engleski

Transition to school – Croatian perspective

The aim of this paper is to present the research evidence of the Croatian perspective on transition to school. Since the Croatian independence in 1991, there have been no in-depth researches on transition in Croatian educational system. Researches were mostly focused on children’s readiness for school making the transition a normative problem aligned with the ready for school model. Only recently the interest in the transition as a child-oriented process has risen. In accordance with the socio-constructivist and the ecological theory, this paper highlights the importance of creating a strong and equal partnership in order to create opportunities for children's participation. To gain a deeper understanding of the transition process from ECEC and CSE teacher’s perspective, an explanatory sequential mixed method design was used. Both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (focus group interviews) data was collected. In accordance with the theoretical framework, the emphasis was on qualitative data that was analysed using grounded theory. Main ethical preoccupation was with the interviews since the participants had to share their implicit pedagogies. At all time they had the possibility to exit the interview. Two different paradigms and two different concepts applicable on Croatian and others (contextually) similar educational systems emerged. The results indicated that ECEC system has the capability to offer a quality transition process based on its pedagogy grounded in a socio- constructivist theory. This does not mean a dominance of one pedagogy over another, but rather raising a question of multiple in contrast to dominant CSE discourse. The new proposed guidelines recognised theory and practice already present in the Croatian ECEC system.

transition to school, mixed method research, grounded theory, quality of theory and practice, multiple discourses

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