The importance of including the child’s voice in the transition process: signposts from a national evaluation of concepts of school readiness in Ireland (Pre-published version)

Abstract

In a recent national evaluation of concepts of school readiness in Ireland commissioned by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) through the Irish Research Council (IRC), one of the participants, observed that “The School is big…bigger than any school in the world…bigger than a giant” (Ring and Mhic Mhathúna et al., 2016). The observation was made by a preschool child in the period prior to transitioning to primary school. A particular focus of the research was the inclusion of children’s voices at preschool level in order to establish what mattered most to children at this critical phase of transitioning from preschool to primary school. Fifty-seven children, aged between three and four, participated in ten child conferences (Clark and Moss, 2011). The research findings suggest that adopting a pedagogy of voice and a pedagogy of listening as children transition from preschool to primary school has the potential to enrich and enhance how children, parents and educators experience the transition process.