There is a need for a standardised, validated wellbeing instrument suitable for longitudinal use to evaluate primary-secondary transitions interventions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In the absence of a standardised and validated instrument to assess children's wellbeing over transitions, it remains challenging to robustly evaluate interventions and identify those that are most effective. → Bagnall 2026

Evidence¶

Bagnall 2026¶

Bagnall, C. L., Edge, D., Banwell, E., Seymour, R., Garnett, N., Mason, C., Panayiotou, M., Jindal-Snape, D., Packer, R., Hodgkin, K., Skerritt, C., Donaldson, C., Birchwood, J., McAreavey, A., Cunningham, E., Symonds, J. E., & Holliman, A. (2026). A Mixed-methods Study of How to Improve Primary-secondary Transitions in England: Combining Academic Research with Policy and Practice Consultation. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10174-z

q2 · i? · review · r2

Standardised Wellbeing Scale subsection of the review's Pastoral theme. The review states any instrument must be "standardised, sensitive, reliable, and suitable for longitudinal use" because transitions unfold over an extended period.

"there is a need for a standardised and validated instrument to assess children's wellbeing which enables educators to monitor the efficacy of these interventions (Bagnall et al., 2024a; Beatson et al., 2023)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• No single measure exists that assesses children's emotional wellbeing in the context of primary-secondary school transitions; existing measure designs are inadequate — related
• A UK-focused systematic review identifies six key priority areas for primary-secondary school transitions: familiarity, relationships, intrapersonal skills, pastoral support, collaboration, and families — related
• In the 60-article review of quantitative transitions studies, 50 articles did not explicitly conceptualise wellbeing, and seven factors were associated with emotional wellbeing across 38 articles — related
• Most primary-secondary transitions research articles neither clearly define nor operationalise transitions, and nine conceptualisations appear across the 96-article literature — related
• Children (59 across 10 focus groups) conceptualise transitions-context emotional wellbeing around adapting to the unknown, fitting in, and signs of positive wellbeing — related
• A UK-wide expert panel (n=30) conceptualised transitions-context emotional wellbeing as affective state, tangible signs of adjustment, and mechanisms to maintain a stable affective state — related
• Teacher-student relationship measurement in middle/secondary wellbeing research is highly varied and mostly relies on tools formulated for primary school relationships — related