Exploring the experiences of Year 11 school leavers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

As part of a Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, the author of this thesis was particularly interested in exploring young people’s experiences and the role of ending rituals in aiding transitions.

Paper 1 presents a comprehensive literature review of 15 published studies that explore the role and impact of rituals, rites of passage and ceremonies during periods of transition for children and adolescents. Findings indicated that educators/educational establishments are often facilitators of ending rituals. Rituals provide societal recognition but have variances across individuals, gender and culture. The role of rituals, rites of passage and ceremonies in modern society was also discussed. Rituals, rites of passage and ceremonies appear to support transitions by aiding identity and social role shifts and increasing self-efficacy, self-esteem and confidence. However, there is a distinct lack of qualitative and quantitative data, therefore clear conclusions could not be made about the benefit of rituals for transitioning young people. Future research could look at providing more empirical evidence with a focus on specific rituals, rites of passage and ceremonies for specific transitions.

Paper 2 is an empirical study which used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore young people’s experiences of the ending of secondary school education prematurely due to the COVID-19 public health crisis and how they made sense of this in relation to the transition to further education, training and employment. Findings suggest that loss, uncertainty, disappointment and change were key components of this experience, which was validated by their sense of togetherness. However, they did feel the need to minimise their feelings and felt invalidated by others. The lack of ending rituals impacted their ability to transition to college.

Paper 3 is an executive summary written as an accessible account of the research for the participants who took part in this research but can also be used to disseminate findings to those interested in the experiences of young people impacted by COVID-19 as well as professionals working with this group. The rationale, method, findings, implications and limitations of the empirical research are summarised.