Continuity and Change as Children Start School
While there has been much discussion – theoretically, conceptually and practically – about addressing discontinuity and promoting continuity at times of educational transition, less attention has been given to examining what is meant by continuity and the
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Continuity and Change as Children Start School Sue Dockett and Jóhanna Einarsdóttir
While there has been much discussion – theoretically, conceptually and practically – about addressing discontinuity and promoting continuity at times of educational transition, less attention has been given to examining what is meant by continuity and the rationale for its promotion. One of the implications of the focus on continuity has been less attention to the notions of change in transitions and the importance of balancing both continuity and change for those involved. In this chapter, we consider current positions and debates around continuity and change in educational transitions, particularly the transition to primary school. We draw on a range of theoretical and conceptual perspectives to explore these.
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Introduction
Continuity is not a new term within early childhood education. Soon after establishing the first kindergarten, Fröbel (1887/2005) emphasised the importance of continuity – unity – between home and kindergarten, and Dewey (1938) argued that the basis for educational activities was continuity with the everyday lives of children in the home and the community. This sense of continuity, in which experiences and learning build on what has gone before, is at the heart of statements such as ‘Connections and continuity between learning experiences … make learning more meaningful’ (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
S. Dockett (*) Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia e-mail: [email protected] J. Einarsdóttir University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 N. Ballam et al. (eds.), Pedagogies of Educational Transitions, International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 16, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43118-5_9
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[DEEWR] 2009, p. 32) and ‘Learning begets learning’ (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] 2006, p. 37). The principle of continuity holds a central place in theories of child development, particularly stage-based theories, in which the achievements of one stage are regarded as integral to the achievements in those that follow. For example, theorists such as Piaget (1973) proposed that continuity – continuous development – was promoted by the alignment of learning environments and developmental stages, and Erikson (1950/1993) described developmental continuity, the resolution of conflict in one stage of psychosocial development, as the basis for later achievements. The influence of stage theories of development tends to have lessened in recent decades as variation and diversity in children’s learning have been highlighted. However, the emphasis on developmental continuity remains in the promotion of lifelong learning agendas (OECD 2006). While developmental continuity has featured strongly in approaches to early childhood education, so too has discontinuity. Through much of its history, the field of early childhood education has been characterised
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