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Background: There is no single definition of transitions in education, but conceptualisations impact how a phenomenon is understood, where attention is directed and in what way. Hence, understanding teachers’ conceptualisations of transitions increases possibilities to understand their experiences and priorities, as well as laying a common ground for addressing challenges identified both by teachers and in research.

Aims: The aim of this paper is to study teacher conceptualisations of transitions between stages equivalent to primary and secondary school, in the context of the Swedish compulsory school.

Design: The paper presents one part of a PhD project where discourses on transitions in teacher interviews and policy are analysed through discourse analysis inspired by Bacchi (2009).

Methods: This paper is based on four focus group interviews, each consisting of teachers from both primary and secondary stages. Two groups with teachers working in different schools and two with teachers within the same school unit. Each group were given a paper with a line drawn horizontally with the task to create a timeline of the transition (year 6 to 7).

Results:  The groups used the timelines differently – representing different conceptualisations of the transition: as a continuum starting a year before and ending a year after the transfer; as a continuum of happenings included in transition policy; or as a sharp border focusing the changes that students face.

Conclusions: The timelines created in the groups outlined different understandings of transition – both in time frames and areas of focus. Some of the groups discussed the municipal context as a reason for how they chose to use the timeline, claiming that in another context it might have been different.