Children's places in transitions to ECEC : a Finnish case

Rutanen, Niina and White, Jayne and Marwick, Helen (2017) Children's places in transitions to ECEC : a Finnish case. In: 27th European Early Childhood Educational Research Association Conference, 2017-08-30 - 2017-09-01, University of Bologna.

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Abstract

This presentation focuses on the Finnish case within an international project "Social and emotional experiences in transition through the early years". The aim is to trace the interactions among the local organisation of non - parental childcare provision and how transition to ECEC and children in transitions are constructed by teachers and parents. Previous studies have shown how transitions bring forth a discontinuity in relationships, a change in cultural settings and their embedded values, routines, practices and rules (Dunlop & Fabian 2006, Datler et al. 2012). In addition to recent developments in infant - toddler research (Harrison & Su msion 2014, White & Dalli 2017), this study will engage in dialogue with childhood studies and geographies to investigate transitions within their spatio-temporal complexity (Bollig et al. 2015, Vuorisalo et al. 2015). Six parents and three teachers were interviewed before children (12 - 18 - months - old) started attending day care centre, and four months later. The analysis method is qualitative content analysis. Ethical approval has been granted by the ethics committee of University of Jyväskylä. Transition is characterized by construction of parents' and teachers' joint understanding and justification for specific practices and children's needs. They bring knowledge, beliefs and experiences about particular child, the role of ECEC and children's transitions in to dialogue. The child-care policies, local structures and affordances, and institutional orders interplay and assemble in the everyday making of children's transitions (Bollig et al. 2015). The study informs practice and policy about the process of transition and provides knowledge about different aspects of provision that relate to successful transition.

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