Children’s Transition To School Learning & Health Outcomes

children’s transition to school: ================================ learning & health outcomes research =================================

Children’s Transition to School:
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Learning & Health Outcomes Research
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-sum of headings at beginning
W hat is the purpose of the study?
The aim of the study is to look at children’s experiences of starting
school. 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. We are interested in two issues: (1)
the physical stress reactions of children before, during and after the
transition to school and (2) the possible effects of these reactions
on children’s behaviour, learning and health. For more information
about the background of the study please visit the Economic and Social
Research Council website:
http://www.regard.ac.uk/cgi-bin/regardng/zQuery.pl?host=137.222.16.110&port=8222&dbase=rngTestbed&thisUrl=http://www.regard.ac.uk/regard/home/index_html?&actionUrl=/cgi-bin/regardng/zQuery.pl&parsedQuery=1%3D1007++a1074691436n2660&attribute=control&boolean=or&batch=10&getfrom=1&recordFormat=full&targets=regardng
Who is funding and organising this study?
The Economic and Social Research Council have funded the Transition to
School Project until November 2005. The study is being carried out in
the Psychology Department, at the University of Bath. Dr Julie
Turner-Cobb is the Principal Investigator of the research and is a
senior lecturer at the University of Bath. Lorna Rixon has been the
Project’s Research Officer since September 2004 and oversees the
day-to-day running of the project. In particular the assessment of
children’s hormone levels in the study is also supported by the work
of Dr Mark Brosnan http://staff.bath.ac.uk/pssmjb/, the Head of the
Psychology Department, at the University of Bath.
Who is taking part in the study?
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 who start(ed)
reception class in September 2004 or 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
approximately fifty schools.
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.
Since the beginning of the study a novel way of assessing hormones was
introduced to the study, as an additional and optional measure. 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, that parents are collecting samples of in their children’s
saliva. It has been suggested from previous research that these
hormones may be linked to both learning and to health. For more
information about finger length ratios please visit Dr Mark Brosnan’s
web site by clinking here.
With the parent’s permission the children’s schoolteachers were also
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 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. Again, copies of these presentations will be
available to participants on request.
Who can I contact if I want to take part in this research?
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We have finished recruiting for this particular study, but if you are
interested in taking part in future studies please do not hesitate to
contact Lorna Rixon ([email protected], 01225 384416) or Dr Julie
Turner-Cobb.
-joint space –so that the page can be edited by me and Julie