Knowledge within transitions: Knowledge transfer management within the primary to secondary transitional stage

Educational institutions are knowledge intensive enterprises, relying on a strategic knowledge base to provide a crucially effective learning organisation. This knowledge base then becomes a key organisational and economic resource, through effective knowledge transfer management. The aim of this research is to evaluate the process and phases of Knowledge Transfer Management within the Primary to Secondary Transition. This will be achieved through identifying the influencing factors within the Knowledge Transfer Management during the Primary to Secondary school transition, considering the experiences of all direct and indirect participants within the transitional process, and establishing correlated impacts within the micro, meso, exo, and macro system knowledge transfer phases. Moreover, it explored Psychological, Physical, and Key Life Transitions which could impact on the knowledge transfer, as well as developmental stages of the individual transition being experienced by the student and the situational nature of these transitions.
This research proposed a linkage of the impacts of the transition to the phases of the knowledge transfer, thereby enabling the clarity of knowledge structure and elaborating possible gaps causing negative impacts on the individual transition. Interviews were conducted with six interest groups (Year 6 and 7 students, Headteachers, Year 6 Teachers, Year 7 Teachers, SEN Teachers), involved in the Primary to Secondary Transition to explore the perceptions and expectations of the Knowledge transfer process. A roadmap framework of each phase was established according to the questionnaires results with discussion concerning the perceived impacts of each phase on the transitional outcome.