A study of children's difficulties in transition to school in Hong Kong

A study of children's difficulties in transition to school in Hong Kong

• Wong, Margaret Ngai Chun School of Early Childhood Education, Hong Kong Institute of Education

Early Child Development and Care, 173(1), 83-96, 2003

Routledge

2003

• N Students & Student Services
  • NC Charactieristics & Conditions of Students; Opinion & Attitudes of Students, Problems of Adjustment

Childhood Attitudes Early Childhood Education Foreign Countries Kindergarten Parent Attitudes Primary Education Student Adjustment Teacher Attitudes Young Children Hong Kong

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education

This paper reports data from a study of children's experiences of transition to school in Hong Kong. Hong Kong research into transition to school has been limited to investigation of curriculum issues and teaching practices by the Education Department (1993), a comparative study of skills preschool and primary school teachers believed children needed (Chow, 1993), and a recently released study on primary one students' transition problems in the Shatin area (Chan et al., 1999). In the present study, Hong Kong parents, primary school teachers and children expressed their views on difficulties in transition to school. Two types of primary schools were chosen for the sample: two with preschools attached and two which served neighbourhood preschools. Children and primary teachers were interviewed twice, once in mid October, in the initial "settling in" phase, and again in mid June the following year, at the end of the school year, while parents were surveyed in mid-October. In general, difficulties of "settling in" were overcome at the end of the first or second month. Nearly all children preferred studying in the primary schools during the first interview. However, the second interview revealed that some children wished to go back to the kindergartens where they claimed they had no pressure for examination and study. The results showed that pedagogical discontinuity is a major issue of difficulties in school transition in Hong Kong. The findings echoed those from the Chan et al. (1999) study on the adjustment of primary one pupils in Shatin.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443022000022440 ]

Special Issue on: "Early Childhood Education in Hong Kong."

• English

Journal Articles

• 03004430

• 10.1080/0300443022000022440

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/60e33e36

2010-09-06