Young children experience several transitions during their childhood. The early years mark the beginning of these changes in children's lives and therefore require sensitive and strategic management of these transition periods by key stakeholders. As a future early childhood educator, you need to think critically about how different transitions are experienced by children and their families, the impact they have on their development and learning, and the role that home, school and society play in facilitating smoother transitions. and healthier transition phases. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Disclaimer: When discussing personal experiences, pseudonyms have been used to maintain the anonymity of the children involved in the situation. Transitions are defined as significant events. and/or processes that occur at particular periods and at particular turning points during life. Usually, they are associated with a change in a person's appearance, activity, status, roles and relationships, as well as associated changes in the use of physical and social space, and /or to a change in contact with cultural beliefs, discourses and practices, particularly when linked to changes in context and, in some cases, to the dominant language. Transitions include significant psychosocial and cultural changes with cognitive, social, and emotional dimensions. These depend on “the nature and causes of the transitions, the vulnerability or resilience of those affected and the degree of change and continuity of experiences involved”. The term rites of passage was developed by the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep. Van Gennep explored the ceremonial stages that mark a person's life and influence their identity – from birth to puberty, marriage, parenthood and death. It also explored seasonal celebrations such as Christmas, Easter and the harvest, among others. In these rites, van Gennep identifies three stages/phases: separation, liminality and reaggregation/incorporation. Separation occurs when an individual or group is dissociated from their previous life and identity. Liminality refers to the period between two states – when he dissociates from his previous lives and identities and when he enters a new state, i.e. reaggregation. Upon incorporation, the individual or group is readmitted into society with their new status. When children experience transitions, they leave behind their sense of identity. In the new place/situation, they begin to experience new things, face new physical, social and behavioral changes and experience new challenges and expectations. Urie Bronfenbrenner defines the entry of children into school as an ecological transition. Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory examines a child's development "in the context of a system of relationships that constitute his or her environment." Bronfenbrenner defines complex layers of the environment. Each layer of the environment has an effect on children's development. The interactions children have with their family/community and the societal landscape contribute to their development. Any changes made to one of the layers will affect the other layers. The environmental layers/structures are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. The microsystem is thediaper closest to the child. It contains the structures with which the child is in direct contact. This involves the relationships and interactions that children have with their immediate environment. These structures include family, school, neighborhood and child care settings. There is a bidirectional influence since the child can affect the behavior of the environment and vice versa. These relationships have the greatest impact on a child. The mesosystem is a layer that provides the link between the structures of the child's microsystem. Some examples include the child's relationship with their teachers, their church, etc. The exosystem is the larger social system. The structures of this layer have an impact on the development of children through their interactions with certain structures of the microsystem. An example is the parent's workplace. Even if the child is not directly involved in this level, any positive or negative event that occurs affects him or her. The macrosystem is the outermost layer of the child's environment. This layer is made up of cultural values, customs and laws. Any change in the macrosystem has an effect on the other layers. The chronosystem includes the dimension of time in relation to children's environments. Elements of this system can be internal – physiological changes as the child grows, or external – death in the family. As the child grows, he will react differently to changes in his environment. Any change within any of these systems can influence how children experience a transition. This theoryIn his theory, Bourdieu argues that cultural capital is the foundation of social life. His concept of cultural capital denotes a repertoire of symbolic elements. Some of these may include skills, tastes, clothing, material possessions, mannerisms and posture, among others. These are brought together by being part of a society/social class. “Sharing a similar form of cultural capital with others…creates a sense of collective identity and group position.” Pierre Bourdieu also talks about Habitus. This includes the physical embodiment of cultural capital, that is, the habits, skills, and dispositions that one acquires through experiencing life. Habitus also explains a person's personal taste in cultural objects like clothing, food, and the arts, among others. All of these characteristics determine whether children experience a transition in a positive or negative way. During the first years of life, children experience a number of transitions. From the day they are born, children begin to experience a number of physical transitions, such as drinking milk, moving from liquid food to solid food, lying down, sitting up, crawling, walking, running, wearing a diaper and learning to potty train, among other things. Another important transition that children experience is entering daycare, daycare, preschool, and eventually school. Children may also experience other transitions, such as moving from one country to another or from one location to another. This could cause children to change schools. Illness or hospitalization in the family is also a transition that children experience because it can lead to major changes in their lives. Financial problems within the family and a change in the parents'/guardians' professional career also cause a transition for children, as they may be required to attend before-school or after-school clubs. Abuse or neglect can force children to change living situations, which is quite a