Achieving successful transitions The transition from preschool to school is an important moment for many young children. It can be a stimulus to growth and development, but if too abrupt and handled without care it carries – particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds – the risk of regression and failure. Transition to school generally has a highly positive connotation for young children. Young children desire to move forward and the challenge of transition can be deeply motivating for them (OECD, 2001, 2006a). For this reason, educators may be encouraged to use the transitions in children’s lives far more positively, with greater insight into their potential, rather than seeing transitions as problematic for every child. To achieve successful transition for all young children, more research is needed on the organisation, aims and pedagogy of both the preschool and the early classes of primary school. The Nordic model, with a rich concept of pedagogy (bringing together concepts of care, nurturing and education), low child:staff ratios, an unhurried approach to young children’s socialisation and learning, and its carrying forward of early childhood pedagogy into the junior classes of the primary school, seems to gives excellent results (Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) 2004). At the same time, the holistic nature of the young child’s learning should not be made an excuse to banish sequential learning or emergent literacy and numeracy from the early childhood centre. Young children have a deep desire to communicate and imitate. Their pleasure in using what Reggio Emilia calls ‘the hundred languages of children’ (Edwards et al., 1995) needs to be nurtured, and can be channelled towards readiness for school, without undue pressure to achieve a pre-specified level of knowledge or proficiency at a given age (Lpfö, 1998). John Bennett, Senior Researcher, OECD Starting Strong Intergovernmental Network, Paris, France
• More research is needed on the organisation, aims and pedagogy of both the preschool and the early classes of primary school. • The holistic nature of the young child’s learning should not be made an excuse to banish emergent literacy and numeracy from the early childhood centre. • Young children have a deep desire to communicate and imitate, which can be channelled towards readiness for school.
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Young children’s pleasure in using ‘the hundred languages of children’ needs to be nurtured, and can be channelled towards readiness for school