Abstract
The organizational unity of primary and lower secondary schooling in most Czech schools makes the primary-secondary transition somewhat "hidden", and its importance underestimated. In this paper, we will describe the risks along the path of a pupil with special educational needs (SEN) from primary to lower secondary and to upper schools.
The existing research from other school systems is compared with our findings. A qualitative longitudinal study reports the case of a middle class boy Dan diagnosed with ADHD and tic disorder during his transition to middle (i.e. lower secondary) school, his transfer to another school and finally his transition to high (i.e. upper secondary) school.
The main sources of our data are the repeated interviews with the pupil and his mother over a time span 6 years. School and medical reports were used as supplementary information source.
The narrative account conveys the pupil and parent perspective of the process. Despite some favourable conditions at school, major academic and organisational problems were perceived by Dan and his mother after the first transition.
The poor achievement and worsened health of the boy made the family to transfer the boy to another school with more inclusive environment. However, the lower level of academic rigor and classroom climate seemed to be trade-off.
Unlike in other school systems, the social aspects of the primary-secondary transition may not play most important role for the Czech pupils themselves due to the different organization of schooling. The transition, however, proved to be very demanding for the pupil with SEN and his family.