Abstract
Transitions in educational systems are organised in different ways around the world. Children pass through a number of marked transitions, organised on the basis of age group, stages or types of schools. Our research group has studied transitions in the educational system of Sweden, focusing especially on the perspectives of children and young people. In our research, a connection is made between such transitions and the concept of rites of passage. This chapter explores these theoretical foundations, examines how these have influenced our research, outlines plans for future studies and, finally, considers implications, dilemmas and questions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unravelling the mystery of health. How people manage stress and stay well. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Asplund, J. (1987). Det sociala livets elementära former [The elementary forms of social life]. Göteborg: Korpen.
Bateson, G. (1958). Naven. A survey of the problems suggested by composite picture of the culture of a New Guinea tribe drawn from three points of view (2nd ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bettelheim, B. (1954). Symbolic wounds. Glencoe: Free Press.
Broström, S., & Wagner, J. (Eds.). (2003). Early childhood education in five Nordic countries. Århus: Systime.
Bulkeley, J., & Fabian, H. (2006). Well-being and belonging during early educational transitions. International Journal of Transitions in Childhood, 2, 18–30.
Corsaro, W. A., Molinari, L., Gold Hadley, K., & Sugioka, H. (2003). Keeping and making friends: Italian children’s transition from pre-school to elementary school. Social Psychology Quarterly, 66(3), 272–292.
Denzin, N. (1997). Interpretive ethnography. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Dilthey, W. (1976). Selected writings. (Ed. H. P. Rickman translated to English). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Original published 1883).
Dockett, S., & Perry, B. (2005). “As I got to learn it got fun”: Children’s reflections on their first year at school. Presented at the annual conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, 2004. www.aare.edu.au/04pap/doc04324.pdf. Accessed 12 Nov 2007.
Dunlop, A. W., & Fabian, H. (Eds.). (2006). Informing transitions in the early years: Research, policy and practice. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.
Einarsdóttir, J. (2006). From pre-school to primary school: When different contexts meet. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 50(2), 165–184.
Ekström, K., Garpelin, A., & Kallberg, P. (2008). Övergångar under förskoleåren som kritiska händelser för barnet, föräldrarna och verksamheten – en forskningsöversikt. [Transitions during the pre-school years as critical incidents for the child, the parents and the institution]. Tidskriftförlärarutbildningochforskning, 15(1), 45–61.
Eriksen Hagtvet, B. (2003). Skriftspråkstimulering i første klasse: faglig innhold og didaktiske angrepsmåter. [Stimulating written language in first grade: Subject content and didactical approaches]. In K. Klette (Ed.), Klassrommets praksisformer etter Reform (Vol. 97). Oslo: Det utdanningsvitenskaplige fakultet. Universiteteti Oslo.
Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity: Youth and crises. New York: W.W. Norton.
Erikson, E. H. (1982). The life cycle completed: A review. New York: W.W. Norton.
European Commission. (2009). Key data on education in Europe 2005. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publication. http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/key_data_series/105EN.pdf Accessed 25 Jan 2009.
Fabian, H. (2007). Informing transitions. In A.-W. Dunlop & H. Fabian (Eds.), Informing transitions in the early years: Research, policy and practice (pp. 3–17). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.
Fabian H., & Dunlop A.-W. (2006). Outcomes of good practice in transition processes for children entering primary school. Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007, Strong Foundations: Early Childhood Care and Education, Geneva.
Freud, S. (1953). The standard edition of the complete works of Sigmund Freud. Vol. 13 (1913–1914). Totem and taboo and other works. London: Hogarth Press.
Garpelin, A. (1997). Lektionen och livet [Lesson and life. How young people meet and form a school class]. Uppsala Studies in Education, 70. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Garpelin, A. (2003). Ung i skolan [Young in school]. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Garpelin, A. (2004a). Accepted or rejected in school. European Educational Research Journal, 3(4), 729–742.
Garpelin, A. (2004b). Unga människors rätt till riter [Young peoples’ rights for rites]. Pedagogiskamagasinet, 2, 61–65.
Garpelin, A. (2011). Borderlands, bridges and rites of passage – Understanding children’s learning journeys from preschool into school. Application. Swedish Research Council, VR. Västerås: Mälardalen University.
Garpelin, A., Ekström, K., Kallberg, P., & Sandberg, G. (2008, September 10–12). Transitions in early childhood education. Paper presented at the ECER Meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Garpelin, A., & Kallberg, P. (2008). Övergångar i förskolan som kollektiva passageriter eller smidiga transitioner. [Transitions in pre-school as collective rites of passage or smooth transitions]. Tidskrift för lärarutbildning och forskning, 15(1), 63–84.
Garpelin, A., & Sandberg, G. (2010, August). School starts now! Transitions to school from a perspective of inclusive. Paper presented at the ECER Meeting, Helsinki.
