoe fits all’ approach to investigating a series of interventions targeted at various levels. This is particularly important for children and young people with ASN.

Further, Jindal-Snape (2023) purports that individuals’ beliefs, experiences of transitions, relationships, discourse, and support systems, provide resources for pupils to navigate their transitions. She identifies the importance of resources within the transitions process. Jindal-Snape identifies the 12 pillars which are shown below. The dimensions are inter-dependant and have been separated for the purposes of noting them. Jindal-Snape highlights that the dimensions are dynamic and will change in their availability over time. These domains align with MMT theory. The 12 dimensions determining Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions are:

Helpfully within this conceptual framework the 12 pillars can be built upon and supported and those wishing to do so are offered identifiable areas within which to intervene.

Study One below reports the findings of a review of the published peer-reviewed literature aimed at identifying effective strategies for school-based transitions with autistic pupils, for use by early years centres, schools, and local authorities. Study two then utilised this information to review a selection of policies within one Scottish LA to establish the extent to which evidence-based practices, for autistic children, featured in existing school policies. It is hoped that clear identification of what the literature deems effective school-based transitions practice will mean these practices are identifiable and increasingly used in future school transitions policy development. This research is one part of a wider project which aimed to co-produce transitions guidance for schools for autistic pupils. The research aimed to firstly identify the nature of EPs and then to answer the research question of what transitions practices are currently used to support autistic children and young people within the LA?

Table 2 identifies the responses received. In total the researcher received 16 transitions policies from schools with 10 schools replying that they did not have a formal written policy. The breakdown per sector can be seen within Table 2 with the overall and sector response rate. The response rate was highest from secondary schools of which there are significantly less than primary or early years centres. The response rate was poorest from early years centres. It should be noted that most early years centres (n = 31) are situated within mainstream primary schools. The policies received were all generic school transitions policies and no schools submitted an ASN transitions policy or a policy for autistic children and young people. Some policies referred to additional supports for children and young people with ASN e.g., “Staff are provided with a data sheet for all pupils with ASN – a copy is passed to Guidance for placement in a pupils personal record.”

7 of the 16 submitted policies were selected for CA. Two policies from each sector were sampled by stratified random sampling (Robson & McCartan, 2017) in that the policies were separated into sectors and then randomly selected i.e., 2 policies from early years, 2 from primary, 2 from secondary and 1 special school. It was important to consider each sector. It was not possible within the timescales to analyse all policies submitted.

CA (Drisko, 2015) was used to identify and describe themes in a systematic way allowing them to identify areas of interest. CA can be defined as: “a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use” (Krippendorff, 2013, p.24).

Basic CA relies on a frequency count of information that often does not require the researcher to make extensive interpretative judgements in coding and data analysis (Drisko, 2015). The unit of analysis used was a sentence. The purpose of the activity therefore was to identify a quantitative count of the most and least used EPs, as identified in the review of the literature, with a selection of LA schools. It is therefore assumed that the more EPs adopted by schools within their transitions processes, the greater the likelihood that the transitions will be effective. CA of the sample of seven school’s current transitions policies was used to provide further information to assist in answering the research question of ‘What transitions practices are currently used with children with ASD within the LA?’

The CA analysis was undertaken separately by three researchers, the first author, the RA and a trainee educational psychologist with experience in CA. The researchers read through the policies several times, analysing one policy at a time, noting each time an EP was referenced. Themes were utilised within a codebook. The codebook was created collaboratively outlining the variables, clarifying how they would be measured and the coding rules before the CA began.

Titles and quotations which were extracted from the coding process. All other uncoded data including all sentences that did not fall into the identified themes were analysed using a grounded theory approach analysis, referenced as ‘grounded techniques’ (Al-Eisawi, 2022).

In order that the researchers get a clear picture of EPs that were currently utilised in schools and early years centres it was decided to separate the theme of ‘the promotion of relationships’ into the two distinct areas of peer-to-peer relationships and teacher to peer relationships and the ‘staff knowledge’ theme into knowledge of transitions processes and knowledge of ASN. It was felt that these were discrete and important interventions for effective transitions. It was likely that establishments may use one but not the other and analysing these separately would give a more accurate picture of areas of strength and areas of development.

