Abstract:

Extensive research has examined children’s initial transitions from home to kindergarten, as well as their subsequent adjustment within these educational settings. These studies span diverse global educational systems and address a wide range of intra-personal and inter-personal determinants of successful transitions and adjustment. A recent national five-year university research project provided empirical support for the Ecological–Dynamic Transition Model. However, it also revealed a substantial lack of guidelines for high-quality, evidence-based educational practices that could enhance children’s well-being and facilitate their transitions into nursery and kindergarten settings. This gap informed the central research objective of the subsequent scientific project ADJUST_WELL: Adjustment in Kindergarten - Enhancement of Educational Practice as a Facilitator of Early Transitions and Children’s Well-Being (uniri-iz-25-115). Its primary aim is to develop guidelines for organizing transition and adjustment, as well as educational activities for work with early and preschool-aged children during their transition from home to nursery or kindergarten, and to empirically evaluate their impact on children’s well-being. After providing targeted training for kindergarten teachers, a quasi-experimental design will be applied, i.e., the assessments of children’s well-being and parent–teacher cooperation will be collected before and after implementation in experimental groups, with parallel measurements conducted in a control group. Longitudinal follow-up will examine potential long-term effects of the newly created organizational model and integrated activities on children’s well-being. Finally, the project’s contributions include the generation of new scientific knowledge, enhanced educational practice and study programs, a new life-long learning program, and broader societal benefits. As the project is currently in its initial phase, the research activities focus on collecting data on the organization of transition and adjustment processes in kindergarten settings, based on kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of transition organization and educational practices during children’s adjustment to kindergarten. This qualitative study involved one highly experienced kindergarten teacher (female, 47 years of age), with a total of 25 years and 9 months of professional experience, including 13 years of work with toddlers. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview comprising one introductory section addressing basic sociodemographic characteristics of the participant, followed by five in-depth, open-ended questions examining perceptions of transition organization and educational practices during children’s adjustment to kindergarten. The study aims to identify the detailed structure of transition and adjustment programs implemented in the national context, as well as the key challenges related to children’s well-being during the adjustment period. The expected findings are anticipated to yield a twofold contribution. First, they will provide a deeper understanding of current transition organization and educational practices supporting children’s adjustment in kindergarten. Second, the results will serve as a robust empirical foundation for the development of a survey instrument to be used in the subsequent phase of the project, which will involve quantitative research conducted on a large, randomly selected sample of kindergarten teachers.

Keywords:

Adjustment in kindergarten, children of an early and preschool age, early childhood educators, educational activities, facilitation, well-being.