Australian Pedagogy: Transition Practices for Children

This report discusses innovative pedagogical transition practices for children in Australia. It focuses on the artifact chosen, complexities in children's development, relationship building, environmental flexibility, and efficient pedagogy. The report concludes by discussing how kindergarten teachers and parents can enable children with flexibility and cooperation within the new school environment.

Running head: AUSTRALIAN PEDAGOGY
AUSTRALIAN PEDAGOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Discussion....................................................................................................................................................2
Overview of Transition............................................................................................................................2
Artifact chosen........................................................................................................................................3
Complexities in children’s development..................................................................................................5
Relationship Building...........................................................................................................................6
Environmental Flexibility.....................................................................................................................6
Efficient Pedagogy...............................................................................................................................7
Gap in learning the artifact......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Children are considered to be the most sensitive beings in the society who must be
provided with amicable ambience and environment for their nurture, growth and development.
Every child is precious, no matter what its gender is and every child deserves to access basic to
secondary education during the time of their all encompassing growth and development.
Transition in pedagogical terms, can be described as the event when a student, at a very early
age, comes from a different background to a learning environment (schools and pre schools)
where the students must be provided with support, inspiration and a realization of a strong sense
of belonging which is necessary not only for the early years but also for the later years. The most
significant part of transition program in pedagogy is that transition programs leave an intense
mark in the children, both in positive and negative ways (Goodyear & Casey, 2015). The
respective paper is a report on how the early childhood tutors and parents would ensure a proper
and innovative pedagogical transition practices which would support the children in their
experience of transition. The report has taken help of a picture book “First Day” by Margaret
Wild to carry out the task. The paper focuses on how the kindergarten teachers and parents
would enable the children with flexibility and cooperation within the “new” learning
environment so that students might not feel dejected and carry on with their new pedagogical
settings with inspiration and zeal.
Discussion
Overview of Transition
A child’s transition from one pedagogical setting to another is an important move as it
creates a great impact in the tender minds of the child, making them either good or worse by

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time. Transition in pedagogical terms, can be described as the event when a student, at a very
early age, comes from a different background to a learning environment (schools and pre
schools) where the students must be provided with support, inspiration and a realization of a
strong sense of belonging which is necessary not only for the early years but also for the later
years. The most significant part of transition program in pedagogy is that transition programs
leave an intense mark in the children, both in positive and negative ways. A proper, innovative
and collaborative transition period of a child from a particular pedagogical setting (supposedly
home) to a completely different pedagogical setting would ensure that the child gets proper
treatment in the classes, proper lessons with the help of information technology that would
enable them to understand and learn the intrinsic and instrumental nature around him or her in a
creative way and make sure that he or she is encouraged to attend the institutions and feel free as
well as inspired to explore the learning of the institution (Webb, 2014). Generally, the first year
of a child in a particular pedagogical setting, supposedly of school, is the most important period
for him or her as his or her cognitive as well as psycho-social development is completely based
on the way the tutors and educators behave and train them.
Artifact chosen
For the respective report, the artifact chosen in case of pedagogical approach of transition
in the children is “First Day” by Margaret Wild. The book “First Day” is a picture book filled
with illustrations that echoes the very fact that every child goes through, which is the transfer of
the child from home to school settings. It is an Australian classic where Alex, the protagonist is
seen to be having her first day at school where he had come across different beautiful and
authentic characters (her other classmates) who are different from each other, yet are collectively
united and respectable to each other (Allenandunwin.com.,2019). The book has a unique

