Parents’ and Teachers’ Perspectives on Children’s Socio-Emotional Well-Being During Transition from Home to Kindergarten

Background: As the social-emotional well-being of children as a whole and specifically during the transition to kindergarten is of paramount importance, it is important to continuously research this topic using a multi-informant approach. Moreover, a further contribution of this study lies in addressing the substantial gap in the existing literature within this important field. Objectives: Starting from the Ecological-Dynamic Transition Model and the Positive Development and Resilience in Kindergarten (PERIK) Model, the main aim of this research was to analyze parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of children’s social-emotional well-being during the transition and adjustment, and the quality of transition and adjustment. Methods: The study was conducted on a sample of parents (N = 154; 147 mothers) and teachers from 4 kindergartens (N = 12, all female) as raters of children’s (N = 202; 82 girls) social-emotional well-being, using PERIK scale and four questions on the quality of transition. Results: All PERIK-dimensions were rated as elevated based on parents’ ratings and moderate based on teachers’ ratings. Ratings of difficulties during transition decreased, and satisfaction with transition and adjustment and cooperation between parents and caregivers during transition increased (teachers’ ratings were lower than parents’ ratings). The average duration of adjustment in kindergarten was three weeks. Correlation analyses showed the expected significant correlations between the PERIK dimensions and the quality of transitions and adjustment of children. Inter-rater agreement analyses showed the effect sizes were predominantly large and poor to medium agreement between parent and teacher ratings was determined. Conclusions: Although the study found that there are significant differences in perceptions of the relationship between PERIK-dimensions and satisfaction with children’s transition between teachers and parents, which was expected due to the assessment of children in different contexts, it is important to consider them both in future research.