Towards Effective Preschool to Primary School Transitions

1
Towards Effective Preschool to Primary School
Transitions

• Dr Divya Jindal-Snape
• University of Dundee

2
Overview

• Educational Transitions- Conceptualisation
• Scottish Case Study
• Theoretical perspectives (Resilience,
  Self-Esteem, Emotional Intelligence)
• Examples of good transition practice across the
  world and some suggestions
• Discussion questions

3
What is educational transition?

• Moving from one context and set of interpersonal
  relationships to another

4

• Transition can be
• Satisfying and fulfilling
• Opportunity to move on and move up with
  increased choices

5
Transition can be
Challenging and stressful
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Conceptualisation

• One off event/Ongoing process
• Horizontal/Vertical
• Ready children/Ready Educational Institutions
• Clean slate/Virtual backpacks
• Bronfenbrenners Ecological systems theory
• Effect on child-young person/ family/
  practitioners
• From Jindal-Snape, D. (Editor) (forthcoming
  in December 2009). Educational Transitions
  Moving Stories from around the world. New York
  Routledge.
• Bronfenbrenner, U. (1992). Ecological systems
  theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Six theories of child
  development (pp. 187249). London and
  Philadelphia Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

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One off event/Ongoing process

• One off event- research focuses on meeting the
  teachers prior to transition, school visits,
  induction
• Ongoing process- research focuses on the constant
  adaptation and negotiation

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Horizontal/Vertical
Pietarinen, J., Soini, T., PyhaltoY, K.
(forthcoming). Learning and Well-Being in
Transitions How to Promote Pupils Active
Learning Agency? In D. Jindal-Snape (Ed.),
Educational Transitions Moving Stories from
around the world. New York Routledge.
9
Ready children/Ready Educational Institutions

• Maturational v/s Interactionist Approach
• Vernon-Feagans and colleagues (2008) provide a
  way to conceptualize readiness which puts the
  definition of readiness, not within the child but
  at the interaction and fit between the child and
  his/her family and the readiness of the
  classroom/school to teach that child (p. 63).
• Vernon-Feagans, L., Odom, E., Panscofar, N.,
  Kainz, K. (2008). Comments on Farkas and Hibel A
  transactional/ecological model of readiness and
  inequality.In A. Booth A. C. Crouter (Eds.),
  Disparities in school readiness (pp. 6178).New
  York Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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Clean slate/Virtual backpacks

• Clean slates- start afresh approach
• Opening their virtual backpacks in the school
  setting
• Peters, S. (forthcoming). Shifting the Lens
  Re-Framing the View of Learners and Learning
  During the Transition From Early Childhood
  Education to School in New Zealand. In D.
  Jindal-Snape (Ed.), Educational Transitions
  Moving Stories from around the world. New York
  Routledge.

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Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems Theory
Adapted by Fabian Dunlop, 2002, 151 Fabian,
H., Dunlop, A. W. A. (Eds.) (2002). Transitions
in the Early Years. Debating continuity and
progression for children in early education.
London Routledge Falmer.
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Effect on child-young person/ family/
practitioners

• Transition has an impact not only on the
  child/young person but also his/her family
• Families experience joys and anxieties during
  their childs transitions
• They should also be provided support
• to deal with the transition themselves
• to be actively involved in making the transition
  smooth for the child.

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Effect on child-young person/ family/
practitioners

• Professionals play an important role in
  supporting children and parents during
  transitions
• However, it is possible that their own needs,
  especially training needs, have not been
  identified

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The community can also play a significant part
in transitions and readiness to learn
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Issues for young children starting school

• Move out of an environment of autonomy into one
  of conformity
• Perceived lack of choice
• Lack of explanation regarding what is happening
• Fabian Dunlop, 2002, 2006 Fortune-Wood, 2002
  cited in Hannah, E., Gorton, H., Jindal-Snape,
  D. (forthcoming 2009). Small steps Perspectives
  on understanding and supporting children starting
  school in Scotland. In D. Jindal-Snape (Ed.),
  Educational Transitions Moving Stories from
  around the world. New York Routledge.

