Psychosocial Functioning of Seventh Form Students in the Reformed Primary School in the Context of Mental Health

Abstract

Legal and social changes result in the direct and deferred consequences as regards the behaviour of entities connected therewith. In 2017/2018 school year, under the Polish school reform, lower-secondary schools went into liquidation and primary schools have been extended for up to eight forms. After several weeks of study in the seventh form, the students and parents began to report problems with the youth functioning at school. School community began to divulge difficulties they had encountered with at school commencing to operate in an altered manner compared to previous years. Thus, the objective of author’s own research it to assess functioning of the seventh form students in social and emotional spheres upon the completion of the first semester. The research was conducted in January 2018 in one of Lublin’s primary schools with the use of diagnostic survey method, in which three survey questionnaires, by A. Lewicka-Zelent and T. Zubrzycka-Maciąg, were applied. This allowed for the creation of a comprehensive image of situation depicting seventh form students from the perspective of the youth themselves, their parents and teachers. The obtained research results enable to arrange suitable forms of support for students and point to such spheres of their functioning which threaten their proper development.