transition.important for children. The birth and death of a family member is also a transition that children may experience. During her teaching internship in recent years, Eva had just lost her father. It was quite a difficult transition for her because she was quite close to her father. Her mother helped Eva in this transition by trying to keep the memory of her father alive. In her school bag, she had a photo of her father to help her remember him. Eva's mother also took her to see a therapist to help her deal with the situation. At first Eva found remembering her father quite difficult, but after a while it became a little easier to talk to him. Change in family structure is a major transition that a child can experience. In my experience with the children, Julia and Ben would stay after school hours for only half an hour until their father came to pick them up from school. Since last summer, their father cannot legally see his children without their mother present and he can no longer pick up his children from school. Due to this situation, Julia and Ben are abandoned at the Breakfast Club at seven in the morning and they have to stay at Klabb 3-16, i.e. until 3:30 p.m. when their grandmother comes to pick them up after work, i.e. until 6 p.m. when their mother comes to pick them up. Another transition that children experience is the change of educator or caregiver. Throughout my experience with children I have experienced this transition, the children have to go from letting their KGEs carry out their activities to me being the primary educator in the classroom. I think the children found this transition quite difficult, especially when the teaching practice took place at the start of the year. The kids tended to be more difficult at first (until they got used to my presence in class). Throughout the experiment, the children continued to ask their KGE – Where is it? Why did she leave class? What was she doing? among others. One of the biggest transition experiences for children is the morning transition when the whole family is getting ready to go to work or school. In this case study, the Sanchez family is preparing for school. This family is made up of a 6 month old boy, Arturo; 3-year-old twin brothers, Ricardo and Raymond; and his mother, Renya. The twins were just enrolled in the Las Cruces Head Start program. Ricardo and Raymond get dressed for school and Raymond can't find his shoes. Arturo received a book and put a cover on it until his mother helped him find the book. However, Artur wants to get his mother's attention, so he falls down, starts kicking and crying loudly. Once they find Raymond's shoes, the mother ties the boys' shoes and says goodbye. Ricardo doesn't want to go to school and clings to his mother's leg. Renya assures him that Maria will take them to school and that she will pick them up after lunch. The twins leave the house and the mother goes to give Arturo breakfast and change his diaper. In this difficult morning transition, children learn to express their feelings and needs through their behavior. Children need ongoing support from adults to help them manage their feelings, impulses, and attention. Having clear knowledge about how children develop would help adults better understand how children feel "during transition and set achievable expectations based on their developmental stage." How children are prepared to experience these different transitions – physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively, among other areas, will determinehow children will experience the different transitions they go through every day. These transitions that children experience can be classified into two: vertical and horizontal transitions. . Vertical transitions include key changes from one status to another, often associated with “upward” changes. An example of this may be when children change grades/schools, from kindergarten to primary school and from 3rd grade to 4th grade. Horizontal transitions occur daily. Many children experience a number of transitions every day, such as going from home to school and back home. They often organize a number of activities/events between school and home. In recent years, children's horizontal transitions have increased, as most children attend a before-school program and an afternoon program after school. When attending such clubs before or after school, children can move from a homogeneous group (all the same age) to a heterogeneous group (having different ages in the same class). This implies that children encounter at least two different social systems in addition to their families and friends during a school day. Children must adapt each time to the different situations they encounter. There are four main levels that influence transitions: the personal level, the interactional level, the contextual level and the sociocultural level. A person's individual traits and characteristics influence children in their transitions. These traits include the child's resilience, how the child perseveres, their attitude towards school, whether they are introverted or extroverted among others. The child's social skills, such as their ability to play, listen, take turns, among others, also influence the transition experienced by the child. If children are not developmentally ready for transitions, they will have a difficult transition. Vertical and Horizontal TransitionsThe interactional level that influences transitions includes parents' attitudes toward school and learning. If parents/guardians have a positive attitude towards starting school or learning, the child will view school in a positive light. If parents/guardians view school and learning in a negative light, the child may view school negatively. The same goes with brothers and sisters. How a child's siblings view school can influence how the child views school. Having positive relationships in the classroom, both with peers and educators, will ease the child's transition to school. The contextual level that influences transitions includes all transition activities organized by the school. Communication between school and family members before children enter school and once children enter school also influences children's transition. Cooperation between parents, school and community can also influence how the child experiences the transition. At the socio-cultural level, we can cite the school's willingness to celebrate the diversity of children. If schools do not celebrate children's different cultures and diversity, they risk experiencing a difficult transition. The school's ability to respond to different ethnic groups and linguistic minorities will also influence the transition children experience. Throughout their lives, children experience vertical and horizontal transitions. Vertical