Interest in wellbeing has grown substantially in recent years at an international level. For instance Nobel prize winning economists have called for a shift in measuring economic production to measuring people’s wellbeing (Stiglitz, Sen, & Fitoussi, 2009, p. 12), in recognition of the limitations of standard economic measures such as GDP as measures of quality of life. In the UK, recent research has suggested that young people’s wellbeing is a matter of particular concern. For instance, the UK was placed in the lowest 4 countries of an influential 21-country study of young people’s wellbeing which captured a range of wellbeing indicators (United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 2007). More recently, a large survey-based study of 30,000 children aged 8-16 years in the UK revealed 10 domains that were important to young people’s wellbeing, and whilst most children were found to be happy with their lives as a whole, around one in 11 was not (Rees et al., 2012). Children were less happy with their life at school compared to the other domains assessed, which was linked to issues of choice and autonomy. Layard and Dunn (2009) also found that low wellbeing increases dramatically with age, doubling from the age of 10 years (7% of children) to 15 years (14% of young people). These changes in wellbeing over adolescence and the lower wellbeing noted in school contexts warrant further investigation.

In England the majority of children transfer from primary to secondary school at the age of 11 years.  Studies of transfer at the primary-secondary boundary have generally been consistent in their main findings. Most research confirms the earlier work of Galton and Wilcocks (1983) that for most youngsters feelings of apprehension increase during the transition period but that most of these have abated somewhat by the end of the first half term in the secondary school. Although secondary schools provide induction days to deal with youngster’s immediate concerns, anxieties about teachers, friendships and work tend to linger, however, as do increasing concerns about bullying (Hargreaves & Galton, 2002). Although the majority adjust, around 6-10% of young people experience persistent problems (Chedzoy & Burden, 2005).

Although wellbeing has not been assessed directly in transfer studies, there are theoretical perspectives that suggest links between transition and wellbeing. Researchers have argued that transfer works best when the school environment matches the gradual changes taking place in the psychological needs and dispositions of the young adolescent in the stage–environment-fit hypothesis (Eccles & Midgley, 1989). According to Eccles and her colleagues dips in both pupils’ attitudes and attainment at transfer are a consequence of a poor fit between the young adolescents’ developmental stage and the school environment. In particular, the young adults’ growing desire to make their own decisions about where to go, what to do and whom to do it with are often in sharp contrast with the situation as it exists after the move from elementary school where students experience more competition, less freedom to make their own decisions and work that consists mainly of teacher-dominated classroom discourse with learning tightly controlled by the teacher. These notions of student autonomy and the exercise of personal choice are also central for a strong sense of wellbeing according to the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2008), where wellbeing in contingent on the satisfaction of intrinsic needs for the experience of autonomy, competence and relatedness.

The present study therefore examines young people’s wellbeing over transition from primary to secondary schooling in England and investigates whether the school environment supports students’ needs as outlined in self-determination theory.

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