This project was designed after an initial scoping exercise of national supports for parents in Ireland during transitions. Evidence shows that risk factors for successful transitions can be mitigated by a continuum of protective factors and thus support successful transitions. Exploring and addressing both universal and targeted supports will be prioritised in this project to reduce disparities among children from different backgrounds in accessing and engaging with formal and non-formal education. This project seeks to explore parents awareness and experiences of supports available to them and their children during the transition from pre-school to primary school, with a particular focus on parents of children living in disadvantage and/or vulnerable circumstances. The primary aim is to develop a support programme for parents to support their children during this transition and delivered by practitioners. Evidence shows that poor transitions affect children throughout their education and can have negative impacts on a persons long-term outcomes. Research shows that the approaches taken by pre-schools and primary schools range and differ significantly. This project seeks to improve transitions by enhancing awareness and skills of practitioners to enable parents to support children during this stage, and to do this in a pan European context. This project will carry out a literature review to identify existing services and supports, gaps in supports and transitions programme with the potential for implementation across Europe, quantitative survey research, and qualitative focus groups. The findings will be analysed and a suite of recommendations for supports will be made. The recommendations will lead directly to the development of a training programme and an online resource. The pilot programme ensures that a process of testing the materials will be implemented prior to finalising the programme and resource. Objectives of the project; -to complete a literature review and scoping exercise on evidence and best practice in supporting children’s transition from early years services to school including universal provision and targeted initiatives for the four participating countries. This includes identifying the policy, professional development and practice context in relation to supporting transitions in each participating country. - through consultation (surveys and focus groups) identify parental needs and how practitioners can most effectively provide them with information and support. -to develop resources which are accessible and relevant for both universal and targeted services -to develop a pilot train the trainer programme for teachers and early years practitioners to enable them to better support parents in managing children’s transition to primary school -review the results of the pilot to consider feedback of practitioners -produce high quality training materials and online resources that are relevant, accurate and easily accessible There are four participating programme countries. Each programme country will produce or collaborate to produce each intellectual output. Each of the four programme countries will administer parents surveys with a planned response of 100 per country. These parents will be representative of a general parent population of children aged 3-6. In each participating country there will a series of focus groups help with approximately 30 parents in each country. These parents will be representative of parents 'with fewer opportunities'. In total, 120 focus group participants, representing the vulnerable/ disadvantaged cohorts will participate. Over three Train the Train multiplier events delivered in three countries, 60 training attendees being either teachers or early years practitioners will be trained in the support programme using the developed materials and resources and will consulted for their feedback. The results envisaged include: -increased awareness, understanding and capacity by professionals and parents to support children during transition to primary school . -Increased understanding of what parents needs to help them support their children during transition to primary school. -the development of training resources/ materials and an accompanying training programme for professionals. -400 parents consulted with through surveys -120 parents consulted with through focus groups -60 professionals in three countries trained to deliver a support programme to parents. -An open online/ digital resources containing all documentation, including survey templates and final reports, and the complete training programme manuals The potential longer term benefits include: Increased volume of professional delivering the support programme to parents Increased number of parents availing of the support programme Improved quality and understanding of transitions and the issues impacting these Sustained levels of engagement by practitioners on Train the trainer programme
Ultimately as part the PSPS project implementation we sought to ensure that young children's experiences of the transition from preschool to primary school are positive, something that can be achieved by supporting the significant adults in their lives (parents and educators) to work together to understand, plan and support that momentous period of change.
All transnational partners applied for this project as a way to collaboratively respond to an identified gap in both early years and educational provision - the lack of accessible resources to help educators and parents to support young children's transition from preschool to primary school. While different European countries have some excellent examples of models or practices, there was a notable absence of a 'go to' for best practice for transitions. We wanted to develop a resource that is equally holistic and robust, and that could be used by a parent in rural Austria just as easily as by an educator in a Bulgarian city. By making best practice readily accessible, we believed that our project would make planned and meaningful transitions the normal experience for more young children across Europe. With Erasmus+ funding, we believe that we have done just that.