Transition practices of sending and receiving teachers for school readiness.
Loading...
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Reforms in the Mauritian education sector have brought major changes in its education system.
The lower birth rate has decreased the enrolment at preschools and primary schools, but the
increase in number of schools has led to more pressure on transitions of children for sending
and receiving teachers. Early childhood education is not being given due importance. Since the
Millennium Development Goals on early years’ education aim to achieve universal primary
education, there is a need to ensure and promote school readiness and transition. The first
research themes identified for the literature review are, “School Readiness”, “National
Curriculum Frameworks and Transition Practices”, “Teacher-focused Transition Model” and
“The Need for Preparing Children for Primary Schools”. The underpinning theory for the study
is “Consequential Transitions Theory” of King Beach. The research gap is that a
comprehensive study could not be found which suggests a mechanism enabling smooth
transition of children through practices of sending and receiving teachers, and the theoretical
premise gap is that there is a dearth of scholarly literature addressing the transition from
preschool to primary school through consequential transition. The research problem is “What
approach should be adopted to enable school readiness in children for transition from
preschools to primary schools through transition practices?” and the research question is,
“What should be a framework for transition practices of sending and receiving teachers for
school readiness of children?”. The research objective is to formulate a framework for school
readiness of children through transition practices of sending and receiving teachers. A
qualitative research design has formulated a framework for school readiness of children.
Through framework analysis, five themes emerged and resulted in the core concept “Transition
practices from preschools to primary schools”. Data is interpreted based on each category. The
findings have been summarised per research questions. A transfer scheme has been developed
where observation grids have been constructed tailor-made for teachers from each setting. The
study contributes to the transition from preschools to primary schools by addressing through
school readiness of children.