Transitions in education are equivalent to rites of passage (as defined by anthropologists Van Gennep in 1909 and Turner in 1969) for children moving from one school level to the next. Corsaro & Molinari (2008) define the transition to primary education as critical in the life of children, as this passage may affect children and their outcomes in multiple ways. Although transition to primary education is critical in children’s lives, it is often overlooked (Corsaro & Molinari, 2008; Arnold et. al., 2007). Agreeing with Arnold's and colleagues' (2007: 2) definition of transition as the period before, during and after a child's move into primary school, in our study we focus on the continuities and discontinuities between preschool and primary education. But why is transition to school so important and why should it deserve in-depth analyses?
First of all, a smooth continuity between preschool and primary education results in improved social adjustment and academic performance (Corsaro & Molinari, 2008). Second, transitions are always collectively produced and shared with significant others, thus they are not processes involving individual children in isolation, but immersed in their own context. This is why an ecological approach to transition is useful, one that takes into account not only the multiple influences in children's change to primary school but also how these influences change over time (Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000). In Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), there is a third reason for interest in this transition: the recently published European Quality Framework for ECEC (EU Commission, 2014), with emphasis on quality ECEC where progression and continuity are guaranteed to all children especially in the delicate transition to school, a period which “should be organized collaboratively in order for the views of children, ECEC staff, teachers and parents to be considered and valued” (EU Commission, 2014, Statement 5: 45). In addition, the EU Framework considers the successful transition to school as one measurable child outcome in ECEC monitoring systems (70). This also connects with the OECD ECEC Network research interests. Thus, the topic of transition is significant well beyond Europe.
Progression of child competencies, continuity and discontinuity: the similarity between the anthropological and the ecological view of transition ends here. While the anthropological observations have mostly revealed a sharp discontinuity marking the end of a life cycle and the inception of a new one (often with rites of violent connotation aiming to strengthen the novice), the ecological approach is mostly concerned with smoothing the transition and favoring continuity between two different life stages.
Thus, two opposing views of transition emerge: one with celebrations marking the upgraded status of children in contrast with the other one ensuring serenity. An American rite has been borrowed in some Italian preschools to solemnize the exit of the child from this level of education: a ceremony where each preschooler wears a graduation hat and receives a parchment paper with the admission to grade one. At the opposite pole of the continuity-discontinuity continuum, we could place all those practices aiming at downplaying anxieties connected with the child changing school level. The first question thus concerns the best strategy in the preschool-primary education transition: continuity or discontinuity for children entering first grade?
Our study takes these perspectives into consideration and analyses current policies and practices concerning transitions from preschool to grade one in two education systems, Italy and Korea. The objective is a mutual learning experience between two very different countries aimed at understanding how preschool-primary school transition is handled within the two systems and which aspects seem to be most relevant in this transition to foster children’s optimal outcomes.
