Transition to school practices: comparisons from Iceland and Australia

This paper is the result of collaboration among early childhood education researchers from different cultures on opposite sides of the globe. The project sought to identify what practitioners in both preschool and primary school settings in Iceland and Australia regarded as successful transition to school practices. Independently developed surveys of these practitioners, both based on earlier work in the USA, gathered data on what the practitioners identified as ‘good ideas’ in transition practices. There were similarities across the countries: popular practices included children visiting primary schools prior to the start of the school year and informational meetings for parents. There were also differences: Icelandic primary school teachers were, for instance, more likely than Australian teachers to write to their prospective students before they started school.