transitions include key changes from one status to another, often associated with “upward” changes. An example of this can be whenchildren change grades/schools, from kindergarten to primary school and from 3rd grade to 4th grade. Horizontal transitions occur daily. . Many children experience a number of transitions every day, such as going from home to school and back home. They often organize a number of activities/events between school and home. In recent years, children's horizontal transitions have increased, as most children attend a before-school program and an afternoon program after school. This implies that children encounter at least two different social systems in addition to their families and friends during a school day. Children must adapt each time to the different situations they encounter. School readiness is defined by three interconnected dimensions: children's readiness for school, children's school readiness, and families' readiness for school. “Children, schools and families are considered ready when they have acquired the skills and abilities required to interact with other dimensions and support smooth transitions.” The first dimension – children ready, focuses on their development and learning. This dimension refers to what children are expected to know and are able to do to enter school ready and willing to learn, thereby enabling a successful transition. For schools, success refers to knowledge of reading, writing and numeracy, following instructions, working with peers and participating in different activities. These abilities are linked to different areas of learning: “physical well-being, motor development; social and emotional development; learning approaches; language development; cognition and general knowledge; spiritual and moral development; appreciation of diversity and national pride.” The second dimension “schools ready” focuses on the school itself. This dimension is divided into two: the strategies the school uses to promote and support smooth transitions; and promote learning for all children. Schools that are ready to accept children and create a smooth transition, creating a continuity of experience between the different experiences that children have for example at the start of the year through to primary school. This includes the quality of the school environment, i.e. sufficient time allocated for learning; a good and adequate supply of books and teaching; effective teaching practices, teaching and skills. The “family ready” dimension primarily focuses on the attitude of parents and guardians in their child's learning, development and transitions to school. Supportive parents/guardians and nurturing home environments for children that will help them in school. “Parental educational goals, beliefs, attitudes and involvement are considered crucial to academic success.” To ensure that children experience smooth transitions, we must ensure that there is continuity of experiences for children. Policies, procedures and practices should “promote consistency of key relationships, liaison within and between settings, retention and transfer of relevant information (with parental consent) and close involvement of parents and relevant professionals ". Continuity of experience is also important between one context and another. This concerns learning experiences, relationships and physical differences – some of which include class sizes and child-adult rations. Of theClear policies and procedures will ensure that parents, children, schools and staff all share the same views and goals to support children in their transitions. A developmentally appropriate curriculum will also make the transition easier for children. The school and educators need to work together by creating a number of strategies to make the transition easier for children. A welcoming environment can make the transition easier for children. The educator can organize home visits to get to know the children and understand what they like or don't like. Schools and educators can create a questionnaire and interview with parents to get to know the children and their background. With the parents' agreement, before entering school, the educator can visit the child in his previous establishment and collect the child's portfolio from the previous establishment to know the children and their differences. needs. Visiting their previous environment can contribute to the continuity of the experience, as one can adopt similarities from the old environment (whether preschool or home) with the new environment. A home corner can also help ease the transition, as children are constantly reminded of their family and home. Another strategy you can use is to have children receive something that reminds them of home, such as a toy, blanket, pacifier, photo of a family member or pet. Before the first day, the school can organize an activity for parents and children. When I was entering first grade, the school I was starting at created an activity day for me and my parents. I remember my mother came to school with me, met me, teacher and saw my class. During the day, the teacher created a number of games to help us make friends with the children in the class. I feel like this day really helped me in my transition from my old school to this new school. Another strategy I saw implemented during a teaching practice experience was visiting a first grade class with their KGE. The children had a specific day to visit their school's first grade classes near the end of Kindergarten 2. The children spent a few hours in class to see what happens in first grade and understand the procedures that take place in the classroom . class. Throughout the year, parents can be invited to the classroom to participate in different activities. A variety of activities can be created to help children understand the different cultures present in the classroom and to help all children feel included in the classroom. Having a good and welcoming environment will make the transition easier for them. A graduation day can be organized for children when they complete a year and move on to the next year. This serves as their rite of passage as they celebrate their previous year and begin the new one. To facilitate transitions, the key worker system can be used. When using this system, each child and their family is assigned a specific person who is responsible for liaison between the families and the children. The key worker may carry out home visits before the child starts attending school or centre. This can help the key worker to assess and understand the needs of the child and their family. The Key Worker can help support children in their transition to school by working closely with parents to help children settle into the centre. He is also :.