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Setting the sceneScottish Case Study

• Rationale
• Several studies have explored transitions from
  the perspectives of the child and professionals,
  but less so from the perspective of parents
• Bronfenbrenners ecological systems theory
  (especially, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem
  and macrosystem) as applied to the childs
  transition to school helps capture the
  multiplicity of inter-related factors which may
  influence transition experience
• Hannah, E., Gorton, H., Jindal-Snape, D.
  (forthcoming 2009). Small steps Perspectives on
  understanding and supporting children starting
  school in Scotland. In D. Jindal-Snape (Ed.),
  Educational Transitions Moving Stories from
  around the world. New York Routledge.

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Objectives

• To explore parents views of
• their childs experience of transition to primary
  school
• their experience of transition
• what systems/transitional activities were
  beneficial for them and their child, and ways of
  improving them

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Methodology

• Case study of a Scottish Primary school
• Participants- 20 P1 parents, 6 months after start
  of school
• Questionnaire
• closed questions requiring agreement to
  statements, some factual and some related to
  their experience
• 8 open questions seeking detailed responses about
  their experiences
• made available both as a paper version and online
• Analysis
• based on Bronfenbrenners ecological systems
  model

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Results

• 5 reported that children faced difficulties
  during transition
• 18 said preparation from school was helpful to
  their child
• 16 said that it was helpful to them
• 17 happy that the school did all it could to make
  the move smooth, 3 were not

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Microsystem

• Child-home
• along with their children, parents also need
  support to prepare for the transition
• this would help them in explaining transition
  related issues to their child
• need for good communication with the teachers
  including feedback regarding how their child was
  settling in and more and timely information
  about the school systems, routines and procedures
• Parents view 1

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Microsystem

• Child-school
• helping the child adjust to
• a new learning environment
• which includes both physical/organisational
  elements
• relationships (adults and peers)
• explicitly teaching expected behaviour
• very important not only for a child to be
  familiar with the teacher but also to start
  forming a relationship before s/he started school
• school visits had been very useful (n16)
• booklets provided about the school were useful,
  especially the ones that had photos of teachers
  (n7)
• However- Parents view 2

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Microsystem

• Child-peer group

Table 1 Cross-tabulation between My child moved
to P1 with some of her/his friends from nursery
and My child faced problems when s/he moved to
P1
However, the comments from parents highlighted
the importance of moving with friends. ... on
the first day the teacher understood that sitting
next to your best friend was important. Parent
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Mesosystem

• Home-school
• Good relationship between the parents and school
  professionals is important
• ongoing accurate information
• greater knowledge of schools
• opportunities to discuss expectations
• there is a feeling that more communication
  generally would be welcome. A drop-in event every
  month perhaps where parents can raise general
  issues?
• Parent

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Mesosystem

• Pre-school-school
• Table 2 Cross tabulation between Immediately
  before starting at this primary school, my child
  attended and I think there was good
  communication between the Nursery and the School
  regarding my child and his/her needs

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Exosystem

• Parent-Parent relationship
• Supporting parents going through transitions

...this is a positive aspect of school
community. ...all the information I get was from
the parent chats in the playground. It would be
good if in the first few weeks of school, members
of the Parent Council (or other parents) were
available to and advertised at drop-off times to
answer practical questions from new
parents. Parents
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Parents View 1

• More communication on the first day so I could
  put my child at ease if I knew what was
  happening. For instance on arriving in the
  classroom although the teacher spoke to our child
  she ignored us. She didnt introduce herself or
  explain what to do with coats or bags. We also
  were not told where to pick our children up when
  we came back. As parents we were left hanging
  around like spare parts and ruined the experience
  of our childs first day at school.
• Back

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Parents View 2

• Rather than one 4 hour morning where the children
  visit the school - would be better if it was
  maybe 1 hour a week for 4 weeks prior to them
  starting schoolGives the children a familiarity
  with going to school and lets them meet their
  classmates on a regular basis. This could also
  allow out of school play dates to take place
  prior to school starting.
• Back

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Discussion and Conclusions

• Beneficial aspects of the work that the school
  did
• the school visits
• booklets provided about the school, especially
  the ones with photos of teachers
• inputs from the Head Teacher and Depute Head
  Teacher
• Suggestions from parents for effective
  transitions
• need for good communication with the teachers
  including feedback regarding how child was
  settling in
• and timely information about the school systems,
  routines and procedures
• child practising any new procedures before using
  them (e.g., ordering dinner)
• opportunities of informal chats with other
  parents and Parent Council members

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Theoretical Perspectives
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Resilience

• Resilience is a phenomenon or process
  reflecting relatively positive adaptation despite
  experiences of adversity or trauma, Luthar
  (2003, p. 6).
• Cited in Jindal-Snape, D. Miller, D.J.
  (forthcoming 2009). Understanding Transitions
  through Self-Esteem and Resilience. In D.
  Jindal-Snape (Ed.), Educational Transitions
  Moving Stories from around the world. New York
  Routledge.