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pedagogical approach where there has been depiction of vibrant expressions and movements of
the different children who had been coming from different backgrounds and their graceful
learning of the world in classrooms, playgrounds and in the families. The book is unique and
authentic in terms of studying and learning transitional pedagogical approach because it
highlights about the platforms of diversity and unity that can be incorporated during the
transitional period of pedagogical practice among the children in order to make them
unprejudiced, encourage them to mingle with the children coming from diverse ethnic and
religious backgrounds and also about the graceful tutoring and learning techniques that the early
years coaches can provide to the children in order to develop the children holistically into a
complete individual. The respective picture book is filled with different beautiful and charming
illustrations which depicts the basic obstacles, challenges as well as opportunities a child faces
while going to the school for the first time. A typical or quintessential first day of school of a
child, his or her new experiences and issues have been beautifully portrayed in the book in a
creative and comical way which induces special interest among the children about going to
school and makes the “school going” experience, a healthy one. The parents/ guardians can play
an important part in children’s transition period with the help of the respective book. With the
help of the illustrative book, the parents or he guardians would be able to provide an idea to the
children about what schools are like and what are the misconceptions about the schools which
the children might be having in his or her mind (Fullan, 2013). With the help of proper teaching
practices, creative and inquisitive way of discussion, the parents would be able to make their
child understand that school is a beautiful place where individuals learn about different things
and grow themselves physically and mentally. On the other hand, the parents can also provide
their children with interests about going to school and meeting different “friends” or

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“classmates” who, in spite of being from different backgrounds, would be good companions of
their ward and they might as well spend their time in the school in a better and graceful way. On
the other hand, the early childhood educators might as well select the respective artifact to teach
the students in the class about the beauty that is school. The tutors might incorporate the ideals of
diversity within their teaching outcomes while tutoring the book to the children and make them
feel comfortable, encouraged and easy to mingle with different children from varied
backgrounds and walk of life so that they do not feel alienated from the institute or setting.
Therefore, I believe that the respective book is a great source through which children can be
taught the correct and healthy way of transition in their early years of education
(Allenandunwin.com.,2019).
Complexities in children’s development
Complexities in children’s development can be traced on the factors that affect a child’s
holistic growth and development, such as motor development of children, their posture, dexterity
and locomotion. Apart from the factors enumerated, the other factors such as functional
variability, such as, using different strategies by different child in order to carry out or solve a
task is also an important way to determine the complexities of children’s development as the
cognitive and behavioral development of the children are visible as well as measured through
such practices (Black et al., 2017). Through the help of the respective literature named “First
Day” by Margaret Wild, the different ways by which the complex cognition of the children are
exhibited and practiced with the help of inclusive and diversified atmosphere within the
classrooms have been depicted. As a child grows and develops right from his or her birth,
stability is a vital factor in a child’s early years, yet it also has to be remembered that since
change is inevitable in the life of every individual, therefore, children are also not away from it.

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A time comes when every child has to undergo a number of emotional as well as environmental
transitions before they actually get into any kind of schooling environment. If the transition
period of a child is managed tactfully, the process of adjustment, encouragement and cooperation
would be reassured to both the children as well as his or her families (Margetts & Kienig, 2013).
The lessons which I have learnt from the reading of the literature and the pragmatic experience I
had in case of dealing with the complexities in development of children are narrated hereafter.
Relationship Building
For an optimistic and a positive way of transition, the relationship between the parents/ guardians
and the tutors/ practitioners must be amicable and respectable. In case of the tutors or
practitioners, a proper and prolific conversation with the parents would not only help them to
provide necessary information about children and the factors on how to tackle them, but also
provide them with the opportunities to extract and exchange different pedagogical ideas and
approaches. With the help of the diversity that is depicted in the literature, the tutors can induce
the idea of teaching diversity among the parents towards their children which would not only
enrich the tender minds of the children but also help the parents understand the beauty of unity in
diversity and its significance from the early age. An inquiry based pedagogical approach
might be taken. Such practices would make the parents and the children shed their prejudices and
stereotypes and grow as holistic individuals. It has been found out that parents often feel
optimistic to have conversations with people who care for their child and an intense and
respectful conversation between the parents and the tutors make the children feel reassured. Such
practices often make the children more interested to go to school. Therefore, such activities are
indeed proper ways of starting off with the dealings of complex developmental issues of children
(Eskelä-Haapanen et al., 2017).

