ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how transition influences change in children's personal and collective identities, with a focus on children's peer relationships, academic confidence, maturity status and career aspirations. Generally, children have a harder time maintaining their self-esteem when their teachers are not emotionally supportive and when they encounter conflict with peers. In particular, girls are vulnerable to self-esteem loss, especially if they experience puberty earlier than others in their year group. These changes in identity and self-esteem indicate that school transition is a window of opportunity for educators and psychologists to intervene in facilitating the development of children's psychological wellbeing. Social identity at transition has been studied mainly regarding children's social skills and networks with friends and peers. Identity and self-esteem indicate that school transition is a window of opportunity for educators and psychologists to intervene in facilitating the development of children's psychological wellbeing. Self-esteem is the emotional evaluation of the self-concept.