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(No Transcript)
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Protective processes to facilitate resilience

• Rutter (1987) suggested four main protective
  processes which mediate risk at key life turning
  points
• to lessen the impact of risk by altering the
  experience of risk or exposure to the risk
• to decrease the number of risk factors in order
  to avoid an accumulation of unmanageable risks
• to increase self-esteem and self-efficacy, in
  order
• to provide access to opportunities such as
  part-time work and out of school activities, to
  increase confidence
• Cited in Jindal-Snape, D. Miller, D.J.
  (forthcoming 2009). Understanding Transitions
  through Self-Esteem and Resilience. In D.
  Jindal-Snape (Ed.), Educational Transitions
  Moving Stories from around the world. New York
  Routledge.

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Resilience Transitions

• Transition research suggests several such
  stressors for a child/young person at this time
• Discontinuity
• Change in expectations
• Change in organisational culture
• Peer relationships
• To minimise risk or stressors, research
  emphasises the importance of
• the internal protective factors (for example,
  self-esteem)
• external protective factors (such as positive
  relationships at home and school)

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Self-esteem

• Clear enough idea of what we mean when we talk
  about self-esteem
• However, there is little consensus in terms of
  definitions, models or measures
• Two-dimensional model of self-esteem as an
  integrated sum of self-worth and self-competence
  (Mruk, 1999)
• Cited in Jindal-Snape D., Miller D. J.
  (2008). A challenge of living? Understanding the
  psycho-social processes of the child during
  primarysecondary transition through resilience
  and self-esteem theories. Educational Psychology
  Review, 20, 217236.

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Self-esteem Transitions

• During challenges of living individuals sense
  of worth and competence are particularly
  vulnerable
• Epstein (1979) proposed three major experiences
  which can significantly affect an individuals
  self-esteem
• exposure to a new environment
• being required to make new responses
• the establishment or loss of significant
  relationships
• Cited in Jindal-Snape, D. Miller, D.J.
  (forthcoming 2009). Understanding Transitions
  through Self-Esteem and Resilience. In D.
  Jindal-Snape (Ed.), Educational Transitions
  Moving Stories from around the world. New York
  Routledge.

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Emotional Intelligence

• Goleman identified the five 'domains' of EI as
• Knowing your emotions
• Managing your own emotions
• Motivating yourself
• Recognising and understanding other people's
  emotions
• Managing relationships, i.e., managing the
  emotions of others

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Emotional Intelligence

• It is the set of abilities that underlie
  competency in dealing with and acting upon
  emotion-relevant information (Salovey Mayer,
  1990).
• It encompasses the ability to
• perceive, appraise, and express emotion
  accurately and adaptively
• understand emotion and emotional knowledge
• use feeling to facilitate cognitive activities
  and adaptive action
• regulate emotion in oneself and others
• Adeyemo, D.A. (forthcoming 2009). Educational
  Transition and Emotional Intelligence. In D.
  Jindal-Snape (Ed.), Educational Transitions
  Moving Stories from around the world. New York
  Routledge.

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Emotional Intelligence Transitions

• School/university work and cultivation of
  intellectual competencies demand the ability to
  use and regulate emotion to facilitate thinking,
  enhance concentration, control impulsive
  behaviour, perform effectively under stress, and
  nurture intrinsic motivation
• Adjustment requires establishing meaningful
  relationship with people such as teachers and
  peers

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Role of parents/family during the transitions and
education
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Role of parents/family during the transitions and
education

• A stable and supportive family environment was
  considered to be very important. Some commented
  on how certain parents were not supporting their
  children which was leading to issues at school.
• But they need a lot more support and they need
  their parents to be a lot more involved.
• Parent
•  
• The family can have a big role. Particularly
  in terms of supporting the school with
  discipline. Some parents are good at contacting
  the school and saying that this has happened but
  others feel that because the school has a no
  bullying policy, they can prevent anything and
  everything. Some parents arent prepared to
  listen and accept that their son or daughter may
  not be a victim but might actually be a part of
  it.
• Professional
• Jindal-Snape, D. Foggie, J. (2008). A holistic
  approach to primary-secondary transitions.
  Improving Schools, 11, 5-18.

