The works carried out on childhood career transitions show related deficiencies on the methodological approach from which they are usually approached (Lillejord, Borte, Halvorsrud, Ruud & Freyr, 2017, Loizou, 2011, 2018). These studies highlight the need to analyse the perspective of children about their transition process, as well as to study how they live and experience the transition from Early Childhood (EC) to Primary Education (PE) (Eskelä-Haapanen, Lerkkanen, Rasku-Puttonen & Pokkeus, 2017). In the last decade, awareness about children's perspectives must be accounted for in research that involves their participation. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) has afforded children globally the right to express their views on matters that affect their lives. In this sense, work with children highlights the need to use an approach like collaborative ethnography that gives children the role of "only experts in their own lives" (White & Sharp, 2007). This methodological approach implies accepting a holistic, dynamic way of enabling children to express themselves; challenging scientific inquiry to maintain a focus on children's perspectives throughout the entire research process (Clark & Moss, 2011, Campbell & Lassiter, 2015).

Collaborative ethnography can be considered as an instrument of intervention that favours the processes of construction-deconstruction and reconstruction of identities (personal and community) in which children elaborate the meaning of lived experiences. This construction takes place in a context of collaboration and dialectical relationship that is favoured through different forms of expression (oral, written, visual, and corporal) and communication. Our workplaces the participants in the school of the same, considering them as "experts" in the process of collecting and analysing the information (Banks, Hart, Pahl & Ward, 2018). In this sense, a shared approach to the discussion of the research itself is co-constructed.

The participation of students from the beginning of research can be encouraged inviting them to take pictures of the spaces, people and artefacts which fill in their lives. Photographs open up new and interesting ways to participate in research, potentially increasing children's willingness to be involved (Kaplan, 2008, Byrne, Daykin, & Coad, 2016). They, once made, help the children to evoke information, feelings and memories that might not arise in any other way, or that may be difficult to describe through their verbal or written speech. Literature has highlighted the contribution of visual methodology in the study of transitions in childhood (Dockett, Einarsdottir & Perry, 2017).

Collaborative ethnography, supported by the use of resources that foster participation, is especially significant in contexts of social vulnerability, where it is necessary to provide methodologies that promote equity (Kassan, Goopy, Green, Arthur, Nutter, Russell-Mayhew, Sesma-Vazquez & Silversides, 2018). The use of the ethnographic approach allows reflection and awareness of the transition processes and the construction of identities in childhood. The product of this process allows the elaboration of new narratives based on past and present experience, which are projected towards a better future.

In this paper, we critically discuss the contributions of methodological strategies developed in the participatory and visual research projects with children, such as photographs, drawings and visual narrative interviews. In the light of the purpose described above, we have the following research aims:

1. Explore the usefulness of collaborative ethnography in childhood career transitions.

2. Reflect critically on the necessary conditions to develop a collaborative ethnography with children at risk of social exclusion.

The sample of our research is composed of 33 children of 5-6 years at risk of social exclusion, their families and their teachers. Children are enrolled in 4 schools placed in peripheral neighbourhoods of Seville and Cadiz, in which there are structural situations of poverty and social marginalisation. However, each of the participating schools presents differential features associated with the location, nature, and group to which it provides service. The collection of information was oriented toward the elaboration of several mapping on the identity construction process at different times during the EC-PE transition (Clark & Moss, 2011). At first, at the end of the EI, the children made the drawings of their families, their self-portrait, as well as a mapping of the daily experiences they develop in the home, school, neighbourhood, and other associations. In a second moment, at the beginning of the EP, an accompaniment was made of each student in the first three months during which participant observations were made, and informal conversations were held with the children. Children were provided with photographic cameras, and they were invited to take pictures of places, situations, resources and key people in their educational settings (Early Childhood and Primary Education). The students elaborated mapping using the photographs they had previously taken. The mapping favoured the narration of their experiences on EC-PE transition process. Besides, children were asked to draw on their experiences at Childhood and Primary Education. Finally, they shared their drawings with the group and constructed a narrative about their transitions experiences and expectations (Jadue Roa, Whitebread & Gareca, 2018). The analysis of mapping, drawings, observations and informal conversations has been made from the epistemological framework of social semiotics (Van-Leeuwen, 2005). This data analysis was based on multimodal critical discourse analysis (Kress and Van-Leeuwen, 2008, Machin and Mayr, 2012), and adopted the form of co-analysis with the participants. The research process culminated in the elaboration of a co-constructed document that collected its proposals to optimise the EC-PE transition process (Bell & Pahl, 2017).

The collaborative ethnographic approach has made it possible to listen to the voice of all children and identify the key elements in the transition process in EC-PE. This research process has been configuring on a day-to-day basis with the children. The visual techniques used, such as mapping and drawings, have contributed to the empowerment of children with a Social Justice approach (Pahl & Pool, 2011). The co-analysis sessions with the students allowed the children themselves to interpret the meaning of their experiences and the importance in the transformation of their different schools. The open and evocative character of the collaborative ethnography used facilitated the expression and communication of all the participants, overcoming the contextual barriers of their situation of vulnerability. The opportunity to use different forms and modes of communication (drawings, photographs, conversations and mapping), besides being a motivating element, favoured that they could express information, feelings and emotions that otherwise would not have been possible. In conclusion, our study shows the need to incorporate methodologies such as collaborative ethnography in research on transitions as a measure of equity, since, being important processes for all people, they are especially significant for disadvantaged students. This idea is linked to the development of systemic interventions in which the school, families, social services, the community, the students themselves participate in a shared and collaborative manner, developing "comprehensive transition programs" (OECD, 2017).

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