We know that school transitions are a significant and challenging point for the vast majority of children across European schools. While there has been much interest in the impact of school transitions on children’s achievement (Topping et al. 2007), their well-being and friendships (Weller 2007) very few studies have investigated what happens to civic competence and opportunities for participation across this key transition. This gap is perhaps surprising given the current European-wide policy emphasis on promoting active citizenship and the Council of Europe’s explicit commitment to enhancing young people’s participation in decision-making forums (Schild et al. 2009).  In Scotland, as elsewhere in Europe, the primary-secondary transition marks an important point in childhood where children move from a small, school environment to a much larger school setting where they encounter a myriad of new relationships, including with teachers. This paper presents findings from a study which examined children’s and young people’s views on participation and responsibility at the point of transition. Building on a previous study of teachers’ views, it addresses the implications of findings for understanding children’s rights to participation in school. In doing so, it stresses the contrasting participatory cultures and opportunities reported by pupils in two very different relational, pedagogical and spatial environments. As a result it suggests that young people’s rights to participation in school are framed by institutional and organizational cultures, in addition to teachers’ views regarding the competencies of young people. All of these factors can help enhance or alternatively constrain participatory opportunities at school. In conclusion it considers the implications of these findings for understanding the status of children more broadly as citizens in their own right or as ‘proto citizens’ and citizens in the making.

Schild, H., Pererva, Y., & Stockwell, N. (2009). Preface: European citizenship and young people in Europe. In D. Dolejsiová & M. A. G. López (Eds.), European citizenship — in the process of construction: challenges for citizenship, citizenship education and democratic practice in Europe. Council of Europe Publishing. F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex. [Online] Retrieved Nov. 15, 2010 from http://book.coe.int Weller, S. (2007). ‘Sticking with your mates?’ Children’s friendship trajectories during the transition from primary to secondary school. Children & Society, 21(5): 339–351.