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Role of parents/family during the transitions
and education (continued)

• There was a feeling amongst some participants
  that if the parents had negative experiences of
  schooling, then it was likely that their children
  would feel the same way about school.
• She just didnt seem to cope at all with moving
  up to the secondary school A. Saying that, I
  was at the secondary school B for first year
  and then I moved to the secondary school A cos
  because we moved and I hated it as well so
  moved back to the secondary school B for third
  year. So you can imagine what its like now.
• Parent

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Role of parents/family during the transitions and
education (continued)

• Professionals and some parents also discussed
  about the parents attitudes towards education
  having an impact on their childrens attitudes
  towards education. They felt that if parents did
  not value education, it was likely that the
  children would not value education as well.
• Some dont bother. I mean some parents think
  okay well just get your uniform, your bag and
  thats it. They dont say right, okay, it is
  going to be harder, you have to try your best I
  mean you can only do your best and the ones
  that do that, I mean Im happy but its
  alsogiving them a kick up the backside at times
  and my child needs that.
• Parent
• Some families are not keen to get involved. A
  lot of the childrens dislike for school comes
  from their parents. If the parents maybe dont
  value education or dont want to come up to
  school theres reluctance there.
• Professional

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Role of parents/family during the transitions and
education (continued)

• There were some indications that parents might
  be having problems with dealing with transition
  themselves.
•  
• It is a big school, but theres so many bigger
  people there. Theres so many more pupils there
  than there are at a primary school. I found it
  was like a maze myself. Parent
• support should be offered to families. Its
  about targeting the support. If theres anxiety
  at home, it makes it difficult.
• Professional 3

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Examples of good transition practice across the
world and some suggestions

• i. Five bridges of transition and bridging units
  as part of local pyramids which are meaningful to
  children
• Induction days, whether a day long or over
  several shorter sessions
• iii. Parental involvement
• - during their own childs transition
• to support other parents
• iv. Artifacts or portfolios from the previous
  educational setting to the new one
• - for emotional support of the individual
• - providing professionals an indication of the
  individuals strengths/ interests
• v. Information packs meaningful to
  parents/carers and child/young person, e.g.,
  photographs of significant others and places in
  the new context

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Examples of good transition practice across the
world and some suggestions (continued)

• vi. Sharing pedagogy across schools and other
  educational contexts
• - team teaching
• - sharing of ideas, practice and resources
• vii. Prepare and document transition plans, and
  review and monitor them periodically
• viii. Create transition teams in the district and
  the school for development and implementation of
  a systematic transition programme
• ix. Involving the child/young person as an active
  learner and participant in the transition process
• x. Teachers and other practitioners working with
  researchers to undertake action research to
  improve their practice related to transitions

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Examples of good transition practice across the
world and some suggestions (continued)

• xi. Educational transitions are in line with
  developmental transitions of an individual
• xii. Undertake staff training needs assessment in
  the context of transitions
• xiii. Should research, evaluate, and document
  transition programme effectiveness on an ongoing
  basis
• xiv. Using emotional intelligence intervention to
  facilitate effective transitions
• xv. Prior to transition, children/young people
  are involved in simulated role, drama,
  storytelling to provide opportunities to express
  their transition concerns and tackle them in a
  secure and familiar environment

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Examples of good transition practice across the
world and some suggestions (continued)

• xvi. Having named transitional professionals
• xvii. Information passed from one stage to
  another
• - academic attainment
• - personal and social factors
• xviii. Secure attachments opportunities
• - buddy system
• - guidance and counselling staff
• From Jindal-Snape, D. (Editor) (forthcoming in
  December 2009). Educational Transitions Moving
  Stories from around the world. New York
  Routledge.

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Contact Details

• Dr Divya Jindal-Snape
• School of Education, Social Work and Community
  Education
• University of DundeeNethergateDundee DD1
  4HNScotlandTel  44(0) 1382 381472e-mail
  d.jindalsnape_at_dundee.ac.uk
• http//www.dundee.ac.uk/eswce/staff/djindalsnape.
  php