How toddlers new to child care become members of a classroom community

ABSTRACT

Transitioning into child care can bring complex emotional tensions and have a lasting and powerful impact on future separations and caregiving encounters. Despite the increasing number of children in child care programmes and the complexity surrounding the phenomenon, little attention has been given to especially very young children's entry into child care settings and their daily transitional experiences. Using a phenomenological multi-case study approach, we aimed to capture children's daily experiences from their perspectives, by looking closely at their behaviours, movements, and talk, supplemented by parents’ and teachers’ perceptions and reflections on the children's experiences. Our data illuminate the diverse ways a group of toddlers new to childcare navigated the process of becoming members of the classroom community, the differences in their subtle and overt emotional tensions, verbal and non-verbal communication styles, and evolving identity and agency. Teachers’ roles unfolded in response to children's diverse needs and ways of being.

KEYWORDS:

• child care
• transition
• separation
• being
• becoming
• belonging

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the children, families, graduate assistants/students, and teachers for participating and sharing their perspectives in our study. The authors also acknowledge Aura Perez for her help with data collection and initial analysis process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seung Eun McDevitt

Seung Eun McDevitt is Assistant Professor in the School of Education at St. John’s University. Her research addresses issues of diversity, equity, and belonging in inclusive early childhood education and teacher education.

Susan L. Recchia

Susan L. Recchia is Professor Emeritus in Early Childhood Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on the social and emotional lives of infants and toddlers and the professional lives of early childhood teachers.