A Systematic Review of Research Exploring Stakeholder Views on the Kindergarten-school Transition

A smooth kindergarten-school transition is till problematic, even thoughit has been receiving attention from researchers as well as education professionals (e.g. Heckman, 2011). It is clear to everyone that children, kindergarten teachers, primary school teachers, and parents are all greatly affected by the kindergarten-school transition (e.g. Correia & Marques-Pinto, 2016). Therefore, the goal of my study is the systematic review of research exploring the kindergarten-school transition related views and opinions of the stakeholders. A search was conducted for English language studies that were published in peer reviewed journals between 1 January 2016 and 1 September 2020, in the ERIC, Scopus and the Web of Science databases. The expressions „kindergarten school transition”; „transition into primary school”; „transition to school”; „starting school”; „beliefs concerning school transition” were used as search terms. A total of 646 publications were identified, of which 21 complied with the inclusion criteria. Those papers were included that present such empirical work that explore the views and opinions of stakeholdersregardingthe kindergarten-school transition of normally developing children. The present review considers six aspects: (1) the country where data were collected; (2) the phase of transition when data were collected; (3) the issue of transition studied; (4) participants; (5) data collection methods; (6) main results. The review showed that numerous questions regardingthe kindergarten-school transition are researched worldwide. My study can serve a basis for understanding the problems of starting school in different countries, as well as to formulate further research questions, and to design further research.

Handwriting versus keyboarding: Does writing modality affect quality of narratives written by beginning writers?

To date, there is no clear evidence to support choosing handwriting over keyboarding or vice versa as the modality children should use when they first learn to write. 102 Norwegian first-grade children from classrooms that used both electronic touchscreen keyboard on a digital tablet and pencil-and-paper for writing instruction wrote narratives in both modalities three months after starting school and were assessed on several literacy-related skills. The students’ texts were then analysed for a range of text features, and were rated holistically. Data were analysed using Bayesian methods. These permitted evaluation both of evidence in favour of a difference between modalities and of evidence in favour of there being no difference. We found moderate to strong evidence in favour of no difference between modalities. We also found moderate to strong evidence against modality effects being moderated by students’ literacy ability. Findings may be specific to students who are just starting to write, but suggest that for children at this stage of development writing performance is independent of modality.

Impact of child development at primary school entry on adolescent health—protocol for a participatory systematic review

Background Reducing child health inequalities is a global health priority and evidence suggests that optimal development of knowledge, skills and attributes in early childhood could reduce health risks across the life course. Despite a strong policy rhetoric on giving children the ‘best start in life’, socioeconomic inequalities in children’s development when they start school persist. So too do inequalities in child and adolescent health. These in turn influence health inequalities in adulthood. Understanding how developmental processes affect health in the context of socioeconomic factors as children age could inform a holistic policy approach to health and development from childhood through to adolescence. However, the relationship between child development and early adolescent health consequences is poorly understood. Therefore the aim of this review is to summarise evidence on the associations between child development at primary school starting age (3–7 years) and subsequent health in adolescence (8–15 years) and the factors that mediate or moderate this relationship. Method A participatory systematic review method will be used. The search strategy will include; searches of electronic databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ASSIA and ERIC) from November 1990 onwards, grey literature, reference searches and discussions with stakeholders. Articles will be screened using inclusion and exclusion criteria at title and abstract level, and at full article level. Observational, intervention and review studies reporting a measure of child development at the age of starting school and health outcomes in early adolescence, from a member country of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, will be included. The primary outcome will be health and wellbeing outcomes (such as weight, mental health, socio-emotional behaviour, dietary habits). Secondary outcomes will include educational outcomes. Studies will be assessed for quality using appropriate tools. A conceptual model, produced with stakeholders at the outset of the study, will act as a framework for extracting and analysing evidence. The model will be refined through analysis of the included literature. Narrative synthesis will be used to generate findings and produce a diagram of the relationship between child development and adolescent health. Discussion The review will elucidate how children’s development at the age of starting school is related to subsequent health outcomes in contexts of socioeconomic inequality. This will inform ways to intervene to improve health and reduce health inequality in adolescents. The findings will generate knowledge of cross-sector relevance for health and education and promote inter-sectoral coherence in addressing health inequalities throughout childhood. Protocol Registration This systematic review protocol has been registered with PROSPERO CRD42020210011.

The oral language productive vocabulary profile of children starting school: A resource for teachers

The oral language proficiency of students in early education is crucial as teachers draw on this as a resource when developing literacy. There is a need to better understand what this oral language resource consists of at school entry, particularly the diversity amongst children so as to address inequalities. This article reports a study on a key component of oral language, namely productive vocabulary. It profiles the oral language vocabulary in approximately 3.6 million words produced by a large sample of almost 800 children under the age of five. The results are reported in a productive vocabulary resource, structured as a list of 2767 vocabulary targets. This profile represents highly productive vocabulary presumably known by most children as well as more advanced vocabulary not part of every child’s oral language. The article demonstrates the pedagogical implications of this research in the context of the National Literacy Learning Progressions of the Australian National Curriculum.

Impact of Child Development at Primary School Entry on Adolescent Health – Protocol for a Participatory Systematic Review.

BackgroundReducing child health inequalities is a global health priority and evidence suggests that optimal development of knowledge, skills and attributes in early childhood could reduce health risks across the life course. Despite a strong policy rhetoric on giving children the ‘best start in life’, socioeconomic inequalities in children’s development when they start school persist. So too do inequalities in child and adolescent health. These in turn influence health inequalities in adulthood. Understanding how developmental processes affect health in the context of socioeconomic factors as children age could inform a holistic policy approach to health and development from childhood through to adolescence. However the relationship between child development and early adolescent health consequences is poorly understood. Therefore the aim of this review is to summarise evidence on the associations between child development at primary school starting age (3-7 years) and subsequent health in adolescence (8 -15 years) and the factors that mediate or moderate this relationship. MethodA participatory systematic review method will be used. The search strategy will include; searches of electronic databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ASSIA and ERIC), grey literature, reference searches and discussions with stakeholders. Articles will be screened using inclusion and exclusion criteria at title and abstract level, and at full article level. Studies reporting a measure of child development at the age of starting school and health outcomes in early adolescence, from a member country of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, will be included. Studies will be assessed for quality using appropriate tools. A conceptual model, produced with stakeholders at the outset of the study, will act as a framework for extracting and analysing evidence. The model will be refined through analysis of the included literature. Narrative synthesis will be used to generate findings and produce a diagram of the relationship between child development and adolescent health. DiscussionThe review will elucidate how children’s development at the age of starting school is related to subsequent health outcomes in contexts of socioeconomic inequality. This will inform ways to intervene to improve health and reduce health inequality in adolescents. The findings will generate knowledge of cross-sector relevance for health and education and promote inter-sectoral coherence in addressing health inequalities throughout childhood. Systematic Review RegistrationThis systematic review protocol has been registered with PROSPERO CRD42020210011.