What is
"Groupwork Transition"?
Group work as a form of collaborative learning has great potential, but is typically not well organised or operated in schools. The ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) Phase II project "Improving the Effectiveness of Pupil Groups in Classrooms" is exploring ways of improving impact. The associated highly successful Group Work Scotland project, also part of TLRP, has explored the benefits of Group Work in primary schools with reference to differences between urban and rural classes, single-age and mixed-age classes. The Groupwork Transition project extends the work of the Group Work Scotland project.
The Groupwork Transition Project
Pupils who participated in the previous project have been followed into secondary school. The project explores transfer to the secondary school environment of pupil domain-specific knowledge and skills (particularly in science), and general social, communication and teamwork skills. The extent to which successful transfer is a function of the quality of group work in primary school and the quality of opportunities within the secondary school is explored. Necessary and sufficient conditions for transfer are identified. Strong implications for future research, policy and practice have unfolded.