Transfer from primary school to secondary school
SEN cohorts performed significantly lower than the TDgroup (p<.0005) but the SSLD
and SEN cohort did not differ significantly from each other.
INSERT FIGURE 2 ABOUT HERE
Subject teachers’ perceptions of the pupils’ performance and needs were
examined. The maximum number of questionnaires completed by the subject specialist
teachers varied across subjects. The maxima were 35 for the children with SSLD, 24 for
TDgroup and 23 for the SENgroup. Sufficient data for analysis were collected from 8
different subjects: Mathematics, English, Science, History, Geography, Modern Foreign
Languages, PE and ICT. In general both the children in the SSLD and SEN cohorts
were reported to be performing significantly worse than TDgroup (Maths, English,
Science, Geography and Modern foreign languages). Moreover this profile of differential
progress held across teachers’ reports of both written and project work. A more detailed
analysis was carried out of the responses from the Maths, English and Science teachers,
as these are core curricular areas and subjects where the largest response rates were
achieved.
There were high and statistically significant correlations between teachers’
ratings of progress and the children’s scores on the standardised measures of literacy and
numeracy. Step-wise linear regressions indicated that Z scores on the Year 7 spelling
assessment accounted for 21% of the variance in the English teachers’ progress ratings
(F (1, 74) = 20.84, p < .001), while Year 6 numeracy and cohort accounted for 30% of
the variance in Maths (F (1, 74) = 19.84, p < .001) and Numeracy Z scores accounted
for 17% of the variance in science (F (1, 66) = 14.34, p < .001). For all three academic
subjects the children with SSLD and the SENgroup were reported to be experiencing
15