The starting point for this study was to develop, together with the teachers, a transition cooperation in pre-primary and primary education in a northern Finnish municipality. The research question was what kind of tensions teachers identify in the transitions between pre-primary and pre-primary education, and how transition practices are developed, and common understanding is built around tensions. The material for the study consisted of peer group discussions (n= 4 times) conducted by teachers during the academic year 2023-2024. In the analysis of the data, a situational mapping method based on anchored theory was applied. The theoretical starting point of the study is the idea that people live their daily life in certain operating environments, which are influenced by relationships between different environments and broader contexts. The results of the study identified tensions in relation to children, parents, the work community, and guiding documents. In the development of transition practices and in the construction of shared understanding, first, the emphasis was on structuring the meaningfulness of work, especially the child's point of view. In addition, key aspects of the development work were shared practices and everyday situations, valuing the expertise of different parties, and the importance of structures.

Data analysis in this study is based on grounded theory, utilizing a data-driven situational mapping method (Clarke, 2003; see also Brinkmann, 2012). We focused in particular on different situations and events in teachers' everyday lives (Axel, 2011; Fleer & Hedegaard, 2010; Puroila et al., 2021). Listening to teachers, reading transcribed material, and studying a "messy map", we focused on the transitions between preschool and primary education that teachers brought up, as well as the tensions associated with everyday life. The teachers discussed the transition process between preschool and primary education from multiple perspectives, considering the transition from the child's point of view, cooperation between different actors, the operating culture of educational institutions, and educational curricula. From the discussion, we identified tensions in the relationship with children, parents, different working cultures, and the legislation and regulations imposed by society. In a more thorough theory-based analysis of these tensions, we utilized Bronfenbrenner's (1979, 1989a, 1989b, 2001) ecocultural systems theory.

The research results are consistent with previous studies (e.g., Karila & Rantavuori, 2014; Rantavuori, 2018; Skouteris et al., 2012) on this topic, showing that developing transition practices in pre- primary school and primary education is in the children's benefit and should be pursued further. Children's active participation and the role of their own knowledge should be strengthened in the transition from pre- primary school to primary education. It is also important to increase children's participatory role in discussions about the transfer of information between pre- primary school and primary school. It is essential to listen to parents' knowledge about their own children and to consider together how the interaction between teachers and parents may change when school starts. At the level of legislation, it should be taken into account that the continuum of learning is realized during the transition from pre- primary school to elementary school, and is not left only to the planning of local actors. Teacher training should pay more attention to the development of a common understanding among future teachers of pre primary school and primary school students already at the time of their studies.

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