Figure 2 shows the CA process agreed and followed by the three researchers.

Where an EP was cited within the unit of analysis it was counted within that theme. Where more than one theme was present within the unit, the second theme was coded as an additional unit. The researchers aimed for an 80% inter-rater reliability (Neuendorf, 2017), policies coming under that threshold were discussed and further analysed.

Grounded Theory (GT) methodology is an inductive approach (i.e., where the researcher starts with the data and moves from that to a more general set of propositions) whereby the aim is to discover information from an analysis of the data (Corbin & Strauss, 1990). This process was used for all remaining data that had not been relevant to the identified themes. Coding this data means that the researcher can ensure that important data is not missed in the CA of the transitions policies. Furthermore, this will support the researcher in answering the research question around existing practices in schools.

GT describes three stages of coding namely open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Within grounded techniques two stages of coding will be undertaken, open coding i.e., an initial stage of coding, the development of coding categories, and axial coding the emergent stage whereby commonalities, themes or patterns can be extracted.

A code within grounded techniques is often a specific indication of the main issue or phenomenon being described in the data. The researchers underwent the following process:

Table 3 outlines the final agreed results of the content analyses of all seven policies. Inter-rater reliability varied between policies from between 81% and 94%, with an overall inter-rater reliability of 88%. Differences were discussed in coding after both the pilot policies and at the end of the coding process.

From Table 3 and Figure 3 the most referenced supports by the sample of transitions policies were student centred planning (15.1%) and references to collaborative working (12%). Staff knowledge and discussions around ASN (9.5%), effective planning (9.2%) and collaboration with parents (87%) featured within the seven policies. Only two policies had been adapted considering the pandemic and only one policy referenced staff knowledge of transitions processes. These were the least referred EP themes. Further, environmental support, self-regulation support, strategies and engagement, and motivation strategies were not regularly referenced within the transitions policies.

The 66 ‘uncoded’ items were reviewed utilising a GT approach (Al-Eisawi, 2022). The results revealed four categories of ‘uncoded data’. These were data relating to:

The definitions and processes outlined by schools within their policies were descriptive in nature and aimed to give a better understanding of the transitions policies e.g., “the way the classrooms are set up next year is changing”, “our primary one teachers remit is to oversee the day to day running of the early years centre”. Very few other supports were identified within the transitions documents, and they tended to be generic in nature i.e., not related to the transitions process itself this included references to work experience, references to other supports that can be provided if required (un-named). It was concluded by both researchers that significant amounts of relevant data had not been missed by the researchers within the CA.

This research has several notable limitations. The review of the literature reported in Study One was restricted to published peer-reviewed research, due to time constraints and did not consider relevant unpublished studies and theses. The search itself was reviewed by a single researcher. In Study Two, only a small number of transitions policies (n = 7) were analysed by the three researchers, again due to time constraints. Those schools forwarding their policies were self-selecting which may mean that the sample was skewed to schools that had confidence in sharing their policies and thus may not be representative of the whole LA nor of the wider picture of transitions within Scotland. Study Two was also undertaken at the time of the Covid pandemic, which may have had an impact upon the responses from schools. In addition, the generalisability of findings may be limited as the research did not account for potential variations in transitions policies and practices across local authorities and socioeconomic backgrounds within Scotland.

Future areas of research include clarification of factors that support and impede effective inclusion, further research on stakeholders’ perceptions and experiences, further longitudinal studies investigating the longer-term impact of school transitions and further investigation into EPs within post-school transitions ensuring all pupils access and sustain positive destinations. MMT theory offers researchers a useful framework for developing research, policy, and practice within the area of transitions. Additionally, exploring the role of technology in facilitating smoother school transitions and its impact on student’s adaptability could be a valuable avenue for future research. Furthermore, investigating the influence of cultural and linguistic diversity on the transitions experience of students could provide insight into creating more inclusive transitions policies and practices. Examining the effectiveness of mentorship programs and peer support systems during transitions could enhance understanding of the social aspects of the transitions process.