What are parent expectations of special school transitions v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How can parental expectations of preschool children with Speech, Language, and Communication Needs (SLCN), transitioning to a Special Needs School be managed?
IRAS ID
218057
Contact name
Candace Wade
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Institute of Education
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 28 days
Research summary
The purpose of this research is to investigate what expectations parents have of their preschool
child’s transition to a special needs school for reception year. The long-term aim is to find out if there is anything that can be provided to support families during the transition period of preschool to reception. The findings may then inform transition policies and procedures.
It is important that there is continuity, even from external services, to support parents at what can be a troubling and difficult time. Researchers have stated that parents of children with identified Special Educational Needs want to make informed choices about their child’s education and are in a unique position of having to decide between mainstream or specialist placements to meet their child’s need (Lindsey and Dockrell, 2004; Flewitt and Nind, 2007: p426). Research also identifies not only the short-term but also long-term ‘problems of difficult or unhappy’ transitions (Brooker, 2008:p9).
The Research design is qualitative, made up of semi-structured interviews with parents of pre-schoolers in mainstream nursery classes due to attend special school September 2017 [who are part of my speech and Language therapy (SLT) caseload), parents of children in their reception year at special school in the spring/summer of 2017, and the deputy head teacher of special school. Interviews are expected to last up to 45minutes and will be audio-recorded only. Parents will also be asked to complete a brief questionnaire to obtain some participant details such as child age, diagnosis etc. The sample size will be 6-8 (parent) participants who will be selected by the researcher. interview. Interviews of will take place at health centre clinic, other interviews will take place at the special school.
The special school is for primary-aged children with moderate learning disabilities (MLD). A large population of pupils also have co-existing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0583
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion