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Children crossing borders: School visits as initial incorporation rites in transition to preschool class

Description:
Most research about transition in educational settings describes how children enter into new contexts, especially transition from preschool to school. However, the overall research focus in this article is to gain knowledge about how the transition process can be characterized at the end of the preschool period before the actual transition. The data reported in this article was generated through visits to preschool class which have the intention to prepare children before the transition. The results support the conclusion that the transition process can be characterized as circular rather than linear, or maybe a spiral process that loops back and forth. The children in this study engage in a number of border encounters and border crossings between preschool and preschool class during the spring semester before the actual entering. After each border crossing they return to preschool and seem to reconstruct their experiences and expectations of preschool class. This looping movement highlights the identity deconstructions as a social learning process over time. It is shown that children enter the transitions process long before they actually (physically) enter or visit school. The results also propose that the transition is a period when the constructing of identities as ex preschool children may be important. In this process, the teachers in preschool have an important role to facilitate the children's disengagement from preschool. The study also implies the need for teacher collaboration to make the transition transparent and explicit for the children. (author abstract)
Resource Type:
Reports & Papers
Author(s):
Country:
Sweden

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