Transition to School:A community perspective

STARTING SCHOOL

Let’s go from this ! To a more graceful this!

Robert Pianta (2003) : Successful Kindergarten Transitions

1. Foster relationships as resources 2. Promote continuity from preschool to

Kindergarten 3. Focus on family strengths 4. Tailor practices to individual needs 5. Form collaborative relationships

Dockett and Perry: 10 guidelines for effective transition to school programs

1. Establish positive relationships between the children, parents and educators 2. Facilitate each child’s development as a capable learner 3. Differentiate between ‘orientation to school’ and ‘transition to school’ programs 4. Draw upon dedicated funding and resources 5. Involve a range of stakeholders

Dockett and Perry cont….

6. Are well planned and effectively evaluated 7. Are flexible and responsive 8. Are based on mutual trust and respect 9. Rely on reciprocal communication among participants 10. Take into account contextual aspects of community, and of individual families and children within that community.

Bob Perry on the importance of transitions

http://deta.qld.gov.au/earlychildhood/about/successful-transitions/importance.html

As Early Childhood Educators we know how to:-

transition children from one place to another from one time to another

AND

We use a variety of methods and songs to make these busy active days of ours run smoothly.

We do this well……

Noel (2010) suggests school readiness or a readiness for learning could better be assessed if there were stronger links between Early Childhood learning environments and curricula and those of Primary schools. This is supported by Brown & Pickard (2014) and Hair et al, (2006) when they suggest that ideally Early Education environments and schools should nurture strong bonds to assist in the successful transition between settings. In other words if the environments between which children were transitioning, were more closely aligned, children may have a better chance of being deemed “school ready” more effectively.

School readiness??

Researchers Adamson and Brennan (2014) suggest the EYLF curriculum document established in 2009 is “arguably the first step towards pursuing children’s rights”.

Child centred learning is central to the EYLF, this national curriculum framework encourages each child

to develop at their own pace, supported by quality educators and

evaluated within the broader context of family and community. Children are then transitioned into

a formal schooling environment which by its nature begins to formally evaluate the child’s

academic skills (Collins, 2012).

In 2015 as part of my Masters degree I conducted a research project exploring the notion of “school readiness”.

What was school readiness? Were we preparing children for school adequately? What were the opinions of Teachers in both settings ? What was the opinions of parents? It was during this research that I came discover a trend in the

feedback…….

Project

The research that was undertaken appeared to suggest it is the pre prep teachers who might need to forge some stronger bonds with the school communities surrounding them and take more responsibility in assisting the children and families with successful transitions and better preparation for school readiness.

The light bulb moment!

HOW DID I DO THE PROJECT?

Firstly I set about doing a comprehensive literature review and examined many aspects of school readiness from many different sources.

ie :The purpose of this project is to explore whether differences exist in opinions, beliefs

and perspectives of teachers and parents with respect to factors considered to contribute to a

child being “ready” for school.

Define your purpose

DesignParticipant and Sites

Measurement Data analysis

Decide upon your method

Sort data into recurring words themes that arise from the data . For Example :-

• 1 = Definition of school readiness • 2= Family Input • 3= Effect on Families if entry to school delayed • 4=Transition • This can be done on a simple quadrant grid as you sort the

responses from the surveys.

Analyse Collected Data

What did we do next?

After analysing my data it led me to several conclusions

We invited prep teachers and principals from local schools which we “feed” to and showed them what we do……….

The Forum

We talked about our expectations of the children…….

Parent Involvement

Children learn through play - Play allows young children to take risks, question, build relationships, solve problems and become independent learners

Children do not learn in isolation. It is a collaborative process. C&K Building waterfalls acknowledge the important role of adults, educators, parents, other children and the physical environment play in children’s learning.

Our program is about:

◦ planned and spontaneous learning experiences,

◦ routines and interactions

◦ listening to and observing children

◦ gaining understanding of their interests and working with each child and group of children in partnership with them and their families.

