Secondary school transition: does mentoring help 'at-risk' children?

The transition from primary to secondary education can be a critical period for those children identified as 'at risk', for whom a poor outcome is associated with significant psychosocial morbidity.The effectiveness of mentoring children has shown positive benefits, but little work has focused on the period of transition from primaly to secondary school, particularly in this group. In this study, change in psychosocial and behavioural variables in 'at-risk' children during transition and response to a 10-month mentoring intervention were evaluated. Using data from 88 children via pre-, mid- and post-intervention questionnaires, changes were assessed in self-esteem, resilience, locus of control and mental health difficulties. Positive changes were found in all measures.The study demonstrates improvement in psychosocial outcomes through the transition period, and suggests that mentoring-type intervention may be a helpful service for pupils with mental health difficulties.