Welcome to the Office of Early Childhood Education

The strands in the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki  underpin the objective of providing a base for children to be able to build on their learning and become confident and competent in school. The New Zealand Curriculum explains that supporting of the transition process from early childhood requires fostering of a child’s relationships within their social environment, building and recognising all their experiences and collaborating with family and whanau.

Multiple factors affect a child’s transition from early childhood to school, and some of the main factors are:

– Whether there is a collaborative approach and effective communication between school, early childhood service and the family during the transition process;

– Early childhood and primary teachers understanding of both the early childhood and the NZ schools curricula;

– Children’s understanding of the different curriculum of the school, and the school’s social and physical environment; and

– Children’s preparedness for the academic challenges of the school curriculum.

I’ll discuss each of these factors and share examples with you.

Teachers have different approaches to managing the transition processes.

As early childhood teachers, we need to understand that each child develops differently; hence we need to adapt the pace of the transition programme accordingly.