In Australia children transition from preschool to school at around age 5 and in most instances they engage in a series of orientation visits to become familiar with the teaching staff and learning spaces. This presentation will report on an innovative project designed to support stronger relationships around children’s transitioning to school between early years educators.
The purpose of this project was to increase understanding of curriculum and pedagogy to support children’s learning across the two early years settings. During this session we will outline the processes early years educators engaged in - including a series reciprocal visits, facilitated conversations, and video stimulated discussion of practice - to build knowledge of language pedagogy and support continuity and progressions in children’s learning. We will also share insights from the Relational Agency Framework[1] used to analyse the data. The framework accommodates practitioner experiences and accounts for the professional relationships in the learning networks.
This work is provided as illustrative of the key role of educators and teachers as active participants in the design and development of transition processes, with a clear emphasis on pedagogies and classroom practice. Further the study highlights the need to foster relationships and collaboration as educators work together to focus on positive learning outcomes for children. Opportunities for sharing practice and building an appreciation of the skills and expertise of educators across sectors was integral to the success of this program.
1Duhn, I., Fleer, M., & Harrison, L. J. (2014). Review and Evaluation of the Inquiry to Implementation Project - Final Report. Australia: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
Key words - Transition to school, professional collaboration, early years pedagogy.
