Early Childhood Folio vol. 18 no. 2 (2014)

This article draws on ongoing research by the teaching team at Mangere Bridge Kindergarten that investigates the role of a transition portfolio for children making the transition to primary school. During the kindergarten’s Centre of Innovation research project (2006–2008), focus groups of kindergarten parents often commented that they viewed their child’s kindergarten portfolio as a taonga, or treasure, and were reluctant to part with it. Having seen the value of kindergarten… Read more

Relationships between children’s preschool and school educators are regarded as an important influence on children’s transition to school. This article reports on a study which investigated the nature of communication between preschools and schools in Australia. The strengths and weaknesses of communication reported by educators indicate elements which build positive relationships between settings, and those elements that strain relationships.

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study aiming to deepen the understanding of the transition from preschool into school, with special regard to participation and learning, from the perspective of students and teachers involved. The results show that, although children appear well prepared and comfortable facing school, a system that requires two transitions within one year is problematic given the change in activities, roles, and relationships for… Read more

This article is about the barriers and supports experienced by “priority” (defined by the Ministry of Education as Māori, Pasifika and low socio-economic status) families in making decisions and enrolling their children in early childhood education (ECE). It draws predominantly on data from interviews with parents to examine some of the key ways in which parents can be supported in their decisions and in their children’s transition to ECE. The findings highlight the… Read more

Imagine you are an immigrant early childhood teacher ... This article tells your story of transition and diversity. It interweaves tensions and complex realities, and explores issues and concerns for immigrant teachers in the cultural places and relational spaces of early childhood settings. Using teacher narratives and a post-structural discourse analysis, this article suggests that immigrant teachers’ realities are not always “rich” or celebratory, but are often complex… Read more

Maps have become a common feature of early childhood research. They have been used to provide the groundwork for research—describing the landscape in which research is to take place—as well as representing research outcomes. Sometimes, maps are used as illustrations; at other times they are considered objects of text requiring interpretation. Despite the multiple uses of maps in early childhood research, there has been little critique of their generation and… Read more

Pedagogies of Educational Transitions [POET] (described in the introductory Comment to this issue of Early Childhood Folio) brings together a wealth of expertise from the five countries involved. The staff exchange programme sets up a series of reciprocal interactions, among both researchers and their research projects. Each of the participating researchers is involved in existing programmes of research in their own country. In this final section Sarah Boyd… Read more