ECPP 2016
Abstract Book
K. Kumpulainen (2), L. C. Theron (1)(1) Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, South Africa, (2) University of Helsinki,Finland Overall summary of symposium, which consists of three papers:The aim of this symposium is to report the social ecological determinants of Finnish and South African children’s positive adjustment tothe challenges of first grade. In particular, we are interested in the resilience processes that come into play when first graders facecomplex challenges (i.e., they face the challenge of adjusting to first grade along with family-related challenges [such as divorce] and/orsystemic challenges [such as marginalization or socioeconomic disadvantage]), and how these processes reflect Global North and GlobalSouth contexts. All of the aforementioned represent under-resourced issues (Kumpulainen et al., in press; Masten, 2014; Theron &Theron, 2014; Ungar, 2015). Theoretically framed by the Social Ecology of Resilience Theory (Ungar, 2011), the three symposium paperseach address a facet of the aforementioned aim.The first paper interrogates children’s own experiencing of transitioning to grade 1 and foregrounds children’s voices in accounts of whatsupports resilience processes. The second explores teacher contributions to processes of positive adjustment. It does so from multipleperspectives, including those of teachers, parents and children. The third takes a more macro-ecological perspective and considers howgovernmental educational policy decisions and community-level actions regulate children’s social ecologies of resilience. As in theprevious paper, multiple perspectives (i.e., those of teachers, parents, children, and community members) inform the results.All three symposium papers draw on thematic analyses of visual participatory data that were generated in a funded, bi-lateral projectentitled ‘Social ecologies of resilience among at-risk children starting school in South Africa and Finland: A visual participatory study(SISU)’. Accordingly, the findings draw attention to the similarities in the resilience processes that support at-risk children in the GlobalNorth and South, but also the differences. Essentially, they illustrate that social ecologies (and school ecologies in particular) are centralto accounts of why children adjust well to the compound challenges of first grade and stressful life circumstances.These findings have important implications for policy makers, teachers and other school staff, as well as parents. In particular, children’stransitioning well to first grade relies on the active, context-sensitive interventions of adults at micro- and macro-level. This does not implythat children are not active contributors to the process of positive adjustment, but rather that their social ecologies have the greaterresponsibility to champion children’s resilience. Keywords • Resilience, first grade, school transition, social ecology, school ecology, Finland, South Africa, visual participatorymethods References: Kumpulainen K., Theron, L. C., Kahl, C., Mikkola, A., Salmi, S., Bezuidenhout, C., Khumalo, T., &UusitaloMalmivaara, L. (in press). Positive adjusting to first grade in risk-filled communities in South Africa and Finland: The role ofschool ecologies. School Psychology International. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/0143034315614687Masten, A.S. (2014). Global perspectives on resilience in children and youth. Child Development, 85(1), 6-20. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12205Theron, L. C., & Theron, A. M. C. (2014). Education services and resilience processes: Resilient black South African students’ experiences.Child and Youth Services Review, 10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.10.003Ungar, M. (2011). The social ecology of resilience: Addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity of a nascent construct. American Journalof Orthopsychiatry, 81, 1-17. doi:10.1111/j.19390025.2010.01067.xUngar, M. (2015). Resilience and Culture: The diversity of protective processes and positive adaptation. In L. C. Theron, L. Liebenberg, &M. Ungar (Eds.), Youth resilience and culture: Commonalities and complexities (pp. 37-48). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.
AS01B - A child’s perspective of their transitioning to Grade 1 in Finland: A socio-ecological study on resilience K. Kumpulainen (2), S. Salmi (2)(2) University of Helsinki, Finland Aim: Transition to school is a widely researched topic. However, investigating the child’s own experiencing of transitioning to grade 1 isstill an overlooked and undertheorized phenomenon. The aim of the study is twofold. First, we aim to uncover the multiple ways in whichchildren experience their transitioning to grade 1 as a means to inform educational research and practice on the protective mechanisms ofresilience during transitioning to school. Second, we will explore how visual narration as a method of inquiry creates opportunities forresearching and understanding children’s experiencing of their transitioning to school within a socio-ecological framework (Ungar, 2012).Method: The data of our study derives from a yearlong visual ethnographic project, undertaken with 23
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