Families and Transition to School

This collection addresses issues related to families and transition, and pays special attention to the transition to school, the effect of this on the family, as well as the effect of the family on that transition. It celebrates the roles of families, locating them as integral partners in time of transition and identifying a variety of ways in which families and educators can work together with children to promote positive transitions. The book draws on a range of theoretical frameworks and research projects to provide multiple perspectives of family involvement in education, family-educator partnerships, the nature of collaboration, issues for families in marginalised or complex circumstances, as well as the multiple intersections of families and transition processes. The research projects reported range from in-depth case studies to the analysis of large-scale data sets and all have multiple messages for practitioners, policy makers and researchers as they seek ways to engage with families as their children start school.

This collection addresses issues related to families and transition, and pays special attention to the transition to school, the effect of this on the family, as well as the effect of the family on that transition. It celebrates the roles of families, locating them as integral partners in time of transition and identifying a variety of ways in which families and educators can work together with children to promote positive transitions. The book draws on a range of theoretical frameworks and research projects to provide multiple perspectives of family involvement in education, family-educator partnerships, the nature of collaboration, issues for families in marginalised or complex circumstances, as well as the multiple intersections of families and transition processes. The research projects reported range from in-depth case studies to the analysis of large-scale data sets and all have multiple messages for practitioners, policy makers and researchers as they seek ways to engage with families as their children start school.

1. Transition to School: A Family Affair; Sue Dockett, Wilfried Griebel and Bob Perry.- Section 1: Experiences and Expectations of Families as Children Start School.- 2. Transition to Being Parents of a School-Child: Parental Perspective on Coping of Parents and Child Nine Months after School Start; Wilfried Griebel, Andreas Wildgruber, Andrea Schuster and Julia Radan.- 3. Giving Voice to Families from Immigrant and Refugee Backgrounds during Transition to School; Katey De Gioia.- 4. Hope, Despair and Everything in Between - Parental Expectations of Educational Transition for Young Children with Intellectual Disability; Jenny Wilder and Anne Lillvist.- 5. "Everybody Has Got Their Own Story": Urban Aboriginal Families and the Transition to School; Cathy Kaplun, Rebekah Grace, Jenny Knight, Lynn Kemp, Jane Anderson, Natasha West, Holly Mack and Elizabeth Comino.- Section 2: Resources Families Bring to Transition to School.- 6. Primary School Choice and the 'Good' Mother: Balancing Complex Support Needs and Responsibility; Sue Dockett and Bob Perry.- 7. Connected Dynamics: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives on Family Life and the Transition to School; Dominik Krinninger and Marc Schulz.- 8. 'I Had a Grandfather Who Taught Me Everything': Grandparents as Family Capital in Transition to School; Tuija A. Turunen and Bob Perry.- 9. School Choice and Parent Involvement among Australian Children Starting School; Graham Daniel, Cen Wang, Elizabeth Murray and Linda J. Harrison.- Section 3: Parent and System Perspectives on Transition to School.- 10. Parents' Emotional and Academic Attitudes towards Children's Transition to Preschool Class - Dimensions of School Readiness and Continuity; Helena Ackesjö.- 11. Transition to School from the Perspective of the Girls' and Boys' Parents; Anna Kienig.- 12. Are We All Talking the Same Language? Parents, Practitioners andTeachers Preparing Children to Start School; Karen Wickett.- Section 4: Relationships and Collaboration.- 13. Preparing to Start School: Parent and Early Childhood Educator Narratives; Joanne S. Lehrer, Nathalie Bigras and Isabelle Laurin.- 14. Partnering in the Periphery; Wendy Goff.- 15. The Transition to Primary School as a Challenge for Parents; Petra Hanke, Johanna Backhaus, Andrea Bogatz and Majdah Dogan.- 16. Partnerships or Relationships: The Perspectives of Families and Educators; Susanne Rogers, Sue Dockett, and Bob Perry.- 17. Families and Transition: Transition and Families; Sue Dockett.