Sustaining warm and inclusive transitions across the early years: insights from the START project

ABSTRACT

Positive transitions across home, ECEC and compulsory school education (CSE) are critical in promoting children’s development and educational achievement: this seems especially the case for children from migrant backgrounds. However, as a consequence of entrenched institutional practices and lack of ownership the issues by the different groups of professionals involved, the way transitions are managed tends to unintentionally favour children from more advantaged backgrounds, whose families know how to navigate the educational system, including its flaws. The article presents the findings from a transnational participatory action-research study (START) carried out in four countries (Italy, Slovenia, England, Belgium), discussing how an inclusive transition approach can better address the needs of migrant children and families in a holistic way.

KEYWORDS:

• Transitions
• inclusion of diversity
• participatory action-research
• professional development
• children’s and parents’ perspectives

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the children, parents and professionals from the childcare centres, preschools and primary schools from the four different countries involved in the START project (Slovenia, Italy, Belgium, England) for sharing with us this exciting yet sometimes challenging adventure. A special thanks to the European Commission, DG Education and Culture: without the financial support of the Erasmus+ fund this innovative work would have not been possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The project ‘A Good Start for All: Sustaining Transitions Across the Early Years’ (START) has been funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme (Grant Agreement: 16-201-021576, KA2-SE-12/1). The final outputs are available on the project’s website: http://start.pei.si/results/

2 As defined by Vertovec (2007), super-diversity is characterised by ‘a dynamic interplay of variables among an increased number of small and scattered, multiple-origin, transnationally connected, socio-economically differentiated and legally stratified’ populations (Vertovec 2007, 1024). This is the case in many European cities and large towns where the (various) minorities constitute the majority of the population.

3 It should be noted that for the scope of this article only those studies focusing on educational transitions in contexts of diversity and social inequalities were analysed. For a more comprehensive overview of the studies analysed in the Literature Review produced within the START project the reader might refer to supplemental materials: http://doi.org/10.6092/unibo/amsacta/6210

4 The majority of children attending the preschool involved in the Belgian pilot did not speak Dutch as a home language (approximately 80%) and belong to low-income families. In the English case, the proportion of children with English as an additional language accounted for over half of the primary school population (52%) and up to 70% of children enrolled in the reception classes where the pilot was carried out: in addition, a number of Traveller children were attending on a less regular basis. The pre- and primary schools involved in the Italian pilot were characterised by a rising number of children from migrant background whose home language was not Italian (approximately 25% of children attending such settings). In the Slovenian case, a high level of non-participation of Roma children in the educational system was observed especially in preschool: whereas 10% of children attending the primary school involved in the pilot were of Roma origin, only one child was enrolled in preschool at the beginning of the project. For a more detailed account of the numbers of research participants involved at each site, on their recruitment and on the level of their involvement over time the reader might refer to the Case Studies provided as supplemental materials: https://amsacta.unibo.it/view/projects/START.html

5 A more detailed account of the specificity of this approach can be found on the website of the Centre for Educational Research on Teachers’ Professionalism: https://centri.unibo.it/crespi/en/centre

6 The data collected in each case study were generated by using the same methods (observations, interviews, focus groups) but availing of different tools (observation protocols, question routes, …): for a more detailed account the reader might refer to supplemental materials (Case Studies and Training Toolbox): https://amsacta.unibo.it/view/projects/START.html

7 As described by Bove (2001), inserimento is the term used in Italian to define the process and practice related to children’s gradual settling-in in nido (day care centre) and – to a lesser extent – in scuola dell’infanzia (preschool). In the Italian pilot, the welcoming practices traditionally adopted in ECEC were recontextualised and re-signified in the context of primary school.