Abstract:
Transition to school is currently one of the most renowned research fields because of its significant effects on children. Recently, the importance of achieving effective collaborations, especially between early childhood and primary school teachers, is increasingly recognised as a powerful facilitator of children’s transition from early childhood education (ECE) to school. Research indicates that a further understanding of teacher expectations is needed to enhance teacher collaboration between the two sectors. This thesis investigates what influences frame early childhood teacher expectations about the transition-to-school process in Japan and how such influences can be interpreted by international research and perspectives. A constructivist, qualitative, narrative research methodology was adopted to gather narrative data through individual semi-structured interviews with six senior teachers at different types of ECE centres in the Tōkai region, Japan. As a theoretical framework, three axial concepts (i.e., aims, strategies, and influences) and the earlychildhood- teacher-centred (ECTC) ecological framework were developed, especially from Western studies, and employed to capture a wide range of contextual influences around early childhood teachers involved in the transition-to-school process. In keeping with this theoretical framework, the participants’ expectations about the transition from ECE to school were regarded as their perceptions of what must be achieved during the transition-to-school process (aims) and how to achieve the aims (strategies). The findings revealed that the participants’ perceptions of aims and strategies were continuously challenged and reshaped through three types of influence: educational philosophies, professional development, and challenges. First, educational philosophies, embedded in national and local policies, hoikusho and yōchien traditions, and the educational direction of their ECE centres, tended to establish the fundamental bases of the participants’ perceptions of aims and strategies. Second, the participants’ professionalism, which consolidated and challenged such fundamental bases, developed through interactions with children, colleagues, school teachers, and external experts. Third, the participants’ concerns about the lack of time and access to school teachers hindered attempting their ideal collaborative strategies. This thesis concludes that becoming acquainted with such influences may further an understanding of early childhood teacher expectations about the transition from ECE to school.