The study describes student expectations of secondary school at the close of primary schooling, and compares these with the realities of their experience in the early part of their secondary schooling. The results showed that students expected teachers at high school to be strict, schoolwork to be hard, and older students to be unfriendly and aggressive. Students from small schools construed events in the transition more positively than did those from large schools. Follow up data revealed a uniform trend towards more favourable views of school, suggesting the growth-enhancing influences of high school upon new students.
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