The complex trajectory of children’s transition to school within a bi-cultural context: a case of a Chinese immigrant child in Australia

ABSTRACT

Transition to school is a critical period in child development and has raised great concern among contemporary studies. However, most studies focus on vertical transition and only a few investigate vertical and horizontal transitions as a whole. To bridge the gap, this paper explores how an immigrant Chinese child makes the horizontal transition between dominant institutions within a bicultural-context and the vertical transition from preschool to the primary school period as a whole unity, and how the child learns and develops throughout this trajectory. The data (46 hours) being analysed are selected from observations and interviews. Drawing upon the cultural-historical theory, this paper argues that: (1) transition process is not linear, (2) every child has his/her unique transition trajectory and mapping the trajectory is a way to identify the child’s challenges and needs, and (3) culture is not a separate factor, but rather is embedded in the social situation of development in which the child is situated.

KEYWORDS:

• School transition
• transition trajectory
• child development
• bi-culture
• Chinese immigrant

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Junqian Ma http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8628-2031

Notes

1. The conversations are translated from Chinese.

2. The conversations are translated from Chinese.

3. The conversations are translated from Chinese.