We discussed our curriculum..

We discussed our educational goals for the children…..

We discussed our documentation..

Transition statements• The transition statement is created to build

a shared and accurate picture of the child’s learning

• The transition Statement helps parents and other partners plan ways to support the child to transition smoothly into school

It has been suggested that schools receiving such a large intake of students that they can’t possibly speak to each teacher about every student but they need to be able to

receive (VAGO 2015) timely and well documented records so they make these assessments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmFUoCj6R_s)

I think we need to be able to do better than that!

SIDE NOTE::Department of Education and Training

What we do in Term 4….

How we promote school readiness

This is a little how I felt after the forum…..

Invite future students to school events ie: discos, carnivals, fetes, Christmas carols.

Promote open classrooms in Term 4 whereby the children can come in and experience a day in Prep

Invited Prep teachers to come and see what we do.

Library sessions for juniors and families “Koala Joeys program”

How can we add to this???

Suggestions from other schools

Offered open classrooms vice versa from some local schools

Been invited to transition to schools forums at local schools

We have been contacted by local schools to discuss children's “readiness” with parental permission

Positive Results thus far….

Useful Resources

The Queensland Government has also introduced its “Step Up into education” (2015) transition program which supplies the community with resources and ideas about how important it is for successful transition into school and as Perry (2015) states “success follows success, a successful transition to school has enormous benefits for all stakeholders”.

Transition program

Kids matter : Transition to school clip

Useful parent resources

Starting School Resources for children

CHANGE

Maybe technology will help??

Be the change you want to see in the world!

References

Adamson, E., & Brennan, D. (2014). Social investment or private profit? Diverging Notions of ‘investment’ in early childhood education and care. International Journal of Early

Childhood,46, 47-61.

Brown, C.P. & Pickard,H. (2014) Balancing the school readiness equation in early learning environments. Childhood Education, November/December, 418-426.

Collins, J. (2012). Foundations for learning: Relationships between the Early Years Learning Framework and the Australian Curriculum: An ECA-ACARA Paper. Retrieved from

http://foundationinquirylearning.global2.vic.edu.au/files/2013/06/ECA_ACARA_Foundations_Paper-2cq59mi.pdf

Dockett, S. & Perry, B. (Eds.) (2001). Beginning School Together: Sharing Strengths. Watson, ACT: Australian Early Childhood

Association

Hair, E., Halle, T., Terry-Humen, E., Lavelle, B., & Calkins, J. (2006). Children’s school readiness in the ECLS-K:predictions to academic,health, and social outcomes in first

grade. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 431-451

Noel, A.M. (2010). Perceptions of school readiness in one queensland primary school. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 35(2), 28-35.

Perry, B., (2015). The importance of transitions [Video file]. Retrieved from http://mediasite.eq.edu.au/mediasite/Play/2b4af37aab224abcb2a84ad100166afc1d

Pianta, R. & Kraft-Sayre M.,(2003) Successful Kindergarten Transition Brookes Maryland.

Queensland Government . (2015) .Step up into education. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/stepup/resources/VAGO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmFUoCj6R_s)

IMAGES

Marlete Andy, 2012” Boy live tweeting “ Financial News Journal www.andymarlette.com

Mike Baldwin Cornered “Polar Bear Cartoon”

WORDLE

Candace Mackay https://au.pinterest.com/cm2602/early-childhood-education/

QUOTE

Change http://www.pravsworld.com/life-is-about-change-quote/

VIDEOS

Lead and be the change: Mark Mueller-Eberstein at TEDxRainierhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv-QiSvuLLM

Storypark Starting School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNKurKJkTu4

Kids Matter Starting School video 1: Thinking about transition to school https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcINGGuysBE

All other Images gathered from Forum Slide Show Blachandran and Clip Art Images or http://www.shutterstock.com/s/starting+school/search-vectors.html