Going to school: a child's transition from pre-school to primary school.

Abstract

The transition from Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) pre‐school to primary school marks a significant change in the way a child participates in the family and community. When a child makes a transition, his or her experience is likely to affect their capacity to learn as it happens at a crucial stage in child development. This study considers children from first class in primary school as they have made the transition from the ECCE pre‐school to primary school. The child has a huge contribution to make to our understanding of the success of this transition. What we need to do is listen to what they have to say. They have lived the experience. This study aims to give them their voice. This is achieved by utilising the mosaic approach of creative, child‐friendly data collecting methods in order to consult with the children and understand their view which can then be used to inform policy. The themes that emerged from the data represented the issues that the child felt were meaningful to them from their experiences. Listening to the child was not an easy process in either preparation or execution.