Children’s Transition to School
Learning & Health Outcomes Research

The Children's transition to school project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The study has been running since December 2003 and is due to finish by November 2005. The purpose of the project is to look at children's experiences of starting school. Previous research has shown that the transition to school may be stressful for some children as they try to adjust to their new environment and make new friends. In many respects this stress response is a normal reaction to events. Yet it is how children cope with this that may have important consequences for their health and learning. We are interested in two issues:

(1) the physical stress reactions of children around this transition time and how they adapt to their new environment.

(2) the effects of these reactions on children's behaviour, learning and health.

Research Study Summary Report (pdf)

More information about the background to the study (Word Document)

Funding and organisation

Research Participants involved in the study

What the study involves

Results

Contact us

Related Research

Research funding and organisation
The study is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council from December 2003 until November 2005. The Principal Investigator in charge of the project is Dr Julie Turner-Cobb, who is a senior lecturer at the University of Bath. The project employs a full time Research Officer, Lorna Rixon, who was appointed in September 2004 and oversees the day-to-day running of the project.

Research participants involved in the study
The Bath and North East Somerset Local Research Ethics Committee (LREC) granted ethical approval for the study to go ahead. In order to recruit children into the study before they had started school, nursery schools were contacted in Bath and the surrounding area. Parents were approached about the study via their child's nursery. Children between the ages of 31/2 and 4 years who start reception class in September 2004, or are due to start in January 2005, their parents and schoolteachers, were invited to take part in the study. Currently there are over one hundred children and parents participating and over fifty schoolteachers.

What does the study involve?
Parents are asked to complete a set of questionnaires about their child's behaviour and personality, themselves and their family and to collect small samples of their child's saliva in order for us to measure a stress hormone called 'cortisol'. These measures are taken on three separate occasions; between two to four months prior to starting school, two weeks after starting school and six months after starting school. Parents are also asked to keep a Health Diary regarding their child's health for the first six months after starting school.

With the parent's permission the children's schoolteachers have also been invited to complete questionnaires detailing the child's behaviour and character two weeks and six months after starting school.

What will happen to the results of the research?
The results of the overall analyses will be made available to participants, if they wish, after the completion of the study. The findings will also be presented at national and international conferences and published in academic journals. Copies of these presentations and papers will be available to participants on request.

Who can I contact if I am interested in taking part?
We have finished recruiting for this particular study, but hope to be running similar research in the future. If you are interested in taking part in future studies please do not hesitate to contact the Research Officer, Lorna Rixon 01225 384416, or the Principal Investigator, Dr Julie Turner-Cobb.

Related research
In addition to measuring the hormone 'cortisol' in children's saliva, we are researching a novel way of assessing hormones. This involves measuring children's finger length ratio of the second and fourth fingers of both hands in millimeteres. The reason we want to do this is because recent research has found finger length to be a good measure of the level of hormones such as oestrogen and testosterone present in everyone. We will use the information to relate to the other data collected in the study, particularly that of the hormone, cortisol. It has been suggested from previous research that these hormones may be linked to both learning and health. For more information about finger length ratios please visit Dr Mark Brosnan's web site.