Every teacher knows transition is an issue. Not just between primary and secondary but between phases, sectors or even year groups.  And the research is clear that there is an issue, too. Problems of transition can completely derail a child’s education, according to Stan Tucker and Dave Trotman, both professors of education policy at Newman University and the guests on this week’s Tes Podagogy. 

Both academics believe the problem is not down to schools not trying to bridge the gap, or not understanding the issue. They speak of the “great practice” many schools have adopted.  But what these schools cannot change, they argue, is the fact that primary and secondary are fundamentally different systems of education. And it is that, they say, that causes the issues.