This presentation focuses on children's perspectives, experiences and expectations during a pedagogical transition from preschool to primary school as well as from primary school to lower secondary school. The aim of our research is to deepen our understanding of what transitions during the educational career mean for the children involved, especially meeting the challenges in a new educational setting with reference to learning and participation. The theoretical framework includes theories of transitions such as “rites de passage”, introduced by van Gennep (1908/1997) and Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological system. At the conference, we will present some findings based on ethnographic case studies with the two age groups and their transition to a new pedagogical setting. The empiric material analyzed consists of interviews with children as well as classroom observations. The analyses are made with an interpretive approach (Erickson, 1986; Garpelin, 1997). The findings show that, within a group of children who face the same educational settings and the transition between them, there are significant differences between the experiences and expectations expressed by the children. Those differences are valid for social as well as academic aspects. The studies support previous research that emphasizes the importance of listening to children and allowing them to participate in what concerns them. In the transitions, children face the new school form with different individual conditions, experiences and needs, showing that children's perspectives differ in many ways. The result shows that, listening to and partaking the children's different voices is an essential part with reference to inclusion, learning and well-being for all children. A comparison between the transitions of the two age groups will be presented.

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