Bridging Early Educational Transitions in Learning Through Children's Agency

Abstract

A longitudinal study of continuity and progression in children's early education reported the significance of the transition from preschool to elementary education for later school success. It was found that the nature of this particular transition is influential for children, parents and educators and therefore for the educational system. An ecological framework was used in order to embrace the complex nature of educational transitions.Educators in 8 preschool and 4 primary school settings, and their managers, were interviewed to explore beliefs about early education. The same educators were observed as the 28 focus children in a cohort of 150 children were tracked during their final year before school and their first year of school, and their written documentation including planning and reports were scrutinised. It was found that despite the similar language used by early educators in early years preschool and primary settings to describe their intentions and motivations for children, there can be major discontinuities between settings, relationships, pedagogy and curriculum and that consequently there are increased challenges for children and for their parents and educators. It is proposed that educators need to collaborate more and to move on from a shared use of terminology to shared meanings, in order to develop a shared conceptual framework which attends to cognitive, social and emotional aspects of children's learning in transition.Certain measurable elements of school progress were noted as part of the local authority's value-added record keeping and it has been possible to make links between educational attainment and other variables. The cohort of children is now entering the last year of primary school education and a number of focus children will now be involved in a study of their transition to secondary education.

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

“…However, many others (e.g. Dunlop, 2003; Turunen and Perry, 2013; Van Nijnatten, 2010) assert that agency refers to children’s evolving capacity to act and construct their own life, thus framing agency as an aspect of learning. Nsamenang (2008) on the other hand argued that agency is ‘a natural disposition in children to be active and participative’ (p. 211).…”

Curriculum as a tool for change in transitions practices: Transitions practices as a tool for changing curriculum

“…Where connections between teachers and settings are strong then shared working towards improved continuity for children is more likely, where early childhood settings are distinct, geographically separate and very different in approach then there is less room for negotiation. Where the child's voice is valued, the curriculum is a much more negotiated and there is more opportunity for children to experience agency (Dunlop, 2003a;Reunamo, 2007).…”

Learning journey: a conceptual framework for analyzing children’s learning in educational transitions

“…This theory can be considered to give a somewhat distal frame (Vogler, Crivello, and Woodhead 2008), and some researchers have developed it to better fit the research area of early educational transitions, see e.g. Rimm-Kaufman and Pianta (2000) and Dunlop (2003). In order to investigate relationships between teachers and children and learning the socio-cultural theory of the proximal zone of development, as first proposed by Vygotsky ([1934Vygotsky ([ ] 1986, has been used to explain and understand the dynamics in the learning process in transitions.…”