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Environmental Flexibility
There should be an ambience and a routine in the pedagogical practices which would
ensure collectivism as well as individualism among the little children. Children are sensitive and
creative in their own authentic ways. The environment should be such that it enhances the
capabilities and imaginative as well as inquisitive skills of children. When the children are
transferred from one setting to the other, they must feel safe and secured with familiar resources
in order to keep them away from feeling alienated. The diversified background of the classrooms
can sometimes cause the children to panic and get confused. A graceful way of making children
mingle with the ethnically and culturally differentiated children with the media of playing
outdoor as well as indoor games (which has been mentioned in the book) and project based
learning lessons might as well increase their cognition and biomechanical properties, make the
children collaborate together ensuring flexibility in their performance (Waite, 2017).
Efficient Pedagogy
The pedagogical approaches that are generally play based as well as enquiry based might
be well to be kept in the routine as it would be extending the thinking and developmental ideas of
the children at the early years. Creative and a well integrated approach of tutoring and learning is
the best possible way by which transition of a child from one setting to the other might be
encouraged and materialized successfully. Children are imaginative and they tend to create
authentic ideals and images about different individuals they meet in their early childhood
settings. The creativity of children is well approached and supported if the children are left easy
and in their own state while they are interacting with the other children who are completely
different from them. Such interaction without any interruption and giving room to self learning
techniques increases the psycho-social behavior of the children (Kunnari & Ilomäki, 2016).

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Gap in learning the artifact
The matters which have not yet been considered by me in intrinsic and instrumental study
of the literature and complex pedagogy is the negative functioning, such as inconsistency and
reluctance, which are the psychological stressors in the children and often become difficult to
handle by the caregivers and early years educators. There has been instances of certain
psychological and psychosocial pressures which a child receives when he/ she is completely
taken into a different situation. The unnecessary pressure often comes from the peers and
environmental or psychosomatic issues. Such cases are not boldly highlighted in the respective
literature. Considering such issues, empathetic counseling can be an innovative way of dealing
and tackling such situations (Cowie & Sharp, 2017).
Conclusion
The respective paper concludes to be a report on how the early childhood tutors would
ensure a proper and innovative pedagogical transition practices which would support the children
in their experience of transition. The report has taken help of a picture book “First Day” by
Margaret Wild to carry out the task. The paper concludes by focusing on how the kindergarten
teachers and parents would enable the children with flexibility and cooperation within the “new”
school environment so that students might not feel dejected and carry on with their new
pedagogical setting with inspiration and zeal.

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References:
Allenandunwin.com.,(2019). Available at;
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/picture-books/
First-Day-Margaret-Wild-illustrated-by-Kim-Gamble-9781760293918
Black, M. M., Walker, S. P., Fernald, L. C., Andersen, C. T., DiGirolamo, A. M., Lu, C., ... &
Devercelli, A. E. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age:
science through the life course. The Lancet, 389(10064), 77-90.
Cowie, H., & Sharp, S. (2017). Peer counselling in schools: A time to listen. Routledge.
Eskelä-Haapanen, S., Lerkkanen, M. K., Rasku-Puttonen, H., & Poikkeus, A. M. (2017).
Children’s beliefs concerning school transition. Early Child Development
and Care, 187(9), 1446-1459.
Fullan, M. (2013). Commentary: The new pedagogy: Students and teachers as learning partners.
Learning landscapes, 6(2), 23-29.
Goodyear, V. A., & Casey, A. (2015). Innovation with change: Developing a community of
practice to help teachers move beyond the ‘honeymoon’of pedagogical
renovation. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 20(2), 186-203.
Kift, S. (2015). A decade of transition pedagogy: A quantum leap in conceptualising the first
year experience. HERDSA Review of Higher Education, 2(1), 51-86.
Kunnari, I., & Ilomäki, L. (2016). Reframing teachers’ work for educational innovation.
Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 53(2), 167-178.

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Margetts, K., & Kienig, A. (Eds.). (2013). International perspectives on transition to school:
Reconceptualising beliefs, policy and practice. Routledge.
Waite, S. (Ed.). (2017). Children learning outside the classroom: From birth to eleven. Sage.
Webb, M. (2014). Pedagogy with information and communications technologies in transition.
Education and Information Technologies, 19(2), 275-294.