Garpelin, A., Kallberg, P., Ekström, K., & Sandberg, G. (2010). How to organize transitions between units in preschool. International Journal of Transitions in Childhood, 4(1), 4–11.
Garpelin, A., Sandberg, G., Andersson, S., & Hellblom-Thibblin, T. (2009). Hur klarar skolan åtgärdsgarantin – att ge stöd åt alla barn, att kunna läsa, skriva och räkna när de lämnar årskurs 3? [How does the school manage the guarantee for interventions – to give support to all children to learn how to read, write and count as they leave grade 3]. Working paper. Västerås: Mälardalen University.
Giorgi, A. (1985). Phenomenology and psychological research. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.
Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums. New York: Doubleday.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. New York: Doubleday.
Grimes, R. (2000). Deeply into the bone. Re-inventing rites of passage. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hellberg, K. (2007). Elever på ett individuellt anpassat gymnasieprogram: Skolvardag och vändpunkter [Pupils in an individually adapted upper secondary school programme: Their daily lives at school and their turning points]. Linköpings universitet: Institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande.
Holm, J., & Bowker, J. (Eds.). (1994). Rites of passage. London: Pinter Publishers.
Hougaard, B. (2002). Curling-foraeldreog service-børn: debatomvortnyebørnesyn [The curling-parents and service-children: A debate about our new view of children]. Vejle: Hougaardsforlag.
Kreinath, J., Hartung, C., & Deschner, A. (Eds.). (2004). The dynamic of changing rituals: The transformation of religious rituals within their social and cultural context. New York: Peter Lang.
Laing, R. (1969). Self and others. London: Tavistock Publications.
Lam, M. S., & Pollard, A. (2006). A conceptual framework for understanding children as agents in the transition from home to kindergarten. Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, 26(2), 123–141.
Marlow-Ferguson, R. (Ed.). (2001). World education encyclopedia: A survey of educational systems worldwide (Volumes 1–3) (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self and society from a standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mead, M. (1939). From the South Seas. Studies of adolescence and sex in primitive societies. New York: William Morrow.
Mehan, H. (1992). Understanding inequality in schools: The contribution of interpretive studies. Sociology of Education, 65(4), 1–20.
O’Kane, M., & Hayes, N. (2006). The transition to school in Ireland: Views of preschool and primary school teachers. International Journal of Transitions in Childhood, 2, 4–17.
Ödman, P.-J. (2007). Tolkning, förståelse, vetande: hermeneutik i teori och praktik. [Interpretation, understanding, knowledge: Hermeneutics in theory and practice] (2.a uppl.). Stockholm: Norstedts akademiska förlag.
Peréz Prieto, H., Sahlström, F., & Melander, H. (2003). Frånförskola till skola. Berättelser från ett forskningsprojekt [From preschool to school. Stories from a research project]. Uppsala: Department of Education, Uppsala University.
Peters, S. (2010). Shifting the lens: Re-framing the view of learners and learning during the transition from early childhood education to school in New Zealand. In D. Jindal-Snape (Ed.), Educational transitions: Moving stories from around the world (pp. 68–84). New York: Routledge.
Ricoeur, P. (1981). The model of the text: Meaningful action considered as a text. P. Ricoeur: Hermeneutics and the human sciences (J. B. Thomspon, Trans.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sandberg, G. (2012). På väg in i skolan. Om villkor för olika barns delaktighetoch skriftspråkslärande [The start of school. Conditions for participation and literacy for different children]. In Studia Didactica Upsaliensia (Vol. 6). Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Schutz, A. (1967). The phenomenology of the social world. New York: Northwestern University Press.
Skolverket (2001). Att bygga en ny skolform för 6-åringarna. Om integrationen förskoleklass, grundskola och fritidshem [Building a new school form for 6-year olds. About integrating preschool class, compulsory school and leisure time centres]. Stockholm: National Agency of Education.
Skolverket. (2008). Förskoleklass [Preschool class]. Stockholm: National Agency of Education.
Stanovich, K. E. (2000). Progress in understanding reading: Scientific foundations and new frontiers. New York/London: Guilford.
Stephen, C. (2006). Early years education: Perspectives from a review of international literature. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Education Department. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent/06145130/0. Accessed 9 Oct 2009.
Turner, V. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Turner, V. (1982). From ritual to theatre. New York: PAJ Publications.
Turner, V., & Bruner, E., Jr. (Eds.). (1986). The anthropology of experience. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
van Gennep, A. (1960). Rites of passage (M. B. Vizedom & G. L. Caffee, Trans.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (Original published in French 1908)
Vogler, P., Crivello, G., & Woodhead, M. (2008). Early childhood transition research: A review of concepts, theory, and practice (Working paper No. 48). The Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Garpelin, A. (2014). Transition to School: A Rite of Passage in Life. In: Perry, B., Dockett, S., Petriwskyj, A. (eds) Transitions to School - International Research, Policy and Practice. International perspectives on early childhood education and development, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7350-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7350-9_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7349-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7350-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)