Student wellbeing during   educational transitions

The transition from lower secondary school to upper secondary education or vocational education and training (VET) can be an exciting time, but it can also leave young people vulnerable.

New schools, expectations and routines, as well as the challenge of building new relationships, can affect students’ wellbeing. Small mismatches between students’ needs and their learning environments can grow into significant challenges, while timely support can help promote both wellbeing and student retention.

In Denmark, student wellbeing is measured in lower secondary schools, upper secondary schools and VET programmes. However, existing measures are not designed to track students across educational sectors or explain why their wellbeing may change during the transition itself.

The project Transitional WEAVE: Wellbeing Experiences Across Voices in Education addresses this gap by examining wellbeing as something that can fluctuate over time and in response to transitions, rather than simply as an annual average.

Students are heard

The project combines large-scale surveys with brief, repeated SMS check-ins measuring students’ mental, social, academic and physical wellbeing. It also draws on students’ own accounts of what supports or challenges their wellbeing in everyday life and as they move between educational settings.

By linking patterns in wellbeing to specific educational experiences and learning environments, WEAVE will investigate the factors behind both positive and negative wellbeing trajectories.

The project will do so in the context of major changes to the Danish education system, including the introduction of the new EPX programme and the phasing out of Grade 10.

The findings can help schools, municipalities, educational institutions and policy makers develop more effective strategies to support students’ wellbeing during this important transition.