Navigating School Transitions: The Formation and Maintenance of Adolescents’ Educational Identity

Abstract

Structured school transitions, like the transition from primary to secondary education and from secondary to tertiary education, are impactful life events for adolescents that can stimulate growth or disrupt development. Around these school transitions, adolescents explore their interests, needs, and capabilities to find an education that fits their sense of who they are and who they wish to become. Although most adolescents seem to more successfully navigate school transitions, others struggle with this task. In this dissertation, adolescents’ school transition experiences were examined through the lens of an educational identity framework since adolescents' attempts to find a fitting education may increase engagement with identity formation and maintenance processes. Specifically, this dissertation aimed to examine how and why adolescents differ in their educational identity development around school transitions to offer new insights on 1) how adolescents form and maintain their educational identity, and 2) factors related to this development that may aid or hinder adolescents’ ability to navigate their school transition. This dissertation presents novel insights regarding the role of the school transition in the meaning and relevance of specific identity processes. Additionally, several developmental patterns were observed including a normative trend of identity maturation characterized by growing identity commitments but also regressive changes towards identity crisis among a significant proportion of youth. Findings highlighted the negative effects of anxiety and self-doubt on educational identity development and how adolescents’ social environment can be a vital source of support and connection to promote healthy exploration and affirm adolescents’ sense of fit in their education.