Making transitions across contexts and the impact of this on

allowed the young people to construct their own identity in new ways. A prominent example of this was the young people's development of an understanding of themselves as adults, following the transition from school to college. Participants from both groups in the study articulated this:

when I've come to college I've felt a totally different person. Obviously I've had to grow up and stuff but it's made us feel more...made us be more confident with myself and around other people because of that. (Dean, North East, interview 1)

I think the summer between school and college, you grow up a lot because you do sort of leave childhood behind. (Claire, South West, interview 3)

Dean's reference to feeling like, 'a totally different person' and Claire's comments about 'leaving childhood behind' indicate the impact that this transition had on their sense of identity. Sometimes the young people attributed this possibility of constructing a new sense of identity to the differences between the two contexts, and particularly to the fact that they experienced college as a place where they were 'treated like adults':

Well I think everyone sees it as professional because once you get to college I think you mature more because you're treated more like an adult. (Daniel, North East, interview 2)

when I was at school I felt like a child but when I'm here I feel like an adult because you get treated like an adult and it works as well – you get treated like and adult and that's what makes me feel good. (Dean, North east, interview 1)

While not all of the young people explicitly articulated the connection between the way they were treated at college and their sense of identity, being 'treated like an adult' was identified by the participants from both groups as a way in which college differed from school:

the teachers just sort of treat you like adults instead of...like different from school and you can call them by their first name in college. (Tommy, South West, interview 3)

There were a number of elements that the participants associated with the experience of being treated like an adult. As well as being on first name terms with lecturers, the participants identified elements such as having their opinions taken seriously and being treated with respect, as important aspects of this:

they kind of ask for your opinion and they're more...because obviously they did it at school but it was more sort of like, 'you need to know this', whereas now it's like, 'what do you think about this?', 'do you agree?', you know that sort of thing. (Claire, South West, interview 3)

you have to listen and if you give them respect they give you respect but in school you give respect and they give you some small amount of respect but they don't have as much respect for you have for them. I mean in school you've always got a teacher that you look up to but they just still look down on you but in college It's like everyone's on the same level and everyone's fine with each other. (Daniel, North East, interview 1)

I can't really explain it just the way they speak to you and like, it's more like civil and no shouting and like ordering to do...it's just like, 'do your work if you want to', like, 'if you want to do well in this subject then do this' . (Tommy, South West, interview 3)

There were also exceptions to this, and some of the participants referred to situations at college where, because of their relationships with particular lecturers or the attitudes of individual people, they felt they were not treated like adults. The following comments from an interview with Craig offer an example of this:

She took a level of teaching where she was talking down at you like you were about three years old and on the first lecture we had with her that wasn't to do with induction, she was telling us how to draw a sphere. Now I'm not one for complaining but trying to teach 16 and 17 year olds how to draw a sphere is a bit patronising. (Craig, South West, interview 3)

In general, however, the young people felt that they were treated like adults at college, which was in contrast not only to their experiences in school but also in other contexts such as work. Daniel, for example, referred to the restrictive atmosphere at work and the lack of trust placed in him by his bosses:

You don't get a chance to like talk, you're always either cooking or on the tills, like and erm, you've always got to make sure that you keep an eye on your till in case like people steal things from your till. There was one time where I got accused of stealing £80 from my till and I didn't know where that went but we found out that it was some other lass that was covering my till when I went on my lunch break and she got fired for it and I still got in trouble for it anyway for not like clearing it with my boss. (Daniel, North East, interview 1)

Similarly, Dean complained about the lack of social interaction that was permitted in one of his workplaces:

like I sometimes I work on the tills and the warehouse you can carry on with the managers at [name of company] but at [name of company] you couldn't, they used to say get on with your work, you haven't got time to talk. (Dean, North East, interview 1).

As well as the transition to college, the participants from the South West also understood the transition from school to the Enquire project as one which involved more experiences of being treated like adults:

Yeah, we were treated more like adults I suppose, like there wasn't like, you're the kids, we're the adults, 'you do this' it was like we got to decide. (Jacob, South West, group interview)

it was good in Enquire because obviously as a child or as a young adult, I'm like, you're not used to it so much, having that freedom (Emma, South West, group interview)

They also reflected on how the transition between school and the Enquire project allowed them to construct new understandings of themselves:

Yeah, it was good and I thought it was quite it...like in town in non uniform, you don't feel as like young and stuff, cause everyone was walking around from like college it was like, you don't feel like you're in school and stuff. (Emma, South West, group interview)

It's like more grown up. (Jacob, South West, group interview)

As well as articulating the understanding that their transitions across these contexts had allowed them to develop their sense of identity, some of the participants reflected on the nature of this process. Dean's thoughts on how he had changed following the transition from school to college offer one example:

Well, at school, I couldn't really...if the teacher asked for ideas it was normally like, she would normally just ask certain people and like she'd ask some other people and they'd say, say their ideas, 'oh no I don't think that's right' but since we've come to college we've been given a chance to develop who we are but, at school you've just been put, its like in a background where you've got to be at the back but you've got a chance to come forward and say what you feel at college (Dean, North East, interview 2)

The above extract illustrates that Dean understood his development of a new sense of identity at college as something that was dependent on the particular

circumstances associated with that context, i.e. being in a situation where everyone's ideas were taken seriously. Dean's choice of language also demonstrates how he understood this process. In his reference to 'coming forward' out of the background and having the chance to, 'develop who we are', Dean indicates that, for him, changes to his sense of identity involved both developing a sense of what made him an individual, and a process of moving into some sort of public arena or space of recognition. This understanding is further reflected in the following extract:

I thought well if I give my ideas it might not be right but since I've come to college and started to be my own person and had the space to do that and be an individual, I thought well, 'why not?' I might as well. (Dean, North East, interview 2)

Claire articulated a similar understanding of developing her identity through the transition from school to college:

I don't know because we had such a long break, like everyone's parents were still at work, so you...because I live quite out of [the city] so normally I get driven places whereas I was going my own way, just sort of standing up as your own person and a lot of people got jobs over the summer as well so that made everyone sort of take on responsibilities and stuff. (Claire, South West, interview 3)

Claire's reference to, 'standing up as your own person' shows that she too understood the process of developing a sense of identity as one that involved both individuality and movement into a pubic arena. Claire also referred to the impact of her experiences during the Enquire project on her sense of identity. Reflecting on her experiences of being given freedom and responsibility in this context, Claire offered the following opinion:

it makes you kind of braver as a person as well because you discover kind of who you are and how you do react to situations and stuff. (Claire, South West, interview 3)

As with Dean's understanding of how he was able to develop his sense of identity through the particular circumstances he encountered at college, Claire

felt that she was able to develop a sense of herself as a 'braver person' and 'discover' who she was through her response to specific circumstances. Although Claire and Dean responded to these circumstances by constructing new understandings of themselves and their capabilities, for others, encountering such situations involved a reconfirmation of existing constructions of identity, as Tommy's response to the Enquire project illustrates:

I just maybe realised that I’m not really the person who’ll speak up most in front of everyone and I just sort of sit there and take it all in and make a contribution if I want to. (Tommy, South West, interview 2)